James M. Thomas

James M. Thomas, Jr, Ph.d. is a life-long scholar of comparative religion. He experienced his first miracle of personal healing as a captain in the Vietnam War, and has been a spiritual seeker ever since.

Jim received his B.S. (biology and chemistry) from Drury College in Springfield, Missouri in 1963 and his master’s degree in general psychology from Eastern Washington State University. His experience also includes six years in the Air Force. During the Pueblo Crisis in 1967, he was stationed in Korea and worked off duty at a local orphanage. These experiences were the beginning of a spiritual journey that led him to seek a Ph.D. in clinical psychology.

While earning his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Oklahoma State University he also worked, under a NIMH grant, as psychiatric department manager at Bi-State Community Mental Health Center in Ponca City, Oklahoma. His internship and residency were in the psychiatry department of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, after which he worked in Oklahoma for 31 years as a clinical psychologist specializing in pain management, DID and family therapy.

He provided consulting services for the Ponca City public school system for 26 years, working with public and parochial schools during the time that Public Law 94-142 (S. 6) Nov. 29, 1975 was being enacted establishing free school special education services. During this time he was “farmed out” to the Cowley County, Kansas rural schools performing child assessments and crisis interventions, many times making house calls.

Jim also worked with the Oklahoma District Attorney’s Association for over 20 years teaching interrogation tactics by using his interviewing skills. He was an early consultant with prosecutors’ offices profiling jury candidates for criminal trials. In the infancy of victim witness research, he worked with a group from Stanford and UC Berkeley (e.g. Grinder, Bandler, Cameron & Satir, some of which were pioneers of Neuro-linguistic programming), to help develop that field.

In 2001 he received his divinity credentials from the Virginia Theological Seminary, becoming an Episcopal priest and Assistant to the Bishop. Jim was on the board of St. Georges College in Jeralsulm for 18 years and served the North American Regional Committee. Reverend Jim has been Trinity's Priest-in-Charge since 2011.

His past associations include those with Elisabeth Kubler-Ross and the late Robert A. Monroe, founder of the Monroe Institute.

Jim currently lives with his wife Sally in the San Francisco Bay Area. They have two children and four grandchildren.