Harleysville Man, Disabled Vet, Works To Open Counseling Practice

HARLEYSVILLE, PA — For years, Harleysville resident Jonathan Bittner served his nation, traveling overseas and and fighting in the mountains of Afghanistan. His service came with a price: he left the Middle East with post traumatic stress disorder and a serious brain injury.

However, he was not ready to stop serving.

Back home in Montgomery County, Bittner is now working to find a new way to serve the community: opening his own private counseling practice.

"After putting in a lot of work to return to some sense of normal, Jon purposed himself to go back to school in an effort to find his purpose in giving back and helping others," write Lauren Bittner in a GoFundMe campaign. "Jon returned to school after multiple drop outs and is now set to graduate with his Master's in Clinical and Counseling Psychology with a focus in trauma and will be starting his PsyD doctoral program in Counseling Psychology."

Bittner has bought furniture and is working on a lease to get his business up and running in the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia. But he did not receive enough of a loan from the bank to get things off the ground.

Thus far, he's raised about $2,400 from 30 donors in the effort. He has a campaign goal of $34,000.

To learn more and donate to the effort, see the GoFundMe campaign here.