About Ryja…

My combined personal and professional paths uniquely prepare me to guide others through times of unknown.

I offer guidance based on:

  • over a decade professional experience as a clinical psychologist

  • over two years of full-time residential training at a Zen monastery

  • certification as a Nature and Forest Therapy Guide (anft.earth)

  • certification in ministry and Depth Hypnosis (developed by Isa Gucciardi, PhD.; sacredstream.org)

  • personal experience healing my own nervous system from burnout, mold toxicity, and dysautonomia, through neural reprogramming, guided imagery, dreamwork, and creative practices

  • countless hours listening to the teachings of the more-than-human world

  • lived experience as a transgender man

I walk alongside you as fellow human, having gone through my own transformations of gender, health, and spirituality. I offer you all the gifts that have been gathered through my own evolution and healing.

I have been woman, man, neither, and both.

I have spent many months intimate with death and many more infused with life.

I have known it all to be suffering and I have known it all to be love.

Professional Background

EDUCATION

2022 Nature and Forest Therapy Guide Certification; Association of Nature and Forest Therapy Guides and Programs

2011 Ph.D. Clinical Psychology; Temple University, Philadelphia, PA

Pre-Doctoral Internship: Dept. of Veterans Affairs, Palo Alto

Post-Doctoral Fellowship: Sexual and Gender Identities Clinic and Center for LGBT Evidence-Based Applied Research, Palo Alto University

2006 M.A. Clinical Psychology; Temple University, Philadelphia, PA

2004 B.A. Clinical Psychology, Minor: Africa and the New World; Tufts University, Medford, MA; Honors: summa cum laude

AREAS OF FOCUS

·       Holistic Health Psychology: Responding to systemic, cultural, relational, and psychological factors that influence behavior patterns leading to physical harm, including addiction, eating disorders, health-related risk-taking, and suicide attempt.

·      Gender Minority Stress and Resilience: Understanding mental and medical health disparities among trans and nonbinary people, and creating related efforts to address risk and support resilience.

·   Transpersonal Psychology: Exploring means of promoting well-being and harmony on a more-than-human scale, including methods based in nature and forest contexts, as well as through meditative and altered state work.

SPIRITUAL PRACTICE EXPERIENCE

2020-2022       Full-Time Zen Practitioner, Resident, and Heart of Groundskeeping; Great Vow Zen Monastery, Clatskanie, Oregon

CLINICAL EXPERIENCE

2023                Private Practice, California and Oregon

2018-2020       Individual Therapist; Newport Academy, Marin, California

2013-2014       Clinical Supervisor; The Gronowski Center, Palo Alto University, Palo Alto, CA

2011-2014       Program Manager, Gender Identities Program; The Gronowski Center, Palo Alto University, Palo Alto, CA

2011-2013       Post-Doctoral Fellow, Sexual and Gender Identities Clinic; The Gronowski Center, Palo Alto Univ, Palo Alto, CA

2009-2013       Lifeguard Workshop Leader, The Trevor Project, Philadelphia, PA & San Francisco, CA

2010 –2011     Pre-Doctoral Intern, Department of Veterans Affairs, Palo Alto Healthcare System, Palo Alto, CA

2009-2010       Lead Academic Intern, Psychological Services Center, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA

2009-2010       Extern, Friends Hospital, Philadelphia, PA

2005-2010       Clinician, Psychological Services Center, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA

2008-2009       Clinician, Drexel Univ. Coll. of Medicine, Center for Addiction, Philadelphia, PA

2008-2009       Clinician, CAACY STARS Program, Philadelphia, PA

2008-2009       Academic Intern, Psychological Services Center, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA

2006-2007       Behavioral Coach, Wellspring Camp and Academy, Canton, NC

2006-2007       Resident Assistant, New Leaf Academy, Hendersonville, NC

2003-2004       Residential Counselor, Germaine Lawrence School, Medford, MA

2003-2004       Peer Educator, Tufts University Bias Intervention Team, Medford, MA.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

2015-2017       Assistant Professor and Director of Health Behavior and Health Disparities Research Lab; Department of Psychology, Rhodes College, Memphis, TN

2013-2015       Visiting Faculty, Clinical Supervisor, and Advisor; Clinical Psychology PhD Program and Psychology and Social Action Undergraduate Program, Palo Alto University, Palo Alto, CA

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

2018-2020       Research Consultant; Holistic Health Psychology, California

2015-2017       Director, Health Behavior and Disparities Lab, Rhodes College, Memphis, TN

2013-2015       Program Manager, Transgender Research Consortium, Palo Alto University, Palo Alto, CA

2011-2013       Post-Doctoral Fellow, Palo Alto University, Palo Alto, CA

2006-2007       Behavioral Health Coach, Academy of the Sierras, North Carolina and Wellspring Camps, Divisions of Healthy Living Academies, Canton, NC

2005-2006       Research Assistant, NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA

2004-2005       Research Assistant, McCarthur Culpability Study of Adolescent Decision Making, Philadelphia, PA

2003-2004       Research Intern, Germaine Lawrence School, Medford, MA.

