Micheale Lynn Collie Awarded $15,000 Counseling Fellowship From NBCC and Affiliates

Durham, NC—The NBCC Foundation, an affiliate of the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC), recently selected Micheale Lynn Collie, of Durham, North Carolina, for the NBCC Minority Fellowship Program-Addictions Counselors (MFP-AC). As an NBCC MFP-AC Fellow, Collie will receive funding and training to support her education and facilitate her addictions counseling service to underserved minority 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 Foundation administers the MFP-AC, including 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 Foundation MFP will distribute up to $15,000 to Collie and the other 39 master’s-level addictions counseling students selected to receive the fellowship award. Collie is a graduate of Radford University, in Radford, Virginia, and is currently a master’s student in the mental health counseling program at North Carolina Central University, in Durham, North Carolina. Upon graduation, Collie intends to work with adults in addictions counseling, particularly those who are often marginalized, such as ethnic minorities living in urban areas, and who face greater stigma when seeking treatment. Earning this fellowship will allow her to attend counseling conferences to establish a stronger professional identity as a counselor, learn evidence-based practices to better serve underserved populations, and advocate for the counseling profession.

The NBCC Foundation has also awarded 20 $20,000 doctoral fellowshipsthrough the Minority Fellowship Program and 30 $10,000 master’s-level fellowships through the MFP-Mental Health Counseling-Master’s (MFP-MHC-M). The Foundation plans to open the next NBCC MFP-AC application period in fall 2019. 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 65,000 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