John Burns

John Burns, LCSW, is the founder of Montgomery Counseling Group and a trauma specialist, offering EMDR, clinical hypnosis, and compassionate, client-centered care.

John’s career traversed multiple healthcare settings. He started as a Youth Counselor in adolescent residential treatment, then transitioned to addiction medicine, working in both inpatient and outpatient clinics. His career trajectory included senior management roles in large social service agencies, ultimately leading to the founding of Montgomery Counseling Group (MCG) in 2018.

John Burns, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker for over thirty years,  has lived a life guided by a profound piece of advice from a high school teacher: “There are two forms of blindness: eyesight and insight. Never stop looking.” This philosophy has deeply influenced both his professional career and his 50-year passion for photography, which he sees as a unique way of capturing human stories frozen in time.
His professional journey began with a fascination for human complexity, rooted in his love for English Literature and endless curiosity about human behavior. Inspired by the Utilization Approach of psychiatrist Milton Erickson, John developed a therapeutic method that leverages each patient’s unique experiences, talents, and internal resources rather than focusing primarily on symptoms.