The NBCC Foundation, an affiliate of the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC), recently selected Barry R. Wallace, of Raleigh, North Carolina, for the NBCC Minority Fellowship Program-Addictions Counselors (MFP-AC). As an NBCC MFP-AC Fellow, Wallace 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 up to $11,000 to Wallace and the 33 other master’s-level addictions counseling students selected to receive the fellowship award. Wallace is a graduate of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and is currently a master’s student in the clinical mental health counseling program at North Carolina Central University, in Durham. Upon graduation, Wallace intends to work with transition-age minority youth, particularly those who are suffering with substance dependence and/or diagnosed with substance use disorders. He would like to work with individuals who are often marginalized, such as ethnic minorities and people living in rural areas, and lack rehabilitation/treatment centers. Earning this fellowship will allow Wallace to attend counseling conferences to establish a stronger professional identity as a counselor, learn effective evidence-based practices to provide better services for underserved populations, and advocate for the counseling profession.
The NBCC Foundation has also awarded 23 $20,000 doctoral fellowships through the Minority Fellowship Program and 30 $8,000 master’s-level fellowships through the MFP-Youth (MFP-Y). The Foundation plans to open the next NBCC MFP-AC application period in fall 2018. To learn more about the NBCC MFP and its fellows, please visit http://www.nbccf.org/Programs/Fellows.
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 64,000 board-certified counselors 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.
