Experience
Ella has directed clinical services for nationally recognized substance use and co-occurring programs, overseeing standards of care, supervision models, and interdisciplinary treatment planning with psychiatry, nursing, utilization management, and residential teams. She has strengthened group programming, implemented policy and documentation improvements, and supported accreditation and compliance efforts. Earlier leadership roles spanned inpatient psychiatric services, Assertive Community Treatment administration, county behavioral health, and adolescent residential admissions, work that sharpened her expertise in crisis evaluation, legal processes, aftercare planning, and data-driven performance improvement. She is an experienced trainer and conference presenter on outcomes-informed care, including the ANSA/CANS framework, and enjoys working with referral partners to improve access to care.
Grounded in a service-oriented leadership style, Ella is known for developing high-retention teams, mentoring emerging clinicians and clinical leaders, and aligning clinical excellence with operational rigor. She holds an MA in Clinical Psychology (Pepperdine University), is a California-licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, and is dedicated to bridging therapeutic quality with practical program stewardship, advancing both people and programs with clarity, thoughtfulness, and intention.
Role at Muir Wood
Ella Jackson, LMFT, joins Muir Wood Teen as our VP of Clinical Operations. Ella brings more than a decade of experience in clinical care and organizational leadership. A therapist, supervisor, clinical director, and administrator, she has led multidisciplinary teams across residential, inpatient, and community-based settings while building systems that help clinicians focus on what matters most: delivering high-quality, person-centered care. As a clinician, she specializes in trauma treatment and is EMDR and IFS trained.
Who We Are
Muir Wood treats primary mental health and co-occurring substance use disorders with equal clinical depth. Our approach is mental health-first, trauma-informed throughout, and grounded in nationally recognized expertise in adolescent substance use treatment.
Every program is designed exclusively for teens, with specialized environments for those needing an even greater level of psychiatric, trauma, or clinical support — like our Penngrove campus for girls, and our upcoming Sonoma Mountain campus for boys (Fall '26).
Mental Health First
Every program treats primary MH — anxiety, depression, trauma, mood — as the core clinical focus.
Trauma-Informed Lens
Every staff interaction, not just therapy, is filtered through a trauma lens. It is our operating principle, not a modality.
Integrated SUD Expertise
Substance use is treated alongside mental health throughout all programs, not in a separate track.
Adolescent Specialists
Every clinician, psychiatrist, nurse, and educator works exclusively with teens ages 12–17.
We Treat the Whole Teen
Nothing is treated in isolation, because nothing exists in isolation.
Every teen arrives with behaviors that developed for a reason — ways of coping with or adapting to emotional pain. Our role is to understand what's driving those patterns and build healthier, more sustainable ways of regulating and coping.
Mental Health
Trauma Informed
Emotional Functioning
Family Systems
Why Specialized Programming Matters
Many teens benefit from environments designed around shared clinical presentations and needs.
Greater Peer Alignment
Shared clinical presentations create more cohesive, therapeutically relevant group dynamics.
Individualized Treatment
Approaches tailored to the specific developmental and psychiatric profile of each population.
Improved Emotional Safety
Environments designed to reduce threat, increase predictability, and foster genuine connection.
Clinically Relevant Groups
Group therapy dynamics mirror real-world experiences of teens with similar presentations.
Lower-Stimulation Environments
Sensory and environmental design calibrated to the needs of highly activated or sensitive teens.
Enhanced Psychiatric Support
Specialized staff training and clinical protocols matched to the population's complexity.