John A. MacDonald

Having commenced his career as a lawyer, John A. MacDonald currently excels as a substance abuse and mental health counselor. While thinking about what he would do in his 60s, he decided to go back to graduate school and pursue a profession in counseling due to his own struggles with childhood trauma, PTSD, substance abuse disorders and his need for evidence-based healing. Since 2017, he has flourished as the substance abuse director and clinical mental health counselor with The Counseling Center at Cherry Hill, where he monitors clients with various clinical mental health disorders and conducts in-person and tele-health psycho-therapy sessions. Likewise, Mr. MacDonald runs the evening substance abuse intensive out-patient treatment programs, as well as conducts group psychotherapy and court-mandated therapy sessions.

In his profession, Mr. MacDonald has treated doctors, law enforcement personnel, lawyers, and even homeless people. Aside from substance abuse disorders, he has also worked with individuals suffering from pornography addiction, gambling addiction, and even chronic work addiction. He is also a tai chi and qi gong instructor, combining Eastern techniques with Western medicine. In addition, Mr. MacDonald co-founded Acupunctures Without Borders in the wake of Hurricane Katrina to help people as an adjunct to other treatments for trauma victims and first responders. In his personal life, he tries to keep a balance between human relations and nature, as he enjoys photography and hiking.

Finding great success in the second half of his career, Mr. MacDonald was the recipient of the President’s Award for Volunteerism from the New Jersey Counseling Association in 2019 and was named Graduate of the Year by the American Mental Health Council Health Association in 2015. Earlier, the Association of Counselor Education-North Atlantic Region and Supervision granted him with the Outstanding Graduate Student Award in 2013 and with an Emerging Leading Fellowship in 2015. Mr. MacDonald attributes his success to his personal skills in being able to convey authenticity, compassion and empathy. He notes, his ability to gain his clients’ trust is what allows him to be an effective counselor.

At the start of his career, Mr. MacDonald served in the U.S. Army from 1971 to 1973 and then matriculated at Rutgers University, earning a Bachelor of Arts in 1980 and a Doctor of Jurisprudence in 1983. Prior to his admittance to the New York and New Jersey State Bars, he gained initial experience as a law clerk with to the U.S. EPA and to the U.S. Attorney of Environmental Frauds. He went on to serve as an associate to Peter H. Lederman, PC, assistant counsel of the division of housing and community renewal for the State of New York and regulatory officer and assistant director of cost recovery of the department of environmental protection for the State of New Jersey through the 1980s. In the 1990s, Mr. MacDonald served the New Jersey Division of Law as the lead deputy attorney of cost recovery/multigenerator enforcement and assistant chief of hazardous site litigation. Most recently in his legal career, he was a partner of Anderson, Kill and Olick, PC in Philadelphia, New York City and Newark.