Dr. Peeper McDonald

Hi, I'm Peeper McDonald (she/her), a Licensed Professional Counselor in Georgia and an Approved Clinical Supervisor. I hold a PhD in Counselor Education and Practice and am a National Certified Counselor.

My work centers on identity, how we come to understand who we are, especially when that understanding is shaped by race, culture, and the systems around us. I have a particular focus on Multiracial identity: what it's like to navigate a world that often expects people to fit into a single racial category, and the impact of experiences like racial mislabeling, color-blindness, and discrimination. As a Biracial, White-presenting/assumed person myself, this work is personal as well as professional, and I bring both lived understanding and clinical training to it.

I also work with counselors and supervisees on professional identity development, and with counseling participants navigating social justice and advocacy concerns more broadly. Alongside my clinical work, I'm an Associate Professor of Psychology and Counseling at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia, where I get to think about these questions in the classroom as well as the counseling room.

If you're looking for a counselor who understands the complexity of holding multiple identities at once, and the privilege and oppression that can exist within them simultaneously — I'd love to work with you.

My approach is grounded in constructivism, multicultural and social justice counseling, and an integration of Gestalt and feminist counseling. At the heart of this is a simple belief: you are the expert on your own life. My role isn't to tell you who to be or how to get there, it's to walk alongside you as you figure that out for yourself, offering support, perspective, and tools along the way.

I also believe we can't fully understand ourselves outside the context of our cultural heritage and identity. The systems, communities, and experiences that have shaped you matter in the counseling room, and I bring an awareness of race, culture, and identity into our work together rather than treating them as separate from your presenting concerns.

In session, that might look like exploring not just what you're going through, but the fuller picture around it, your history, your relationships, your sense of self, and helping you build a clearer understanding of who you are and what you need. I aim to meet you where you are, help you feel genuinely heard, and support you as a counseling participant moving toward the kind of growth and change that feels authentic to you.

Your first session is really about getting to know each other. I'll ask about what's bringing you to counseling, a bit about your background and what matters to you, and what you're hoping to get out of our work together, but there's no pressure to share everything right away. We'll go at whatever pace feels comfortable for you.

I'll also walk you through the practical side of things: confidentiality and its limits, how sessions work, and what you can expect from me as your counselor. Since I bring a multicultural and social justice lens to my work, I will also ask about your cultural background, identity, and the communities and systems that have shaped your life, not because there's a "right" answer, but because I believe that context matters in understanding the full picture of who you are.

Above all, my goal for that first session is for you to leave feeling heard and like you have a genuine sense of whether this feels like the right fit. Counseling works best when there's real trust and connection, so I see that first conversation as the start of building that together, not a formal evaluation.