My name is Jonathan Colvson. I’m a licensed clinical social worker practicing in Philadelphia on the unceded lands of the Lenni-Lenape people. While I am continually exploring and discovering new facets of my identity, I find the terms “biracial,” “BIPOC,” and “mixed” most fitting to describe my racialized self. I use he, him, and his pronouns. 

I became interested in therapy through my own healing experiences. In addition to my Master of Social Work degree, I have sought advanced training in psychodynamic, gestalt, and cognitive-behavioral therapies such as ACT and DBT to better serve my clients. My therapeutic approach integrates these modalities with genuineness, warmth, curiosity, and compassion. For me, these are the baseline for all human connection and understanding.

My clinical experience is primarily with adults, especially college and graduate students, identifying as LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, and International Immigrants. I have supported individuals with a range of challenges and experiences including identity work, trauma, anxiety, grief, self-doubt, life transitions, depression, OCD, relationship concerns, ADHD, and autism.

Therapy works best when there is a strong alliance between therapist and client, when the goals and focus of therapy are collaboratively established, and when the work is flexibly tailored to the complexity of unique individual contexts. Therefore I believe it is crucial to acknowledge the role of unequal power, privilege, and oppression in constraining our individual and collective flourishing. I am growing in my knowledge of somatic abolitionism, liberation psychology, and social justice frameworks to resist and respond to these destructive realities.

When I am not nerding out about psychotherapy and the complexity of the human experience, I can be found dabbling in painting, poetry, and music, spending time with loved ones, and enjoying peaceful moments of solitary stillness.