About AutumnSpring
Joshua Kirby provides mental health and career counseling for students, professionals, entrepreneurs, and their families.
Joshua A. Kirby, MEd, NCC, CCC
Counselor Resident (Supervised)
Josh is a graduate of the Master of Education in Counselor Education degree program at Penn State University. His study in the program culminated with more than 800 hours of counseling internship experience split evenly across a mental health clinic and a career services center. After his first year in professional practice he accrued more than 1,000 additional supervised hours, with that number growing every month. He is a Nationally Certified Counselor (NCC) and a Certified Career Counselor (CCC), along with holding the Certified Career Services Professional (CCSP) and Global Career Development Facilitator (GCDF) designations. His continuing education is focused on completing the training requirements to earn certification as a Certified Grief Counselor (GC-C) and Certified Clinical Trauma Professional (CCTP).
Prior to founding AutumnSpring Counseling, Josh’s first career spanned 24 years in higher education, progressing from undergraduate student, exchange student, masters and doctoral student, and research/teaching assistant, to academic advisor, course developer, course instructor, assistant professor, and program coordinator. Josh’s earlier degrees (unrelated to counseling training) include a bachelor’s in communication studies, a master’s in educational psychology, and a PhD in instructional systems. While a faculty member, Josh was a selected for the prestigious Institute for Emerging Leadership in Online Learning (IELOL) and Penn State University’s Excellence in Management Program. Josh’s greatest honor as a faculty member came when he was elected as a University Faculty Senator and the convener of his college’s caucus of Senators.
Josh is an Eagle Scout and has a long history of leadership and service with the Boy Scouts of America organization at the local, national, and international levels. He usually enjoys the ups-and-downs of parenting young children with his spouse.
My Approach & Values
With counseling and assessment, I aim to help clients work through issues related to career, education, and mental health aspects of their lives, including: stress, anxiety, depression, burnout, career or major exploration/indecision, toxic workplaces, bad bosses/coworkers, workplace bullying, forced career change, job loss, and end-of-career transition.
I guide our counseling relationship to be a custom-tailored source of support, honesty, and strategy for all stages of students and professionals, across all professions, ages, races, and nationalities, for both short- and long-term counseling intervention. If your career or education itinerary isn’t going as planned, contact me to aid your navigation.
Key Interests
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Solution-Focused Therapy
- Social Cognitive Career Therapy
- Inferiority and Superiority (a la Adlerian Therapy)
- Grief Counseling
Professional Supervision
As a pre-licensed professional my counseling practice is supervised by a licensed professional counselor. This supervision serves as reassurance to my clients that they are receiving quality care from me.
My current supervisor is Brad Carmichael, MSEd, LPC of State College. His Pennsylvania license number is PC009176.
I Work With Individuals & Groups
Mental Health & Career Counseling
Strategically integrating work/school and mental health topics to help clients explore new ideas about themselves, their careers, and how wellness in one area supports wellness in the other.
Assessment Tools
Assessment tools allow clients to explore and face their own career interests, skills, and values, along with personality and mental health traits that could impact life choices.
Group Counseling
Discussing common challenges, perceptions, and methods in a therapeutic setting with a counselor and other clients could create new meaning for personal experiences.