PhD, is an associate professor of counseling at Montclair State University. His research focuses on Black men’s wellness, with attention to their roles as fathers, leaders, clients, and counselor educators. He has been a contributor to organizations such as Autism Speaks, Thrive Global, Fusion, as well as The Huffington Post. His book, Black Fathering and Mental Health, will be published in the fall of 2021. He is an associate editor of The Journal of Humanistic Counseling.
Marja Humphrey, PhD, NCC, is an assistant professor in the school counseling program at Bowie State University. Her research focuses on counselor preparation, leadership, wellness, and online learning. Her publications have examined multicultural counseling, counselor self-care, and counselor leadership development. She is currently serving as the cochair for the Emerging Leaders program with the Maryland Counseling Association and represents Bowie State University with the Maryland Consortium for Adjunct Faculty Professional Development.
Amber Lange, PhD, LPC, CAADC, is director of external partnerships at Capella University. Her past roles include core faculty and department chair for Capella’s CMHC (Clinical Mental Health Counseling) and CES CACREP-accredited programs. She recently sold a mental health practice specializing in sexual health, infidelity, and betrayal. She has been counseling and working in higher education for almost 20 years.
Anita M. Pool, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Counseling at the University of the Cumberlands, where she teaches in the master’s and doctoral programs. She serves in various leadership capacities for her department, including director of counseling admissions and doctoral residency coordinator. She has a special interest in qualitative research and serves as a qualitative methodologist on dissertation committees. Additional professional interests include the training and supervision of school counselors and counseling with children and adolescents.
Devon E. Romero, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Counseling at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). Her research focuses on studying trauma, child development, and integrative and complementary interventions such as neurofeedback and mindfulness. She serves as co-faculty advisor for the Neurofeedback Society of UTSA, chapter faculty advisor for the Sigma Alpha Chi Chapter of Chi Sigma Iota, and assistant editor for the Chi Sigma Iota Exemplar newsletter (2019–2022).
Daniel C. Rosen, PhD, is chair and professor in the Department of Counseling and Health Psychology at Bastyr University and was the founding codirector of the Daniel K. Church Center for Social Justice and Diversity. His scholarship is focused on applying psychological science to develop interventions that promote culturally responsive clinical care and decrease the racial/cultural biases that underlie existent health disparities. He has a private practice in Seattle, Washington.
Corrine R. Sackett, PhD, is an associate professor of counselor education at Clemson University. She is primarily a qualitative researcher who focuses on topics related to experiences of the counseling process, advocacy surrounding societal issues, and supervision. She has published in ACA journals including the Journal of Counseling & Development, Counselor Education and Supervision, and the Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development. She is also a licensed marriage and family therapist in North Carolina.
Christine Sacco-Bene, PhD, is a clinical associate professor in the rehabilitation counseling program in the School of Medicine at the University of South Carolina. Her research interests focus on student professional identity development, teaching and mentoring, and working with individuals and families with disabilities. Her leadership roles include serving the American Rehabilitation Counseling Association as the public relations and awareness director (2019– 2020; 2020–2022) and as a board member for Lift Disability Network in Florida. Foremost are her roles as wife and mother.
Jodi L. Tangen, PhD, NCC, ACS, is an assistant professor and the counselor education program coordinator at North Dakota State University. She focuses her research on spirituality, relational depth, and social justice and diversity. She is also the proud mama of two delightful young children!
Andrew W. Wood, PhD, NCC, is an assistant professor of counseling and the mental health counseling track coordinator at the University of Cincinnati. His research interests primarily focus on psychosocial issues in cancer care and health as well as social justice and activism. His role as a counselor educator includes understanding the role of advocacy for students from an ecological perspective and integrating radical mental health theories and pedagogy into his teaching alongside traditional perspectives.
Chapter 1
Introduction
Cassandra A. Storlie and Barbara Herlihy
In this brief introductory chapter, we share how this book came into being and provide an overview of its organization. Part I focuses generally on culturally responsive counseling leadership and counselor leadership in the field. Part II profiles 13 leaders and advocates in the counseling profession. And Part III provides a synthesis and some concluding thoughts on how you might make the best use of what you have read.
Book Development and Organization
Our plan for creating this book began serendipitously with a series of informal conversations that we enjoyed during breaks at the meetings of a national counseling organization in which we both held leadership positions at the time. We found that we shared a keen interest in leadership and advocacy and were excited to see how the counseling profession’s attention to these topics has grown in recent years. We talked about how much we had enjoyed Leaders and Legacies: Contributions to the Profession of Counseling (West et al., 2003), and as we talked, we realized that this was the most recent book that profiled leaders in our field—and nearly two decades had gone by since it was published. Some of the leaders profiled then are still active in the counseling profession and continue to make significant new contributions, others are no longer living, and some new leaders have emerged in recent times. With consultation and the inspiration of a decades’ long counseling leader, we recognized the need for a text that holistically integrated leadership and advocacy insights from current counseling leaders. It was time for a new work!
As we discussed our ideas about how to organize this book, an outline emerged for a book with three parts. These parts would capture the phenomena of counseling leadership and advocacy in counseling, the stories of individuals who have advanced our profession as leaders and advocates, and the “common threads” that unify the contributions they have made. Furthermore, it was imperative for us to emphasize practical guidance for counselors, counselor educators, and counseling students who aspire to be leaders and advocates.
Part I: Perspectives on Leadership & Advocacy in Counseling
Part I highlights current perspectives on leadership and advocacy in our profession. In addition to this chapter, two chapters provide information critical to the growth and development of new counseling leaders. In selecting this framework, we wanted readers to better understand key historical aspects of the development of the counseling profession while also considering the current social climate, particularly the impact of racial and ethnic injustices that have been prevalent throughout U.S. history. Likewise, we wanted newer professionals to have a clearer sense of what leadership and advocacy looks like on the job, to supplement what they had learned in the classroom.