Daphne J. Johnson, LPCS, MS, is a counselor and the owner of Wise Counsel Behavioral Health Agency. Ms. Johnson celebrates more than 25 years of expertise in counseling and mental health, including working with families, children, youth, and patients referred to her for substance use disorders and counseling following DWI charges. Her interest in a career in behavioral health began at a young age: raised in an economically disadvantaged neighborhood in Houston, Texas, Ms. Johnson saw families around her impacted heavily by poverty, mental health issues, and a lack of access to care. While local churches and community organizations were able to meet some of these unaddressed needs, many continued to need more help than was available to them.
Inspired by these early experiences and her natural ability to connect with others, Ms. Johnson felt called to work in the community and to provide others with the additional help that they were not able to secure. She attended Bay Ridge Christian College, earning a Bachelor of Religious Education in Christian education and psychology in 1987. She continued her education through the 1990s, earning a Master of Science in counseling at Jackson State University in 1995. Throughout her career, she has pursued extensive continuing professional development and holds certifications in anger management and trauma-informed cognitive behavioral therapy, in addition to a certified Christian counselor credential. Her decision to work in mental health was further cemented by her extensive experience as a foster parent. After working in the foster system for over 15 years, Ms. Johnson recognized that the majority of the 110 children she fostered had experienced significant trauma or had unmet health care and emotional support needs.
In 2008, Ms. Johnson started Wise Counsel Behavioral Health Agency, where she continues to see patients in private practice. Her practice focuses on working with families, children, and adolescent patients with a broad range of diagnoses, including co-morbid mental health diagnoses, depression, trauma, and other challenges. She offers counseling informed by methodologies including gestalt therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and other strategies and is dedicated to providing each patient with a personally tailored, empathetic approach to overcoming the challenges that brought them to treatment. In recent years, she has expanded her clinical focus to work with a broader range of patients, including those referred to her by the court system. She is certified in alcohol and drug counseling and currently sees patients for treatment after DUI and DWI convictions. Ms. Johnson is working toward completing her certification and licensure to treat registered sex offenders.
Outside her private practice, Ms. Johnson has worked in hospital-based settings and with the juvenile court system. Between 2006 and 2010, she was a special education teacher for the Harris County Juvenile Probation Department, and between 2008 and 2012, she was contracted as a therapist by the Healthbridge Children’s Hospital. She remains active in her community as a church elder and choir member at Love Ministries Fellowship Church, where she also serves as a volunteer peer counselor. Ms. Johnson is a member of the American Association of Christian Counselors and the Association of Sex Offender Treatment. She credits her professional success to her hard work, consistency, and compassion, and considers earning her LPC and counselor supervisor credentials to have been the highlights of an exciting career.
In the coming years, Ms. Johnson plans to open a nonprofit social service organization to help families, women, and children who do not have insurance access counseling and mental health support services without financial obstacles. In her personal time, Ms. Johnson is an avid writer and has completed several children’s books and personal memoirs. She looks forward to completing “Miracle in Motion,” a biography of overcoming illness, and is pursuing publication options.