Cathy Lounsbury, EdD, LCPC is a seasoned counselor, educator, and leader in the study and practice of trauma, wellness, and resilience. Cathy has been a clinical mental health counselor for 30 years working with both children and adults, specializing in those who have experienced trauma.
Currently, Cathy serves as Professor, and Chair, in the Clinical Mental Health Counseling Department at Antioch University New England. In this role, she founded Antioch’s Institute on Wellness, providing consultation and training nationally on the mitigation of secondary traumatic stress to counselors nationwide. She has been instrumental in program development, particularly in the scaling of the regional Clinical Mental Health Counseling program into the online platform and the development of the hybrid Weekend clinical training model.
Within the Clinical Mental Health Counseling Department at Antioch, Cathy has also developed training opportunities for students in trauma-informed, strength-based approaches, including an international clinical training opportunity working with children and teens in Peru. Additionally, Cathy has provided expertise in psychological trauma and resiliency to multi-disciplinary teams exploring the effect of climate impacts on youth and families and with supporting mental health in Haiti following the earthquake. As the former Clinical Director of the Maine Psychological Trauma Institute, she has provided consultation, training, and supervision to schools and communities throughout New England on Post-traumatic Stress Management, Fostering Resiliency in Children, Mitigating the Effects of Secondary Traumatic Stress, and Promoting Positive Youth Development.
Cathy believes strongly in building natural resiliency supports for those who have experienced traumatic events. To this end, she has served on both local and national community trauma response teams following national disasters, terrorism, and other traumatic events and was the founder and director of the IMPACT Team, a youth-focused community trauma team, consulting on 200+ incidents. Cathy has also advocated for policy and environmental changes to support youth and has led several federal initiatives, including Safe Schools Healthy Students and Grants to Reduce Alcohol Abuse, to create better systems to support youth and families. To this end, Cathy was able to secure over $7 million in grant funding to support the youth of Maine.
Cathy’s research interests align with her work in trauma, secondary traumatic stress, and social justice advocacy. Her most recent studies include: “Exploring the Impact of Self-Care and Career Sustaining Behaviors on Perceived Stress, Secondary Traumatic Stress, Burnout, and Compassion Satisfaction in Counseling Interns.”, “Perceived Stress and Self-Care in Graduate Students Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic,” and “Developmental Perspectives on Multiculturalism and Social Justice Advocacy Competence in Counselor Education.”