PUBLICATIONS – BOOKS

Peta, J., Testa, R. J., & Coolhardt, D. (manuscript in preparation). The Resilience Book for Trans and Non-Binary Youth. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications.

Testa, R. J., Coolhardt, D., Peta, J. (2015). Gender Quest Workbook: Helping Youth Explore Gender. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications.

PUBLICATIONS – BOOK CHAPTERS

Bliss, W., Pflum, S., Skinta, M. D., Testa, R. J., Floyd, R., & Goldblum, P. B. (2016).  Integrative clinical assessment of sexual and gender minority clients. In U. Kumar (Ed.), Personality Assessment: The Way Forward. United Kingdom: Wiley.

Testa, R. J., & Hendricks, M. (2014). Suicide risk among transgender and gender nonconforming youth. In P. B. Goldblum, D. L. Espelage, J. Chu, & B. Bongar (Eds.), The Challenge of Youth Bullying and Suicide. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

PUBLICATIONS – JOURNAL ARTICLES

Butler, R.M., Horenstein, Al, Gitlin, M., Testa, R. J., Kaplan, S. C., Swee, M. B., & Heimberg, R. G. (2018). Social anxiety among transgender and gender nonconforming individuals: The role of gender affirming medical interventions. Journal of Abnormal Psychology.

Tomita, K., Testa, R. J., & Balsam, K. F. (2018). Gender-conforming medical interventions and mental health in transgender adults. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity.

Tucker, R. P., Testa, R. J., Simpson, T. L., Shipherd, J. C., Blosnich, J. R., & LeHavot, K. (2018). Hormone therapy, gender affirmation surgery, and their association with recent suicidal ideation and depression symptoms in transgender veterans. Psychological Medicine, 14, 1-8.

Tucker, R. P., Testa, R. J., Reger, M. A., Simpson, T. L., Shipherd, J. C., & LeHavot, K. (2018). Current and military-specific gender minority stress factors and their relationship to suicidal ideation in transgender veterans. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior.

Testa, R. J., Rider, N., Haug, N., & Balsam, K. F. (2017). Gender confirming medical interventions and eating disorder symptoms among transgender individuals. Health Psychology, 36(10), 927-936.

Testa, R. J., Michaels, M. S., Bliss, W., Rogers, M. L., Balsam, K. F., & Joiner, T. (2017). Suicidal ideation in transgender people: Gender minority stress and interpersonal theory factors. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 125(9), 125-236. 

Pflum, S. R., Testa, R. J., Balsam, K. F., Goldblum, P. B., & Bongar, B. (2015). Social support, trans community connectedness, and mental health symptoms among transgender and gender nonconforming adults. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, 2(3), 281-298.

Testa, R. J., Habarth, J., Peta, J., & Balsam, K., & Bockting, W. (2015) Development of the Gender Minority Stress and Resilience Measure. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, 2(1) 65-76.

Testa, R. J., & Brown, R. T. (2015). Self-regulatory theory and weight-loss maintenance. Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings, 22(1), 54-63.

Testa, R. J., Jimenez, C. L., & Rankin, S. (2014). Risk and resilience during transgender identity development: The effects of awareness of and engagement with other transgender people on affect. Journal of Gay and Lesbian Mental Health, 18(1), 34-56.

Testa, R. J., Sciacca, L. M., Wang, F., Hendricks, M., Goldblum, P., Bradford, J., & Bongar, B. (2012). The effects of violence on transgender people. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 43(5), 452-459.

Goldblum, P., Testa, R. J., Pflum, S., Hendricks, M., Bradford, J., & Bongar, B. (2012). In-school gender-based victimization and suicide attempts among transgender people. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 43(5), 468-475.

Hendricks, M. & Testa, R. J. (2012). A conceptual framework for clinical work with transgender and gender nonconforming clients: An adaptation of the minority stress model. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 43(5), 460-467.

Testa, C. R. & Steinberg, L. (2010) Adolescent depression and health-related risk taking. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behaviors, 40(3), 298-305.