Jonathan Orr, PhD

Clinician, Trainer, Supervisor, and Clinical Assistant Professor at Georgia State University

About Jonathan

I am excited to be a part of the PepperChat team and inspired by their efforts for supporting the work of therapists! My passion is building strong and vibrant communities that foster a sense of belonging and support for all members. I am involved in this work thorough a wide variety of institutions, organizations, collectives, and projects both in the US and around the world. Most of my work life centers on training and supervising mental health professionals. I am a Clinical Professor and former Clinical and Program Coordinator in the Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program at Georgia State University. In that role, I have trained and supervised over 400 mental health professionals for over 20 years at both the masters and doctoral levels. My research and training specialties include group dynamics, inclusive communities, corrective feedback exchange, clinical skill development, clinical supervision and trauma-informed psychotherapy.

Over my time in academia, I have worked to translate clinical skills and knowledge for application outside of therapeutic settings. This work has led to a role as Chief Academic Officer for the Academy Within, a leadership training organization for business executives. In this role, I am taking concepts based in research around behavior change and emotional intelligence to empower leaders to build healthy communities in a variety of industries that center people over productivity. Through all of these projects, I have maintained a small private practice in Decatur, GA, as licensed professional counselor and nationally certified clinical supervisor. In my practice, I am dedicated to working with a wide range of clients and to training, consulting, and supervising psychotherapist and other professionals in the practice of NET, group psychotherapy, and interventions such as Focusing and mindfulness-based interventions. In my non-work life, I enjoy just about anything outdoors in nature and in community with my family and friends. And my favorite self-care passions are riding bikes (casually) and spending time tending to bees.

I have developed a specialty in Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET), a time-limited empirically supported trauma intervention that reduces symptoms of PTSD and C-PTSD across a wide range of clients. This work has connected me to a worldwide community of traumatologists and based on this I worked with the creators of NET to develop the NET Institute based in Germany and served for a time as their initial Chief Operating Officer. From there, I co-founded NET.Collect (www.netcollect.org), an international collective of traumatologists, artist, and activists who utilize NET with populations of flight and survivors of violence around the world. Through NET.Collect, I provide in-person trainings and supervision in NET at Georgia State University and in Cologne, Germany, as well as many virtual trainings worldwide via Zoom. I am a member of vivo international (www.vivo.org), an NGO that aims at research, prevention, and therapy of the consequences of traumatic stress on violence and conflict-affected individuals and communities.