Jonathan Durst has more than 20 years of experience as a people helper focusing on serving individuals, families, and organizations. He received his formal education from St. John’s University in Psychology and from Ashland Theological Seminary in Clinical Pastoral Counseling.  He is currently licensed in New York as a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (L.M.H.C.) and in Virginia as a Licensed Professional Counselor (L.P.C.).  Jonathan has served his local church as a youth and an associate pastor prior to his profession in counseling.  Early in his career, he had experiences working in several capacities of community mental healthcare in a wide variety of settings.  He developed his outpatient counseling experience working at EMERGE Ministries in Akron, Ohio.  Jonathan has since worked as a supervisor and clinical director, developed satellite counseling centers, partnered and consulted with churches and organizations, helped train future Christian counselors as an adjunct instructor, provided leadership and mental health training internationally, and has served on a few national mental healthcare committees. Most recently, before coming to Light Counseling, Jonathan was the founder and CEO of Bedrock Counseling Ministries, a Christian outpatient counseling clinic located in Syracuse, New York.  It was out of his faith and obedience to God that Jonathan and his family relocated to Virginia for this next chapter of serving others. 

Jonathan’s number one ministry is to his family.  He strives to love God with all of his heart and is continually broken by both God’s goodness and His direction.  He is blessed and honored to be married to Carmen and they have 3 children; Alicia, Matthew, and Gabriela.