Two Adams State University students in the counselor education and supervision program received the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) Minority Fellowship for Mental Health Counselors at the doctoral level. Lisa Ali is in her first year and Kendra Bircher is a third-year student of the doctoral program.
The doctoral students receive a $20K fellowship, which Ali and Bircher will use to pay for tuition, research, and professional development needs. Bircher plans on joining additional professional organizations to lead and advocate for the profession as a whole; and to use the $20K to present at conferences such as the Evidence Based School Counseling Conference. Ali will use the stipend to engage in conferences and aid in necessary research in the realm of multiracial adoptions and identity development.
Bircher demonstrated knowledge of and experience with underserved children and adolescents, black and brown youth, gender non-conforming youth, and minority communities in inner cities to fulfill one of the fellowship requirements.
Ali plans to finish her Ph.D. in 2026. She has a minority serving private practice in Denver, Colo, which serves people who identify as BIPOC and within LGBTQIA+ and those who have experienced trauma and attachment-based disruptions. “I work with individuals through a holistic healing lens and strive to offer a space where people feel safe to be vulnerable, and empowered as they grow into their authentic selves.”
Ali’s future goals include continuing to work with those in her chosen communities and to become an educator at a minority-serving University. “This fellowship gives me hope that someday students, clients, researchers, and counselors alike will see those in the helping profession and in higher education who are representative of them, I want to be a part of this.”
Bircher anticipates finishing her doctorate in counselor education and supervision in 2025. “I have worked in education all of my career, and find it necessary to create affirming spaces and counseling marginalized youth. So, earning my Ph.D. will help me reach my future goal of becoming a guidance and counseling coordinator and school counselor educator. I have a passion for school counselor development, antiracist school counseling, and equitable school counseling practices.”
Bircher was previously a middle school counselor in Title I Schools (Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act provides financial assistance to local educational schools with high numbers or high percentages of children from low-income families to help ensure that all children meet challenging state academic standards). She has also provided counseling to court mandated youth and adults. Bircher volunteers for two organizations that support youth who are at-risk for exploitation, abuse, and neglect. “Through my involvement in these organizations I have served as a behavioral specialist, provided training to stakeholders, and made referrals for those needing additional resources. I truly enjoy giving back to my community in this capacity.”
The NBCC Foundation administered up to 20 doctoral-level counseling fellowships of $20,000, plus the travel expenses to participate in program-related trainings.
The NBCC MFP helps ensure that the behavioral health needs of all Americans are met, regardless of language or culture, thereby reducing health disparities and improving overall community health and well-being. Minorities include but are not limited to racial, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender, sexual orientation, rural, or military groups. By strategically promoting and providing fellowships to doctoral counseling students, the NBCC MFP strengthens the infrastructure that engages diverse individuals in counseling and increases the number of professional counselors.
Lisa Ali
Lisa Ali graduated from the University of Northern Colorado with a BA in psychology and obtained her master’s degree in community counseling at the University of Akron in Ohio.
Ali is invested in empowering individuals via counseling, supervision, education, and research through a social justice lens. She is passionate about implementing anti-oppression and social justice practices in all the spaces she enters as a counselor, supervisor, educator, researcher, and advocate. Ali’s academic foci currently consist of exploring frameworks that address all aspects of identity for racial/ethnic minority populations who are also adoptees. She wants to teach others how to show up in all the spaces as their authentic self and how the importance of being comfortable in your own skin lends to your overall sense of well-being. Ali is passionate about advocating for multicultural competence and social justice issues within mental health counseling, with a particular emphasis on the BIPOC and LGBTQI+ communities.
The NBCC MFP will provide Ali access to valuable resources and professional development while she begins to establish her professional identity as a counselor educator, researcher, supervisor, and advocate. This fellowship gives her hope that someday students, clients, researchers, and counselors alike will see those in the helping profession and higher education who are representative of them. Ali’s goal is to continue to work with clients who identify as part of the BIPOC and LGBTQI+ communities, to teach in an institute that serves students of underserved and underrepresented communities, provide therapeutic services and supervision to new counselors entering the field through a lens of decolonizing practices, and conduct research that centers the BIPOC and LGBTQI+ communities.
Kendra Bircher
Kendra Bircher is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Certified School Counselor in Texas. She has earned two master’s degrees, the first in Curriculum & Instruction from The University of Texas at Tyler and the second in School Counseling from Stephen F. Austin State University. She is beginning her third year as a doctoral student in the Counselor Education and Supervision program at Adams State University. Her research agenda focuses on addressing barriers to mental health care and promoting equitable school counseling practices for marginalized and underserved adolescent populations.
Bircher worked in Title I (Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act provides financial assistance to local educational schools with high numbers or high percentages of children from low-income families to help ensure that all children meet challenging state academic standards) public schools for ten years as a teacher, master teacher, and school counselor. Currently, she is the Lead Mental Health Counselor for a local school district and provides mental health counseling to high school students. Bircher’s passion for working with marginalized adolescent populations informs her work as a counselor, social justice advocate, and future school counselor educator. She believes in promoting student voice, choice, and equity in education and counseling. Developing mentorship opportunities with school counselors in training that establishes their culturally sustaining professional identity is a way for her to exercise this belief.
Through the NBCC Minority Fellowship Program, Bircher will continue her leadership and advocacy efforts that directly impact marginalized youth. She will use the award to fund her education and support her dissertation efforts centered on the harmful impacts of “niceness” in school counseling. Bircher aims to use her voice to challenge systems that are not safe, affirming, and inclusive while engaging in professional organizations and training that strengthen her work with underserved populations. Additionally, the fellowship will assist her in developing her professional identity as a Black woman researcher and scholar in counselor education.
