About Us: Board Members

Stuart Sovatsky, PhD, Clinical Director of Blue Oak, has been a therapist for 34 years specializing in saving troubled relationships. He holds degrees in Religion from Princeton University and Psychology from CIIS, where he was a Trustee from 1991-2007. He was the first choice to co-direct Ram Dass's first "prison ashram" in 1977, and was first to introduce meditation to incarcerated youth and the mentally-ill in 1972-79. He is Co-president of the Association for Transpersonal Psychology and directs the first-ever "spiritual emergence" service, the Kundalini Clinic. He was co-convener of the forty-country World Congress on Psychology and Spirituality in Delhi, India with BKS Iyengar, Jack Kornfield and Sri Ravi Shankar. He is the author of Eros, Consciousness & Kundalini, Words From the Soul: Time, E/W Spirituality & Psychotherapeutic Narrative, Euro-Hinduism in the Columbia University Reference on Eastern Religion (ed, Robert Thurman), Your Perfect Lips, and articles on suicidal linguistics, gender, awe in infants, spiritual approaches to couples counseling, Buddhist impermanence, the enneagram, India's "Culture of Enlightenment," "Clinical Admiration," and tantric yoga. He has presented throughout India, Russia, France, Germany, Slovenia, and the US. As a musician, he has three CD's: "Mystery School", "Eternal Trance Dance", and "Feeling Energy". He has directed Blue Oak Therapy Center since 1991.
To learn more about Stuart Sovatsky visit him at his website.

Nancy Carleton, MA, LMFT, was one of the founding interns present at the conception (in 1987) and birth (in 1988) of Blue Oak Therapy Center, and has served on its Board of Directors since receiving her MFT license in 1991. In addition to her psychotherapy practice, Nancy has over twenty-five years of experience editing books in the field of psychology, health, and spirituality, including works by bestselling authors such as Dan Millman, Lynn Andrews, John Robbins, Sanaya Roman, Terry Lynn Taylor, don Miguel Ruiz, and Deepak Chopra. She has a BA in Humanities from the University of California at Berkeley and an MA in Transpersonal Counseling Psychology from John F. Kennedy University. She was recognized by the Commission on the Status of Women as an Outstanding Woman of Berkeley in the year 2000, and has served as Chair of Berkeley’s Zoning Adjustment Board and as Vice Chair of its Parks and Recreation Commission, as well as on the boards of various nonprofits. She lives in Berkeley, California, with her dogs, rabbits, birds, and an occasional hamster, and can be contacted through her website.

Claire Jeannette, MA, LMFT, completed her Master's Degree at Cal State, East Bay in 1987 and was licensed in 1989. Since then, she has completed two two-year post-graduate training programs and numerous seminars and workshops. Claire has also participated in weekly consultation groups and has always had regular individual consultation to support her in her clinical work. Prior to being a therapist Claire worked in government, universities and the private sector and as an activist for a number of years.

Louise Monsour, MA, LMFT, has been in private practice for 14 years and has worked extensively with people who are in a transition period in their lives, and with those who have a trauma history. She works primarily with individual adults and couples in her Berkeley office. In addition to her teaching schedule at the JFKU School of Holistic Studies on the Campbell campus, she supervises interns, and is a consultant to non-profits that provide mental health services. She is a past board member and continues to be an active member of GAYLESTA, the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender psychotherapists' association of the greater San Francisco Bay area.

Michael Murphy, MA, LMFT graduated from JFK University’s School of Holistic Studies in 1990 with an emphasis in Transpersonal Psychology. A former intern at Blue Oak Therapy Center from 1991 until his licensure in 1994, he has been in private practice in North Oakland ever since. His therapeutic approach draws from intersubjective and relational theories, as well as an interest in the application of mindfulness and Buddhist principles. Michael’s intention and hope is to assist clients with enlarging their sense of identity, placing past--often hurtful--conditioning into a context of acceptance and compassion, thus increasing the capacity for choice and presence.

Sue Ellen Wise, MA, MFT, is a licensed MFT (Marriage and Family Therapist) with a private practice in Berkeley, California.  Sue Ellen received her MA in Counseling Psychology from the Graduate School for Holistic Studies at John F. Kennedy University in 1993. She currently is Chair of the Counseling psychology program with a specialization in Holistic Studies at the Campbell Campus of John F. Kennedy University, and teaches “Ethics and the Law” and “Advanced Clinical Skills” in the MA program.   Sue Ellen provides psychotherapy for individuals and couples who are seeking to improve their lives and their relationships, particularly during life transitions. To learn more about Sue Ellen Wise visit her at her website. 

  

© Blue Oak Therapy Center
3101 Telegraph Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94705    Phone: (510) 649-9818
Clinical director is Stuart Sovatsky, PhD, MFT Licensed #MFC 19173.