About
Dr. Joshua Cohen
Licensed Psychologist · Therapeutic Placement Consultant
Licensed psychologist, founder of Cohen Psychological Health Providers, and founder of Therapeutic Placement Consultation, LLC. He has spent decades working with adolescents, adults, and families navigating complex mental health challenges.
Clinical Psychology — Michigan State University, 2000
President, Maryland Psychological Association
States visited personally
Why This Work
How It Started
It started in 2009 — a NATSAP convention in Henderson, Nevada, followed by a few days visiting programs in Southern Utah. Dr. Cohen was enamored with what he found: the people, the programs, the work being done. It was different than anything he had encountered in his clinical career.
Hearing participants describe the changes they had made — and what those changes meant for their families — was unlike anything he had experienced before. He started building his placement practice slowly, and has been doing it ever since.
“When I get a call from a family in dire straits and I can help provide access to a place of refuge — while feeling confident that the work we do together will bring the change that is so desperately needed — that is a feeling of accomplishment that doesn’t exist anywhere else in my professional life.”
— Dr. Joshua Cohen
Background & Career
2002 — Present
Founder and director of Cohen Psychological Health Providers in Rockville, Maryland — a private psychotherapy practice treating adolescents and adults. Alongside clinical work, developed deep expertise in Therapeutic Placement Consultation.
1998 — 2002
Clinical work across a range of settings, including an HIV/AIDS clinic in Baltimore and the University of Maryland School of Medicine‘s Infectious Disease clinic.
1993 — 1998
Masters and Ph.D. Clinical Psychology program at Michigan State University. Clinical work remained the primary focus throughout. Pre-doctoral internship at Springfield Hospital Center, a state psychiatric hospital in Sykesville, Maryland.
1992 — 1993
Research assistant in a pharmacology laboratory at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Work resulted in published research in professional journals.
1988 — 1992
B.A., Psychology — American University, Washington, D.C. (transferred from Muskingum College, Ohio). Active in the National Honor Society for Psychology and psychology department committees.
Leadership and Recognition
A Leader in His Field
Dr. Cohen has been an active leader in the Maryland Psychological Association — an organization with approximately 1,200 members statewide — for more than a decade.
Elected President, Maryland Psychological Association
Outstanding Volunteer Contributions Award, MPA
Guest Editor, The Maryland Psychologist — Residential Treatment Programs
As President, he led the Board of Directors and Executive Committee, engaged in legislative processes, and testified before Senate and House Committees in Annapolis on issues including mental health and gun control legislation.
He chaired the MPA Legislative Committee from 2014 to 2017, and in 2025 joined the NATSAP Public Affairs Committee.
Credentials
✓ Licensed Psychologist, State of Maryland
✓ PsyPACT Certified
✓ Ph.D., Clinical Psychology — Michigan State University, 2000
✓ M.A., Clinical Psychology — Michigan State University, 1997
✓ B.A., Psychology — American University, 1991
✓ President, Maryland Psychological Association, 2012–2013
✓ Chairperson, MPA Legislative Committee, 2014–2017
✓ NATSAP Public Affairs Committee, 2025–present
✓ Outstanding Volunteer Contributions Award, MPA, 2015
✓ Guest Editor, The Maryland Psychologist, Vol. 69(1), 2024
✓ Member, IECA
✓ Member, NATSAP
✓ Founder, Cohen Psychological Health Providers
✓ Founder, Therapeutic Placement Consultation, LLC