John Etling, PhD LPC
(814) 807-0861

John Etling has been working with children, adolescents, and adults for more than 30 years. He began his career working with adolescents with significant mental health concerns, providing individual, group, and family therapy in outpatient and home settings.  He has gone on to work with adolescent males in a residential setting with the focus on treating problematic sexual behaviors and childhood trauma.  He later worked in an outpatient program which focused primarily on families who have been affected by sexual abuse. His initial role was assisting adolescents with problematic sexual behaviors and their family through the reunification process, providing education and individual, group, and family therapy while collaborating with child victim therapists, juvenile probation, and child protective services.  He has also worked with children and adolescents at-risk for out-of-home placements to preserve their home and community placement. Additionally, he has worked as a therapist in a community mental health agency and has provided community training on family reunification.

John has served in a number of leadership roles, including program supervisor in residential and outpatient therapy settings, working closely with referral and funding sources. He has provided supervision for pre-licensed and early career therapists and has participated in a variety of multidisciplinary treatment teams.  He is trained in standard and complex trauma protocols in Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy. Additionally, he is trained in Eye-Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Structural Family Therapy, Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), Multisystemic Therapy (MST), Sensory Motor Arousal Regulation Treatment (SMART), and complex grief. He assisted in a nationwide study on Developmental Trauma and completed his pre-doctoral dissertation on effects of secondary traumatic stress on therapist perceived self-efficacy.  

John earned his master’s degree in Clinical Psychology at Edinboro University and returned to school later in life to complete his Doctoral Degree at Fielding Graduate University. He completed his Pre-Doctoral Internship in a psychology and psychiatry practice in Ashburn, Virginia.

John takes a genuine interest in the people he serves, establishing collaborative and individualized treatment goals intermixing his personal style with the evidenced-based treatment strategies in which he is trained.  He recognizes his clients’ strengths and vulnerabilities and attempts to create a safe, respectful, confidential, and secure therapy environment.    In his free time, John enjoys traveling and spending time with his family.