Joshua Stanley
Assistant Professor of Counselor Education
My approach to counselor education is rooted in the belief that learning, much like counseling, is a deeply relational process. I am passionate about creating classroom and supervision spaces where students feel both challenged and supported as they cultivate their unique clinical identities. In my work as a counselor and clinical supervisor, I specialize in identity exploration and development, particularly around sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as navigating religious harm and spiritual trauma, and the complex intersections where these experiences meet. As an Assistant Professor of Practice, I bring this real-world clinical focus directly into the classroom, aiming to prepare thoughtful, culturally responsive, self-reflective practitioners who are equipped to walk alongside clients through their most nuanced and personal journeys.
- EdD, Counselor Education & Supervision, Argosy University
- MS, Counseling, Austin Peay State University
- BS, Psychology, Austin Peay State University
Biography
Joshua Stanley, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Practice in the Department of Counselor Education at Stetson University. A licensed mental health counselor, certified school counselor, national certified counselor, and approved clinical supervisor, his career spans 17 years across counselor education, higher education administration, P-12 school counseling, and clinical practice.
Prior to joining the faculty at Stetson, Stanley accumulated extensive higher education leadership experience, including serving most recently as Vice President of Institutional Effectiveness and previously as Dean of the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Capella University. His academic leadership portfolio encompasses managing comprehensive graduate and undergraduate offerings in behavioral health and education, serving as a full-time counselor education faculty member, and holding administrative appointments as chair and interim assistant dean.
Before his work in higher education leadership, Stanley held a range of counseling and educational positions. He worked as an elementary and high school counselor in Tennessee, served at the district level as school counseling program specialist, and at the state level as coordinator of high school transition and secondary intervention for the Tennessee Department of Education. In addition to his academic roles, Stanley maintains a private counseling practice in Orlando, specializing in identity exploration and development, relational dynamics, and healing from religious harm and trauma.
Stanley earned his doctorate in Counselor Education and Supervision from Argosy University (Nashville), and holds both a master’s degree in counseling and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Austin Peay State University. He has also completed post-graduate coursework in human sexuality and systemic couple and family therapy.
More About Joshua Stanley
Areas of Expertise
- Counselor Preparation & Clinical Supervision
- Identity Exploration & Development
- School Counseling & School-Based Mental Health
- Sexuality, Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity
- Religious Harm & Trauma
Course Sampling
- Career Counseling
- Counseling Children and Adolescents
- Human Development
- Human Relations Methods and Skills
- Sexuality Counseling
- Theories of Counseling
- LGBTQIA+ Identity Exploration & Affirming Clinical Practice
- Religious Harm, Trauma, & Faith Deconstruction/Reconciliation
- Intersectionality of Identity, Systemic Dynamics, & Counselor Training
- P–12 School Counseling Leadership & Program Development
- Clinical Supervision Models & Counselor Development
- Stanley, J. (2020). I wasn’t trained for that: Educators as mental health responders. In B. Durodoye & R. Bryant (Eds.), From disagreement to discourse: A chronicle of controversies in schooling and education. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.