Durham, NC—The NBCC Foundation, an affiliate of the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC), recently selected Jillian M. Grant, of Durham, North Carolina, for the NBCC Minority Fellowship Program for Addictions Counselors (MFP-AC). As an NBCC MFP-AC Fellow, Grant will receive funding and training to support her education and facilitate her addictions counseling service to underserved populations.
The NBCC MFP-AC is made possible by a grant awarded to the NBCC Foundation in collaboration with the Association for Addiction Professionals (NAADAC) by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The NBCC Foundation administers the MFP-AC, including training and collaboration activities, such as webinars, that are open to all board certified counselors. 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 Foundation will distribute $15,000 to Grant and the other 39 master’s-level addictions counseling students selected to receive the fellowship award. Grant is a graduate of Montclair State University and is currently a master’s student in the mental health counseling and school counseling program at North Carolina Central University. Grant is committed to providing substance use disorder services to underserved minority communities, adolescents, and young adults. She is specifically interested in working with middle school– and high school–age students. She commits to being an advocate within her community, raising awareness about substance abuse and other mental health issues. Her commitment includes advocating within the prison system for increased assessments as well as training and substance use treatment to circumvent the growing number of inmates suffering from addiction who don’t receive treatment. Earning this fellowship will allow Grant to further refine her counseling skills and learn evidence-based practices that will help her to successfully serve the underserved populations and maintain a strong voice of advocacy within the community.
The NBCC Foundation has also awarded 20 $20,000 doctoral fellowships through the MFP and 30 $10,000 master’s-level fellowships through the MFP-Mental Health Counseling-Master’s (MFP-MHC-M). The NBCC Foundation plans to open the next NBCC MFP-AC application period in fall 2020. To learn more about the NBCC MFP and its fellows, please visit nbccf.org/Programs/Fellows.
*Biographical information provided by the awardee.
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 66,000 board certified counselors in the United States and more than 50 countries. The NBCC Foundation’s mission is to leverage the power of counseling by strategically focusing resources for positive change.
