WKU News

WKU graduate students Chelsea Spears (left) and Mary Cullen Servodidio (right) have been selected for the NBCC Minority Fellowship Program-Addictions Counselors.

The NBCC Foundation, an affiliate of the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC), recently selected WKU graduate students Chelsea Spears of Tompkinsville and Mary Cullen Servodidio of Nashville, Tennessee, for the NBCC Minority Fellowship Program-Addictions Counselors (MFP-AC).

As NBCC MFP-AC Fellows, Spears and Servodidio will receive funding and training to support their education and facilitate their addictions counseling services to underserved minority transition-age youth (ages 16–25).

The NBCC MFP will distribute up to $11,000 to Spears, Servodidio and 32 other master’s-level addictions counseling students selected to receive the fellowship award.

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.

Spears, a graduate of WKU, is pursuing a master’s in school counseling in WKU’s College of Education and Behavioral Sciences. Upon graduation, Spears intends to work with transition-age students in a school setting. She hopes to help adolescent students who have issues dealing with addictions and substance abuse, particularly in the rural area where she grew up. Earning this fellowship will allow Spears to establish stronger professional relationships and grow to become a better counselor with more skills to serve minority populations through attendance of counseling conferences.

Servodidio, a graduate of Belmont University in Nashville, is a master’s student in the clinical mental health counseling program in WKU’s College of Education and Behavioral Sciences. Upon graduation, Servodidio intends to work with transition-age minority youth, particularly those affected by addictions. She hopes to serve the minority, inner-city youth of Nashville. She intends to work with not only those individuals who struggle with their own addiction(s) but individuals that have been impacted by parental or familial addiction. Servodidio has a specific interest in eating disorders and working with youth who struggle with this process addiction. Through the receipt of this fellowship, Servodidio is excited to grow as a professional through attending counseling conferences and working with and learning from a network of passionate mental health professionals to better serve her clients.

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, 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.

Contact: NBCC Foundation, (336) 232-0376