Joeseph Kertesz, MA, LCMHC, NCC
I am proud to be a North Carolina Licensed Mental Health Counselor and would be pleased to serve you in that capacity. I
work with late adolescents and adults in individual, couples and family therapy. I focus on problems related
to anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, personality disorders, adjustment
reactions, grief, sexual concerns, and general stresses and concerns of living. I also assist with the
emotional aspects of physical problems. I earned a master’s degree from Michigan State University.
Following that, I completed four years of study toward a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology at MSU that
included a clinical internship at a community mental health center in Mason, Michigan. I completed the
Family Studies Curriculum at Duke University Medical Center. I was a faculty member at Duke University
Medical Center for 20 years with appointments in the Departments of Family Medicine and Psychiatry. I
am currently a Professor of Family Medicine with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I was
awarded the North Carolina Mental Health Counselor of the Year in 2017 and National Mental Health
Counselor of the Year for 2018-2019.
I believe that emotional concerns are caused by a combination of factors. These include pressures a person
is experiencing in life, how the person learned to react to life circumstances, and inherent qualities of a
person’s personality. Helping a person work through emotional concerns requires an understanding of how
and why an issue is happening, expressing emotions related to the events, and the ability to make changes
in behaviors. My work can help guide this process, but the person receiving counseling does the work both
during the sessions and, more importantly, between the sessions. Rarely does this involve a quick cure.
More frequently it requires time, patience and sometimes looking at some upsetting parts of a person’s life.
True change often takes courage and the passage of time.
I can be reached by emailing me at: joe.kertesz@gmail.com.