The PA Clinical Training Institute, a Pennsylvania Counseling Services division, is a leader in mental health education, offering comprehensive training for clinicians working in a variety of treatment settings.
We operate with two primary training components, the first is a OMHSAS approved training center and the second is specific training, consultation, and support in address problematic sexual behaviors in adolescents, which can be effective regardless of treatment setting.
Our mission is to foster professional growth and provide tailored education to address the unique challenges facing providers, families and caregivers in our communities. We emphasize flexibility, innovation, and connection, preparing professionals to make a lasting impact.
Since 1998, the PA Clinical Training Institute has been accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA), providing nationally recognized continuing education credits for psychologists, social workers, professional counselors, and marriage and family therapists.
Pennsylvania Counseling Services is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Pennsylvania Counseling Services maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
We offer four distinct training tracks designed to address emerging trends and unique challenges in mental health care. Each track is crafted to deepen expertise, improve outcomes, and enhance the quality of care for the families and communities we serve.
This track prepares clinicians to effectively manage cases involving problematic sexual behaviors, including pornography use, inappropriate technology use, sexualized interactions among adolescents, and sibling sexual abuse. It emphasizes family-based, evidence-informed solutions, focusing on systemic interventions and improving family dynamics to support recovery, healing, and healthy growth for both victims and their families.
This track is designed to focus on how the family system can be utilized as an agent for change in accurately assessing substance use disorders within the family, increasing engagement and employing motivational enhancement techniques. It emphasizes best practices for making appropriate referrals to substance use treatment when needed, ultimately supporting effective intervention and recovery through a systemic, family-centered approach.
This track delves deep into the systemic impact of trauma and substance use disorders within families. We will explore how comprehensive assessments can be integrated to effectively understand the influence of trauma on individual members and the family system as a whole. Particular emphasis is placed on examining intergenerational patterns of trauma and their effects on attunement, trust, and safety within the family dynamic. The training covers adult attachment theory, Ecosystemic Structural Family Therapy (ESFT), and other evidence-based trauma interventions, equipping clinicians to facilitate meaningful change.
By understanding how trauma is transmitted across generations, clinicians will be better prepared to address barriers to recovery, improve family engagement, and promote healing at both individual and systemic levels.
Addressing problematic sexual behavior among juveniles requires specialized skills and strategies. The PA Clinical Training Institute offers targeted training opportunities to equip clinicians with the tools necessary to intervene effectively and compassionately. With the rise of digital platforms influencing youth behaviors, this training is more critical than ever.
Our diverse faculty brings a wealth of expertise, perspectives, and real-world experience to our training programs. With a commitment to your growth, they provide dynamic, interactive learning environments designed to enhance your clinical skills and confidence.
Dr. Kimberly Ernest is the President of Pennsylvania Counseling Services and serves as a clinical leader, trainer, and supervisor within the Pennsylvania Clinical Training Institute. In her role, she helps guide clinical programming, supports clinicians and supervisors, and works to keep services grounded in evidence-based practice, systemic thinking, and the realities of community mental health care. Although much of her current work involves leadership and program development, she continues to stay connected to direct clinical care, supervision, and consultation.
Kimberly earned her Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Pennsylvania State University in 2006, her Master of Science in Experimental Psychology from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 2009, and her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the University of North Texas in 2013. She completed her internship at the VA North Texas Health Care System, where she received extensive training in trauma-informed care and evidence-based treatment for traumatic stress. She has been an independently licensed psychologist since 2014 and a Licensed Professional Counselor since 2015.
Kimberly has more than 18 years of experience working with individuals and families impacted by complex clinical and systemic challenges. Her background includes work in forensic and juvenile justice settings, community re-entry, problematic sexual behavior, substance use disorders, co-occurring mental health and substance use concerns, complex trauma, gambling and behavioral addictions, and systemic family work. She is certified by the Sexual Offender Assessment Board and is also a certified Juvenile Sexual Offender Treatment Provider. Across these areas, her work has focused on helping youth, adults, and families reduce risk, strengthen relationships, and remain safely connected to their homes and communities whenever possible.
In addition to her clinical and leadership roles, Kimberly has a long history of providing professional training to therapists, case managers, social workers, supervisors, prescribers, law enforcement, school personnel, and other community partners. She has taught undergraduate courses, presented at local and national conferences, and provided trainings for managed care organizations, school districts, grant-funded initiatives, community agencies, and treatment providers. Her training areas include problematic sexual behavior, adolescent and adult re-entry, family-based treatment, trauma-informed care, substance use and co-occurring disorders, clinical supervision, leadership, crisis management, de-escalation, and maintaining fidelity to evidence-based models while still honoring clinician style and client context.
Jennifer has been employed by Pennsylvania Counseling Services, Inc since 2005. Her current role in the organization is Executive Director of Children Services. Within this role she supports the operations of the various children services programs to ensure compliance and success of the programs. Jennifer provides support and guidance to supervisors and staff working at PCS locations across Central Pennsylvania.
Jennifer received her Bachelor of Science in Biology from Wilson College in 2000, completed a Master’s of Social Work in 2005 from Temple University and received her Clinical Social Worker License in 2009. Jennifer has served in the capacity of a Mobile Therapist/Behavioral Consultant, BHRS Administrator and Family Based Director. She has extensive knowledge and experience in community mental health and a passion for helping children and families.
