Past President Bio


Mary O’Leary Wiley, Ph.D.
Pronouns: She/Her
Term: 2021-2022
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Dr. Wiley is a Board-Certified Counseling Psychologist. She received her doctorate from the University of Maryland in 1982, where she completed her pre-doctoral internship at the Counseling Center. Dr. Wiley received her bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Penn State and her master’s degree in Counseling from the University of Maryland.

Dr. Wiley served as staff psychologist at Ithaca College in New York from 1982-1985 and was appointed Director of the Counseling Center there from 1985-1988. She then moved to the Washington, DC area and began a private practice in 1989. This practice grew to include seven mental health specialists and was called Psychological Solutions in Gaithersburg, Maryland. She began practice in her native Altoona, Pennsylvania in 1995 and has been in full time independent practice there for 25 years.

Dr. Wiley specializes in the individual treatment of adults and college students experiencing depression, anxiety, panic attacks, relationship concerns, grief and loss, eating disorders, and adoption issues. She works with individuals with complex trauma histories and dissociative disorders.

Prior to her election as President of SCP, Dr. Wiley has been active in a variety of leadership roles in professional psychology:

  • American Board of Counseling Psychology, President (2016-2018), Practice Sample Chair (2010-2013), and Board member (2010-2019)
  • APA Committee on Rural Health (Member, 2019-2022)
  • Society of Counseling Psychology (SCP), Vice President for Professional Practice (2000-2003)
  • Pennsylvania Psychological Association (Emerging Leaders Program Team Leader (2015-2019), Membership Committee member (2011-2019) and Chair (2014-2015), PennPsyPAC Board (2017-2019), Practice Research Network (2009-2018), and Budget and Finance Committee (2009-2011)
  • SCP Chair, Section on Professional Practice (2012-2017), Section on Independent Practice (1998-2000) and member of Strategic Planning Group (2017-2019), SCP

Coordinator, Special Interest Groups (2009-2013), SCP Co-founder and Co-chair (2005-2014), Adoption Research and Practice Special Interest Group

  • SCP Chair, Membership Committee (2006-2008)
  • Chair, Counseling and Psychological Services Commission (1988-1990), American College Personnel Association

She has been active in research and publications in psychology:

  • Wiley, M. O. (2018). Adoption research, practice, and societal trends: Ten years of progress. American Psychologist.
  • Castonguay, L., Janis, L, et al. & Wiley, M. O. (2017). Clinicians’ prediction and recall of therapeutic interventions: Practice research network study. Counselling Psychology Quarterly.
  • Spayd, C. S. and Wiley, M. O. (2010). Closing a professional practice: Clinical and practical considerations (updated edition). The Pennsylvania Psychologist.
  • Baden, A. and Wiley, M. O. (2007). Counseling adoptees in adulthood: Empirical findings and their implications for practice and research, The Counseling Psychologist, 35, 232-290.
  • Wiley, M. O., and Baden, A. (2005). Birthparents in adoption: Research, practice and counseling psychology, The Counseling Psychologist, 33, 13-50.
  • Zamostny, K. P., Wiley, M. O., O’Brien, K. M., Lee, R. M., and Baden, A. L. (2003). Breaking the silence: Advancing knowledge about adoption for counseling psychologists, The Counseling Psychologist, 31, 647-650.
  • Zamostny, K. P., O’Brien, K. M., Baden, A., & Wiley, M. O. (2003). The practice of adoption:  History, trends and social context, The Counseling Psychologist31, 651-678.
  • Spayd, C. S. and Wiley, M. O. (2001) Closing a professional practice: Clinical and practical considerations. The Pennsylvania Psychologist. (Reprinted with permission in over ten state psychological association newsletters.)
  • Wiley, M. O., and Ray, P. B. (1986). Counseling supervision by developmental level. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 33, 439-445.
  • Gelso, C. J., Prince, J., Cornfeld, J. L., Payne, A. B., Royalty, G. M., and Wiley, M. O. (1985). The quality of counselors’ intake evaluations for clients whose problems are primarily vocational vs. personal. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 32, 339-347.
  •  Wiley, M. O., and Magoon, T. M. (1982). Holland high point Social types: Is consistency related to persistence an achievement? Journal of Vocational Behavior, 20, 14-21.