PRESS RELEASE
Wesley Jackson Wade Awarded $11,000 Counseling Fellowship From NBCC and Affiliates
Durham, NC—The NBCC Foundation, an affiliate of the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC), recently selected Wesley Jackson Wade, of Morrisville, NC, for the NBCC Minority Fellowship Program-Addictions Counselors (MFP-AC). As an NBCC MFP-AC Fellow, Wade will receive funding and training to support his education and facilitate his addictions counseling service to underserved minority transition-age youth (ages 16–25).
The NBCC MFP-AC is made possible by a grant awarded to NBCC by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) in September 2014. The Foundation is contracted by NBCC to administer the NBCC MFP-AC, as well as training and collaboration activities, such as webinars, that are open to all National Certified Counselors (NCCs). The goal of the program is to reduce health disparities and improve behavioral health care outcomes for racially and ethnically diverse populations by increasing the available number of culturally competent behavioral health professionals.
The NBCC MFP will distribute $11,000 to Wade and the other master’s-level addictions counseling students selected to receive the fellowship award. Wade is a graduate of North Carolina State University, in Raleigh, and is currently a master's student in the clinical mental health counseling and career counseling programs at North Carolina Central University, in Durham. Upon graduation, he plans to work with 14–23 year old males from low-income backgrounds. Within this population, he has a special interest in helping Black and Latino males with addiction and substance abuse issues as well as career development. Being a Fellow will give him an opportunity to learn from other practitioners in the field in addition to developing skills needed to serve his target population and effect lasting change. He looks forward to collaboration opportunities the fellowship will bring.
The Foundation plans to open the next NBCC MFP-AC application period in September 2015. To learn more about the NBCC MFP and its fellows, please visit www.nbccf.org.
About the NBCC Foundation
The NBCC Foundation is the nonprofit affiliate of the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC), based in Greensboro, North Carolina. NBCC is the nation’s premier professional certification board devoted to credentialing counselors who meet standards for the general and specialty practices of professional counseling. Currently, there are more than 55,000 National Certified Counselors (NCCs) in the United States and more than 50 countries. The Foundation’s mission is to leverage the power of counseling by strategically focusing resources for positive change.
