JoAnna White, EdD., LPC., CPCS, RPT/S, is Professor Emerita in the Department of Counseling and Psychological Services at Georgia State University. Dr. White founded the Play Therapy Training Program at Georgia State University where she taught for 24 years and served as Department Chair for 11 years. At Georgia State University, Dr. White co-founded the Georgia State Play Therapy Training Institute (approved by the Association for Play Therapy for training practicing play therapists in the southeast) for which she now serves as Director Emerita. Dr. White is a former President of the Association for Play Therapy and served on that association’s Board of Directors for six years. In her early career, she was a school counselor, and she spent many years providing play therapy for young children in the schools.
Dr. White has published over 50 research articles along with numerous books and book chapters. She has presented across the United States and in Europe on the topic of play therapy. Her research interests are focused on the effectiveness of play therapy and Kinder Training, an Adlerian-based model for training teachers to incorporate play therapy language in their relationships with students. Dr. White conducts her clinical practice and supervision from an Adlerian perspective. She developed the White-Campbell Psychological Birth Order Inventory, which has been researched in the United States and internationally.