Karon Ivey, LMHC, Community Based Services Director
Karon Ivey is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, originally from Delaware and moved to Florida as a child. Karon was awarded the Presidential Scholarship from Jacksonville University, where she earned a degree in Marketing/Management in 1991. Karon realized what intrigued her about the field of Marketing was the area of psychology, so she attended the University of North Florida to earn her Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology in 1996. After completing her Master’s Degree, she began working at Child Guidance Center in a school based treatment team in 1997 where she worked with a team of professionals with severely emotional disturbed elementary school aged children. She transitioned into a community therapist providing individual and family treatment in the home and schools and later joined the CGC Outpatient Program.
Based on these varied service deliveries, Karon developed a passion for the Full Service Schools Program, which Child Guidance Center helped develop with collaborating partners in 1990. Karon believes in meeting clients and families where they are, and the Full Service Schools Program allows staff to do that. Karon was promoted to Program Director of the Full Service Schools Program in 2008. Building on Karon’s experience of delivering services in the community, she became the Director of Community Based Services in 2015, overseeing other community based programs in addition to Full Service Schools. She leads the community Infant Mental Health programs, in addition to home based behavioral health services, with an emphasis on collaboration with community partnerships to further reach Jacksonville’s families in need of mental health support.
Karon is a qualified licensure supervisor and provides clinical supervision and mentoring to mental health therapists new to the field. She finds inspiration in being able to pass on the valuable experience she received from her mentors and supervisors during her time in the profession. Karon has extensive training in trauma informed care and interventions such as Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, EMDR, Dialectal Behavior Therapy, Solution Focused Therapy, play therapy as well as family system interventions.