Co-Founder & Managing Member of BHP Collective & Director of Clinical Training
Clinical Snapshot:
Dr. Donica Harper is a licensed psychologist, Maryland Approved Clinical Supervisor, and culturally competent evaluator whose work centers the people most often misread, under tested, or pathologized by traditional assessment models. She specializes in comprehensive psychological evaluations for children, teens, and adults navigating ADHD, autism, learning differences, executive functioning challenges, identity development, and complex trauma, with reports designed to support IEPs, 504 plans, college level accommodations, workplace accommodations, veteran Disability Benefits Questionnaire (DBQ) documentation, and law enforcement evaluations. She also serves as an Educational Advocate and Executive Functioning Coach for the neurospicy community, drawing on her clinical training and her own lived experience with neurodivergence and chronic pain to meet clients with empathy that does not require translation. With a decade of focused work alongside veterans, military personnel, and law enforcement officers, plus organizational consulting for small and mid sized businesses and workshops delivered for large transit agencies and behavioral health group practices, Dr. Harper brings doctoral level clinical depth, cultural fluency, and applied workplace experience to every client and partner she serves. Available in person in Edgewood, MD and via telehealth across Maryland and DC.
Full Bio:
Dr. Donica Harper is a licensed psychologist, Maryland Approved Clinical Supervisor, and culturally competent evaluator whose work centers the people most often misread, under tested, or pathologized by traditional assessment models. Her practice is grounded in a simple belief: every person deserves to be seen accurately, named correctly, and supported in a way that actually fits their life.
At the heart of her work is comprehensive psychological assessment for children, teens, and adults navigating neurodivergence, learning differences, attention concerns, identity development, and complex trauma. She specializes in evaluations for individuals who need formal accommodations to thrive in school, at work, or in everyday life. Whether the goal is an IEP, a 504 plan, workplace accommodations, college level support, or simply clarity after years of being misunderstood, Dr. Harper delivers evaluations that are thorough, humanizing, and clinically useful long after the report is delivered. Her culturally responsive approach moves beyond Eurocentric testing norms and centers the lived realities of BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, immigrant, and multilingual clients.
Dr. Harper is also an Educational Advocate and Executive Functioning Coach for the neurospicy community, a community embraced term for neurodivergent folx who experience ADHD, learning differences, autism, and other ways of thinking, feeling, and being. Her coaching draws from both her clinical training and her own lived experience with neurodivergence and chronic pain, which allows her to meet clients with empathy that does not require translation. She helps clients and families build sustainable systems for focus, follow through, energy management, school and workplace self advocacy, and the kind of self compassion that holds up on hard days.
For the past decade, Dr. Harper has worked closely with veterans and law enforcement officers, and this population remains a central focus of her evaluation practice. She conducts psychological evaluations for veterans, including Disability Benefits Questionnaire (DBQ) evaluations and trauma related diagnostic clarification, as well as evaluations for active and retired law enforcement officers navigating the distinct psychological demands of high stakes occupational service. Her long standing relationship with these communities is informed by her graduate training in military culture and families and a decade of applied work alongside service members and first responders.
Beyond clinical work, Dr. Harper consults with small and mid sized businesses on employee wellness, management and staff relations, motivation, retention, and the human dynamics that drive or drain a team. She has delivered workshops for organizations including the large transit agencies and local mental health clinics and group practices on wellness, cultural humility and awareness, emotional resiliency, burnout prevention, and culturally intelligent leadership. As a Maryland Approved Clinical Supervisor whose doctoral dissertation focused on clinical supervision, she also brings deep expertise to workshops and facilitated trainings on supervisory practice, professional development, reflective leadership, and the systems that shape how people grow inside their work. Her consulting blends doctoral level clinical psychology with applied experience inside real workplaces, giving her a practical lens that resonates with executives, HR teams, and frontline staff alike.
Dr. Harper earned her Doctorate of Philosophy in Psychology with a concentration in Clinical Psychology from Fielding Graduate University, where her dissertation focused on clinical supervision. She also holds a Master’s degree in Psychology with a specialization in Military Culture and Families from Adler University, a graduate certificate in Professional Counseling Studies from the University of Baltimore, and dual Bachelor’s degrees in Psychology and Biology from Winston-Salem State University. She is a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional with additional training in Brainspotting and Narrative Trauma Therapy, and her clinical frameworks are informed by narrative therapy, feminist theory, trauma informed care, and culturally responsive assessment practices.
MD Psychologist License: 07520
MD LCPC License: LC9329
DC LCPC License: PRC200001195