814-826-3737 info@autumnspring.co

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.

Strong Rapport with Clients

"Josh demonstrates a strong ability to build rapport and make his clients comfortable with the counseling process. ...[Josh] had the opportunity to work with a client whose culture didn’t believe in counseling. Josh was able to utilize his skills and openness with the client. At the end this client admitted Josh had changed their views on counseling. The client said they are now open to returning to treatment in the future as a result of their work with Josh."

- Comment from Evaluation of Mental Health Clinic Supervisor, December 2020

Thorough and Thoughtful

"Josh is a very thorough and thoughtful career counselor. In each session, his commitment to the success of the client he serves is immediately evident. He works to build rapport and openness, presenting himself as supportive, accepting, and with knowledge and a desire to positively contribute to his clients."

- Evaluation by Career Counseling Internship Supervisor, December 2020

Committed to Client Success

"Overall, Josh is a strong counselor and has a vast knowledge of career development and industry areas, and is capable of offering this to clients. He conceptualizes his cases very well and is strongly committed to the success of the clients he serves. I am excited about his goals of building his own counseling practice and further supporting a range of clients in their personal and career goals. Josh works well across a range of clients, supporting clients across many identities and life stages."

- Comment from Final Evaluation by Career Counseling Supervisor, December 2020