Dr. K. Joseph "Joe" Wittemann

Dr. K. Joseph “Joe” Wittemann is a licensed professional counselor in Georgia with 40 years of clinical experience. He brings decades of practical insight and developed skills to his work, and he holds licensure as a professional counselor in Georgia (LPC number LPC003801).

As an immigrant, Dr. Wittemann understands the experience of displacement, separation, and assimilation. He has lived through life stages that include single parenting, completing formal education, remarriage, and a career transition. He has also experienced unhappiness, fear, loneliness, and episodes of depression, and when those challenges exceeded his own resources he sought professional help.

His first career was in education, where he taught and worked with students for almost 25 years. Early in that period he helped establish the Teen Institute on Alcohol and Drugs in Ohio, which led to a 40-year involvement with adults in addiction recovery programs that he continues today.

In his second career he supported organizations and industries through major change initiatives. In that role he assisted individuals facing forced separation, transfers, and loss, and mentored leaders responsible for navigating difficult organizational changes. He also serves as a consultant to a crisis response group that supports companies experiencing workforce disruption.

Dr. Wittemann recognizes the courage it takes to ask for help and views the counseling relationship as a sacred trust. He protects that trust and commits the time spent in sessions solely to the benefit of the person he is working with. He holds the belief that individuals have an inherent sense of what is beneficial for them, and he works collaboratively to affirm those insights and to explore opportunities for growth rather than simply cataloging problems.

He approaches counseling as a conversation in which his role is to clarify the concerns a person brings and to help identify practical solutions. Early in the work he asks for clarification to better understand core and related issues, and he will involve other health care professionals when medication is a relevant consideration.

Dr. Wittemann uses a pragmatic approach that emphasizes education and goal setting. He incorporates cognitive processing and mindfulness as key components of ongoing mental well-being, focusing on how thinking influences feeling and behavior. He also considers how brain chemistry contributes to stress responses and teaches clients strategies to manage those reactions.

Sessions are generally scheduled for 45 to 60 minutes to allow fuller exploration of concerns and time to work toward resolution.