Mrs. Lisa Holter earned a Bachelor's degree from Mayville State University (Mayville, ND), majoring in Psychology and minoring in Business Administration. She then attended the University of North Dakota (Grand Forks, ND), earning her Master of Arts degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. Mrs. Holter is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor and a Certified Counseling Supervisor (LPCC-S) in North Dakota. She has received the National Certified Counselor (NCC) credential from the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC). Additionally, she is a certified Prime for Life trainer, wherein she facilitates an evidence-based substance use prevention seminar for youth and young adults.

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Mrs. Holter started with the University of Mary in December 2014, serving the Graduate Counseling Program as a Program Director, Student Advisor and Assistant Professor. Prior to becoming an educator, Mrs. Holter spent 10+ years working with children and their families, first as an In-Home Family Therapist and then as the Director of the Lutheran Social Services of ND state-wide In-Home Family Therapy program. She actively supported the mission of the program to prevent out-of-home placement for North Dakota's at-risk youth.  Mrs. Holter has a passion for both counseling families and the education and supervision of future counselors.  As an LPCC, she provided family counseling services to the community through Abound Counseling in Fargo, ND. The combination of delivering education, supervision, and therapy offers her the most desirable career balance.

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Representing the University of Mary and the counseling department, she has been fortunate to serve as the Secretary, President-Elect, and then President for North Dakota Association of Counselor Educators and Supervisors (NDACES). She is also a member of the North Dakota Counseling Association (NDCA), the National Association for Counselor Educators and Supervisors (NACES), and the American Counseling Association (ACA), where she is serving a three-year term on the ACA Awards Committee. She was the 2018 recipient of the NDACES Robert C. Nielsen Supervisor of the Year Award. She served as a member of the Fargo, ND Addiction Training Consortium Board from 2014-2021, wherein she collaborated with addiction facilities and team members to meet the training needs of future addiction counselors in the state of ND.  

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Her favorite aspect of her job is walking with students, clients, and colleagues to pursue their personal and professional goals. She offers a strength-based approach to counseling families and looks for ways to facilitate hope and healing. Regarding supervision, she uses a  humanistic, person-centered lens, striving to consider the supervisee's desires, strengths, and abilities in the approach. Additionally, through a solution-focused lens, she uses immediacy to discover their internal skills and abilities.  Using a collaborative approach with the supervisee, they define the vision of the counselor that they want to become and set goals accordingly. She operates under the theoretical approaches of the Integrated Developmental Model (IDM) and Discrimination models.

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She feels honored to be a part of student's, client's, and new counselor's journeys and is grateful to work under the Benedictine Values and steadfast leadership at the University of Mary and with the great NDCA/NDACES network of counselors, educators, and supervisors in North Dakota.