Susan McCarthy is a Licensed Professional Counselor with over 34 years of experience working with young people in the public school setting as a professional school counselor. After graduating from college at the University of Florida in 1971, she moved to Atlanta and started her career as a classroom teacher in the secondary school setting. She recognized the emotional needs of the young people she taught and decided to pursue a career in the school-counseling field, earning two graduate degrees in Counseling Psychology at Georgia State University. Throughout the 30 plus years she spent in public education, Susan served as a professional school counselor at every school level from elementary to high school, which enabled her to work with students at every developmental level from early childhood through late adolescence.
Susan's interest in providing leadership in the school counseling field led her to work at the Georgia Department of Education as a school counseling consultant, where she was responsible for designing training programs for school counselors to enhance their professional development. As a consultant, she presented workshops throughout the state of Georgia on various topics relating to the school counselor field. She later served in an administrative capacity, directing a school counseling program in a local school system. . Additionally, Susan became involved in leadership activities through her professional association with the Georgia School Counselors Association. Her leadership activities included editing the professional journal and newsletter of the association, and serving as President of GSCA in 2005-2006. Susan plans to continue her support of professional school counseling programs by serving as a consultant to school systems who are looking to implement comprehensive counseling programs based on the American School Counselor Association's National Model for School Counseling Programs.
One of her specific areas of interest as an LPC is to assist young people in successfully negotiating the challenges of childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood by developing positive social skills, tools for academic success, and resources to explore the world of work and careers for their futures. Susan will be offering small group support sessions to students sharing common areas of need in personal development. She sees clients in the Marietta and Acworth offices.
