Joanna O’Neill LMFT
Clinical Director, Penngrove Campus
Areas of Clinical Expertise
- Adolescent Mental Health & Development
- Trauma-Informed Care
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Family Systems Therapy
- Integrative Psychology
- Co-Occurring Disorders
- Eating Disorders
- Attachment-Based Therapy
“The most rewarding part is witnessing the moments of reconnection, understanding, and healing within the family system. Supporting families as they move from a place of disconnection to one of empathy, communication, and renewed trust is incredibly meaningful.” — Joanna O’Neill
Experience
Joanna O’Neill is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) with more than a decade of experience in clinical leadership and adolescent behavioral health. Her experience includes program design, team building, and clinical oversight in highly specialized residential and outpatient settings.
Before joining Muir Wood, Joanna served as Chief Clinical Officer at TrueCare Treatment Centers. In this role, she provided strategic clinical leadership, guided quality assurance initiatives, and supported integrated care teams in high-acuity settings. She also held multiple senior roles at the Eden Center for Eating Disorders, a gender-inclusive residential program focused on treating adolescents and adults with complex eating disorders, including anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating disorder.
Education
Joanna completed her undergraduate education at Pepperdine University, where she received a bachelor’s degree in psychology. Upon graduation, she attended Vanguard University of Southern California for her graduate studies. She holds a master’s degree in clinical psychology.
Role at Muir Wood
Joanna currently serves as Clinical Director of the Penngrove Program at Muir Wood where she leads her clinical team in delivering developmentally appropriate care rooted in empathy, structure, and relational connection. Her leadership style focuses on fostering cohesion, clinical consistency, and clarity of purpose across the treatment team, ensuring that every teen receives high-quality care from a connected and invested group of professionals.
Joanna approaches therapy with a relational, trauma-informed lens, grounded in the belief that authentic human connection is the foundation for healing and transformation. She views a strong therapeutic relationship and family engagement as two essential components of recovery. She works closely with interdisciplinary teams to ensure alignment in treatment planning, continuity of care, and a shared commitment to helping teens and families build more connected, resilient relationships.
Personal Interests
Outside of work, Joanna prioritizes quality time with her family and maintains a strong commitment to personal wellness. She enjoys staying active and finds renewal in the natural beauty of Sonoma County—whether hiking local trails, enjoying the outdoors, or simply spending time in peaceful surroundings. These moments of balance and connection reflect the values she brings into her leadership and clinical work.
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.