Courtney Kramer serves as the Family Based Clinical Consultant for Franklin and Fulton Counties, where she provides clinical supervision to Family Based therapists through a systemic, attachment-informed, and structural lens. Her supervisory approach centers on developing clinicians’ confidence in their clinical voice while strengthening their ability to think in interactional patterns and systemic formulations in real time. She supports clinicians in understanding their therapeutic presence, cultural and personal intersectionality, and moment-to-moment clinical choices that shape the therapeutic system and treatment outcomes.
She approaches training and supervision through an experiential and growth-oriented lens to move from theoretical practice to in the room clinical precision. Courtney emphasizes the development of strong clinical conceptualization skills to track patterns, intervene strategically, and use therapeutic presence as an active change mechanism. She fosters therapist self-awareness and intentional use of self within the family system. Drawing from Eco-Systemic Structural Family Therapy (ESFT), she supports clinicians in understanding how patterns of interaction, emotion regulation, caregiver dynamics, and attachment experiences influence family functioning. Courtney is especially passionate about helping newer clinicians translate theory into practical interventions that foster safety, connection, and second order change within families.
Courtney earned her Bachelor of Science in Psychology from George Mason University in 2017 and her Master of Arts in Applied Clinical Psychology from Penn State-Harrisburg in 2019. She is currently pursuing her doctorate in Marriage and Family Therapy at National University with a specialization in children and adolescents, expected graduation in 2027.
Her clinical background spans Pennsylvania’s community mental health system, including roles as therapeutic staff support, adolescent partial hospitalization therapist, and several years as a certified Family Based Therapist. She has training and experience in Eco-Systemic Structural Family Therapy (ESFT), Structural Family Therapy, Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), experiential approaches, systemic approaches, and the Gottman Method.
Courtney continues to provide outpatient therapy services to adolescents, couples, and families. Her clinical work remains grounded in systemic and attachment-based models that prioritize emotional safety, relational repair, and strengthening family functioning across contexts.
Miranda serves as the Family Based Clinical Consultant for Dauphin County. In this role, she utilizes her passion for systems theory and the structural approach by providing supervision to family-based clinicians. Miranda works with supervisees to understand their own person of the therapist experiences and how this intersects with the culture and lived experience of the clientele, as well as how it impacts the therapeutic relationship. She also supports supervisees focusing on second order change by facilitating more functional in-session interactional experiences. In addition to her role as Clinical Consultant, Miranda also presently provides clinical supervision to those pursuing licensure, as an AAMFT Approved Supervisor. Miranda enjoys guiding new therapists in developing intentionality to their approach.
Miranda received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Sociology from La Salle University in 2015 and completed her Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapist in 2017 from La Salle University. From her training, she has expertise in Emotionally- Focused Therapy, Experiential, Play Therapy, Addictions and the Family System, and Structural Family Therapy. Complementary to her interest in relationships, Miranda presented at the Eastern Psychological Association Conference in 2015 on online dating habits.
In addition to her work as a family-based therapist, Miranda also has experience providing care for a variety of mental health and drug and alcohol clients. She is certified through the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs. Miranda facilitated an intensive outpatient program for high-risk drug and alcohol clients from August 2019 – January 2021. She has treated couples, co-parents, and families in her practice as an outpatient therapist. Miranda has experience treating clients struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, disordered eating, schizophrenia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Miranda can utilize her own clinical experience to inform her approach to training and supervision.
Deb Thomas has been employed by Pennsylvania Counseling Services since 2004 and serves as the Clinical Director of Children’s Services and trainer for Pennsylvania Clinical Training Institute (PCTI). She supervises Family Based Clinical Consultants across 10 counties in central PA, supporting growth and development to consultants and staff working towards supervisor and clinical competency in Eco-Systemic Structural Family Therapy.
Deb oversees and supervises master’s level interns as well as candidates for licensure both in group and individual supervision.
Deb has served in the capacity as a Family Based Clinical Consultant, Evaluator and as a Family Based Program Director. She has extensive knowledge and experience in ESFT and its delivery through the Family Based Program having evolved with several training sites and leading the operation of a systemic approach in team development and fidelity to this model of treatment. She became a certified ESFT supervisor in 2013 through the Center for Family Based Training.
Deb continues to treat clients in Outpatient Mental Health and coordinates heavily with service system providers and advises on referrals and provides advocacy for families and clinicians seeking family-based services.
Deb has a Contemplative Psychology background with her MA in psychology from Naropa University, Boulder Colorado and remains a LPC in Colorado where she held a private practice and provided both outpatient services as well as corporate mental health trainings.
Deb brings a trauma informed lens and over two decades of training in Mindfulness-Based approaches to both personal and inter-relational experience. Deb guides, trains, supervises, and leads from this foundation of expertise in contemplative, experiential interventions with emphasis on staff wellness, burnout prevention, and staff sustainability.
LEBANON, PA — February 23, 2026 Pennsylvania Counseling Services Inc. (PCS) is proud to announce its official approval by the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services’
Become part of a transformative training experience. Whether you’re looking to deepen your expertise, expand your clinical practice, or make a greater impact in family-based mental health services, the PA Clinical Training Institute is here to guide you.