Professional Background

Justin T. McDonald, MA, LPC, is an Adjunct Faculty member of the School of Education, Counselor Education Department. He has taught Group Counseling, Ethical and Legal Issues in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, Testing and Assessment, Multicultural Counseling, and Internship I and II: Clinical Mental Health Counseling. His academic background includes a Ph.D. Candidate in Counselor Education and Supervision at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, PA, anticipated graduation fall 2024; an MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, PA, 2005; and a BA in Sociology from Messiah University, Grantham, PA, 1999.

In addition to his role as an adjunct faculty member in the counselor education program at SBU, McDonald is also teaching as a temporary, full-time faculty member in the clinical mental health counseling program at Slippery Rock University. On top of teaching, he is also a licensed professional counselor (LPC, Pennsylvania) in a small private practice providing clinical mental health counseling to adolescents, adults, and couples. He has an extensive background in clinical mental health counseling, substance abuse counseling, working with adjudicated adolescents, clinical supervision, human service administration, and organizational leadership.

McDonald’s teaching philosophy rests upon a foundation of a constructivist approach to counselor education and a deep commitment to enhancing the professional development of future counselors. He is actively engaged in a journey of continual learning with his students as fellow travelers. With humility and egalitarianism, McDonald strives to facilitate a learning environment that fosters knowledge acquisition, critical thinking, respectful debate, questioning assumptions, comfort with ambiguity, shared meaning-making, and integration of learning with personal experiences.

McDonald is currently working on the beginning stages of my doctoral dissertation, which focuses on exploring the experiences of master’s-level clinical mental health counseling students who have completed a clinical supervision practicum. His broader research interests include mentoring in counseling programs, acceptance and commitment therapy, mindfulness and meditation, ethics, and the overlap between philosophy and counseling. When McDonald is not teaching, writing, or counseling, he loves to spend time outdoors, especially in the woods. He enjoys reading science fiction, philosophy, and whatever else makes its way onto his bookshelf, yet his greatest source of self-care is spending time with my family.

Academic Degrees

• Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Ph.D. Candidate in Counselor Education and Supervision, anticipated graduation fall of 2024
• Indiana University of Pennsylvania, MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, 2005
• Messiah University, BA in Sociology, 1999