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Dr. Jeff Peterson is a Licensed Independent Mental Health Counselor, a National Board-Certified Counselor, a Clinical Supervisor, and an Assistant Professor in the School of Education and Counseling at Wayne State College in Wayne, Nebraska. Prior to this, he operated two very successful clinical practices, Denver Psychotherapy in Denver, Colorado and Kansas City Psychotherapy in Kansas City, Missouri. He also taught at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs, Colorado; Argosy University in Denver, Colorado; Avila University in Kansas City, Missouri; and Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

Over the past decade Dr. Peterson served as a faculty mentor for the QUAD Innovation Alliance, a joint-university collaboration between the United States Air Force Academy and the University of Colorado, developing best-practices for in-school suicide prevention, intervention, and treatment planning. Throughout his career he has been heavily involved in promoting multicultural inclusivity within the classroom and community.

Dr. Peterson was the co-founder and organizer of the Healthcare Guild, which has now merged with the Outcare Health – www.outcarehealth.org" Ìý, a national non-profit organization dedicated to helping sexual and gender minorities find affirming and culturally competent health care. He also continues to serve on the editorial review board for the American Counseling Association’s Journal of LGBT Issues in Counseling and as a faculty advisor for Chi Sigma Iota Graduate Counseling Honor Society, which focuses on promoting the development of future leaders in the field of clinical mental health counseling.

Dr. Peterson’s research utilizes relational cultural theory, which centers on the importance of developing positive growth-fostering relationships. He helps clinicians and educators develop positive and dynamic multicultural learning experiences in both their classrooms and clinical practice. This includes advocating for a more inclusive environment by addressing issues surrounding aversion, shame, anger, racism, sexism, and heterosexism. Most recently, Dr. Peterson has been a strong advocate for incorporating more Self-Care training as part of the CACREP-Accredited clinical mental health counselor core curriculum.