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Our Staff

Rev. Ronald D. Kirstein, Ph.D. Gary Pohl, Ph.D. (a.b.d.) Barbara Beard Stephan, Ph.D. 
Rev. Lily Lu Stearns, Ph.D. Rev. John R. Landgraf, Ph.D.

John P. Sullivan, M.Div., Psy.D.

  Rie Mizuki, Ph.D.  
     

Rev. Ronald D. Kirstein, Ph.D.

Executive Director

Seattle,Washington

Ron Kirstein is a Pastoral Counselor with the Samaritan Center of Puget Sound in Seattle, WA, since 1993 serving individuals, couples and families. He has worked on the former Center for Ministry staff (located in Oakland, CA) since 1997.  As an ordained American Baptist minister he has special interest in working with congregations, clergy and their families. His doctoral work at the Graduate Theological Union focused on building a model of maturity from an integrated psychological/spiritual perspective. Clergy were interviewed and tested in the experimental application of his thesis. In addition, he has done extensive work in the field of clergy personalities.  Ron is a Fellow in the American Association of Pastoral Counselors.  In his spare time, Ron enjoys mountain climbing, basketball, home remodeling and gardening.

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Rev. Lily Lu Sterns, Ph.D.

Oakland, California

Former Executive Director of the Center for Ministry, Oakland and currently the Executive Director of the Asian American Mental Health Services of Oakland, CA.

Dr. Stearns is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist.

 

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Barbara Beard Stephan, Ph.D.

Santa Clara, California

Barbara Beard Stephan, Ph.D. is a licensed Clinical Psychologist.  She holds an M.A. in Counseling Psychology and a Ph.D. in Transpersonal Psychology both from The Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto, CA. Barbara believes that psychology is more than the study of the mind. She believes that we are all integrated individuals guided by mind, body, and spiritual influences.

Barbara follows this philosophy in her daily life, both professionally and personally, always applying an integrated approach.  She receives her clients with compassion and believes that an alliance based on understanding and non-judgment is foremost to establishing a successful therapeutic relationship. Her areas of expertise include transpersonal psychology, life transitions, relationship issues, depression, anxiety, PTSD, substance abuse, aging, spirituality, and existential issues.

In her personal world, Barbara is a wife and mother. She has two children who are in their twenties. In addition, she has a great interest in synesthesia (a phenomenon of sensory connections between different sensory modalities); she researched this area while completing her doctoral degree.
 

Rev. John R. Landgraf, Ph.D.

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

John R. Landgraf, Ph.D., is a former Executive Director of The Center for Ministry, Oakland (1975-1987). In semi-retirement, John still wears several hats. As Dr. John Landgraf, he does pastoral counseling, spiritual direction, and life coaching as well as career counseling for The Center for Ministry (in Post Falls, Idaho, 30 minutes from Spokane Airport). As the Rev. John Landgraf, he preaches, teaches, and leads workshops and retreats co-led by his wife, Laura, who is a motivational speaker, writer, and singer. As Mr. John Landgraf, he frequently performs (whenever possible, with Laura!) as a composer-arranger-pianist-vocalist who receives raves for his unique jazz stylings of show tunes and hymn tunes. A published author, John has worked as a parish pastor, hospital chaplain, professor, seminary president and psychotherapist.

 

Gary Pohl, Ph.D. (a.b.d.)

Berkeley, California

 

Gary’s has an extensive background as a therapist and in human resources management.  As a therapist, he has been associated with The Community Health Awareness Council (CHAC) in Mountain View for over 10 years, The Lloyd Center (San Francisco Theological Seminary), The East Bay Community Recovery Project, and most recently with the Interfaith Counseling Center where he is a founder and Board member.  He received training in psychological testing and evaluation during his graduate program and his clinical internship at CHAC.  He has provided individual and group therapy with children, adolescents, families and adults, including dual diagnosis clients, and has been responsible for the evaluation and treatment planning of federal parolees and state probationers.  His human resources background includes over twenty-five years’ in a variety of settings and industries where he provided career counseling to employees at all organizational levels. Additionally, he regularly coached CEO’s and senior managers regarding interpersonal and organizational performance issues.  Gary lives in Oakland with his wife and two dogs.  In his spare time he enjoys travel, particularly to Italy, and cooking.

 

 

Rie Mizuki, Ph.D.

Los Angeles area, California

Dr. Rie Honda Mizuki is a licensed psychologist, with her M.A. in Theology and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Fuller Theological Seminary. She has worked since 1993 as a therapist with the Asian American Christian Counseling Service (AACCS) in the greater Los Angeles area. She enjoys working with couples and families, helping them work through relational conflict and communication difficulties. Her work with individuals has focused on issues of depression, anxiety, and relationship problems. Beginning in 2007, AACCS began to partner with the Center for Ministry in providing in depth evaluation and consultation to persons in ministry. Around the same time, God opened the doors for Rie to travel to Japan to provide counseling and member care to missionaries and church planters there. Since that time, work with ministers and families of those in ministry has become an area of greater focus.

Rie was born in Tokyo, Japan, and is bilingual and bicultural. She and her husband have three adult (or almost adult) children. She is the board director of the worship ministry at the Anaheim Free Methodist Church, performances.

 

John P. Sullivan, M.Div., Psy.D.

Santa Clara, California

 

Dr. Sullivan has worked with Center for Ministry clients since 1999.  He is a licensed psychologist in California.  He received the Master of Divinity degree from Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, Massachusetts and was certified by the National Association of Catholic Chaplains while serving as a hospital chaplain.  After completing the Psy.D. degree at California School of Professional Psychology he did advanced training in the integration of spirituality and mental health at the Danielsen Institute at Boston University.  He was a founding member of the Center for Integrative Medicine at O’Connor Hospital in San Jose. He is the Director of Training for psychology doctoral interns at Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County where he provides assessment and psychotherapy services for individuals, couples, and families in Spanish and English.  John also has a private practice in Santa Clara.  Some of John’s areas of interest and expertise include the integration of spiritual development and mental health, cultural diversity, sexuality, and recovery from addictions and co-dependency.  A native of San Jose, John is married and lives in Santa Clara.

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