Mr. MacDonald assists victims of trauma and substance and sexual abuse

MORRISVILLE, PA, August 20, 2021 — John A. MacDonald has been included in Marquis Who’s Who. As in all Marquis Who’s Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.

Mr. MacDonald initially earned a Bachelor of Arts in urban studies from the School of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, in Newark, New Jersey in 1980. He subsequently obtained a Juris Doctor from Rutgers Law School in 1983. He continued his education with an Associate of Arts in journalism from Bucks County Community College in Pennsylvania in 2011. Mr. MacDonald ultimately graduated with a Master of Arts in clinical mental health counseling from the College of New Jersey in Ewing in 2014.

Mr. MacDonald’s academic beginnings included membership in the Phi Theta Kappa in 2010. He was later presented with the Chi Sigma Iota Current Student Award in 2013 and the Outstanding Graduate Student Award from the Association of Counselor Education and Supervision in 2013. Mr. MacDonald was additionally honored as the Graduate Student of the Year by the American Health Counselors Association.

Since 2013, Mr. MacDonald has excelled as a professional counselor specializing in complex trauma and substance abuse treatment. In this role, he monitors clients with various clinical mental health disorders, conducts in-person and tele-health psycho-therapy sessions, manages evening substance abuse intensive outpatient treatment programs and oversees group psychotherapy and court-mandated therapy sessions. Mr. MacDonald was additionally active in the field with Burlington Comprehensive Counseling in Mount Holly, New Jersey from 2013 to 2014 as a counselor-in-training in its drug court program, for which he facilitated 3-hour group and individual therapy for drug court mandated clients.

With New Horizon Treatment Services in Trenton from 2014 to 2017, Mr. MacDonald served as an outpatient treatment counselor where he handled a varying caseload of up to 50 methadone-maintained clients with opioid and polysubstance use and co-occurring mental health disorders including complex trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, bipolar, suicidal and homicidal, anger and other disorders. In addition, he treated clients with combat-related PTSD, victims of child sexual assault, sexual assault victims, domestic violence victims, witnesses to violence and victims of a variety of psychological and physical abuses. Mr. MacDonald has also provided care as an evening intensive outpatient treatment program substance abuse and mental health counselor with The Counseling Center Inc. in Glenside, Pennsylvania since 2017.

Mr. MacDonald has accrued many honors during his counseling career, including the 2015 emerging leader fellowship from the Association of Counselor Education and Supervision. He was likewise recognized as the Graduate of the Year from the American Mental Health Council Health Association in 2015. More recently, Mr. MacDonald accepted the President’s Award for Volunteerism from the New Jersey Counseling Association in 2019.

Mr. MacDonald considers overcoming his own extensive childhood traumas as one of his greatest achievements in life. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, he co-founded Acupuncturists Without Borders to help people as an adjunct to other treatments for trauma victims and first responders. Since 2019, Mr. MacDonald has also contributed as an adjunct graduate school professor of psychology with Arcadia University in Glenside.