Joni Gilbertson, MA, NCC, LCPC, is a licensed clinical professional counselor, court program specialist and credentialed distance counselor. She is licensed in Illinois and presently resides in Florida. Joni is also a college instructor in the Sociology Department where she teaches legal issues and numerous other mental health and criminal justice classes. She recently was nominated and presented with the award for “Teachers Who Make a Difference” due to her engaging and dynamic style of teaching.

Joni is the owner/founder of COPE Counseling Services, LLC. These centers specialize in family treatment for both adults and children and court-ordered programming for people within the court system. Joni is also certified in domestic violence facilitation, sex offender training, distance counseling and selective creative therapies that enhance client awareness.

Joni has many years of experience working in law enforcement as a probation officer and chief of probation where she was directly responsible for training the staff on ethics and legal issues, suicide awareness, and other work-related topics. She has experience supervising a mental health staff and experience as a prison therapist where she trained the officers and mental health staff on legal issues, ethics, and other relative topics. She has given numerous trainings and lectures for agencies, hospitals, and universities on ethics, legal issues, mental health and suicide prevention.

Speaker Disclosures: Financial: Joni Gilbertson is owner of COPE Counseling Services. She receives a speaking honorarium from PESI, Inc. Non-financial: Joni Gilbertson has no relevant non-financial relationship to disclose.