NBCC Awards Spotlight: Propelling Mental Health, Powering the Future: School Counseling Award

School counselors play a critical role in providing accessible support for students. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide is a leading cause of death for youth aged 15–19 years. School counselors provide emotional, social, and educational support that can save a student’s life.

The Propelling Mental Health, Powering the Future: School Counseling Award celebrates counseling professionals who have expanded access to mental health services, strengthened the profession, and promoted equity in health and education.

Carrie Wachter Morris, PhD, NCC, ACS, is a professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). Like Dr. Pietrantoni, she is involved in a grant to improve mental health outcomes in public schools. She secured funding through the U.S. Department of Education’s Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration Program, SCALE UP.

Graduate counseling students in the program receive school counseling internships to support rural North Carolina school districts with high mental health needs. SCALE UP also equips graduates with supplies they’ll need after school, including therapeutic games, book sets, and other tools to establish their work with students.

“Really, it's about expanding the mental health pipeline in the communities that are underserved,” Dr. Wachter Morris shares.

Dr. Wachter Morris is advocating for mental health by equipping counselors-in-training with the resources to serve. Through advocating for funding and educating lawmakers on school counseling, advocacy has been a common theme throughout her career.

Early in her journey as a counselor educator, Dr. Wachter Morris was a faculty member at Purdue University. During this time, she engaged in advocacy by serving on a subcommittee that worked with the Superintendent of Public Instruction in Indiana. She educated lawmakers and other stakeholders about mental health needs in schools to support school counselors and students.

“It was really a responsibility that I had to share with them some of the knowledge I had—some of the things I'd learned, some of the research I've done—to help them understand contexts that they weren't as familiar with,” she says.

She recognized that as a counselor, her expertise was different than lawmakers’ who are making decisions affecting counselors. She was determined to advocate for the specific needs of school counselors in Indiana.

Dr. Wachter Morris helped develop a school counselor evaluation tool in Indiana and established a universal job definition of what school counselors do. Before her work, school counselors in Indiana received the same evaluation as teachers. Many school counselors were also taking on extra tasks, such as administrative work. School counselors weren’t allocating their expertise in the most helpful ways.

“Through starting with some of those things and seeing the impact that it had, that helped me figure out that there were things that I could do and that I could help students learn how to do that would really potentially be impactful beyond the sphere of people that we had immediate contact with,” Dr. Wachter Morris shares.

Now, Dr. Wachter Morris’s students at UNCG are learning from her experiences and advancing mental health in their own schools through internships. She says this award is especially meaningful to her because while earning her doctorate at UNCG, Dr. Wachter Morris recalls touring the NBCC offices in Greensboro, North Carolina, and being introduced to NBCC by her professors.

“NBCC has been literally in my brain since the very start of my career. I'm hugely honored and feel very, very privileged and humbled because there are so many people out there who are doing amazing work,” she says.

All school counselors can use their expertise to advance school counseling beyond the classroom. Dr. Wachter Morris learned this early in her career, and shares that all professionals can enact change through advocacy.

“I think we're really good at advocating for the kids that we serve, but we forget that we can advocate for others for what happens beyond our building and help educate people who are making decisions about the things that kids need, the things that school counseling as a field needs, the things that would help a community,” Dr. Wachter Morris says.

Jamal Boudion, PhD, NCC, LPC, uses his experiences as a Black male counselor to advocate for students in Marrero, Louisiana.

He is a school counselor for PreK–8 at C.T. Janet School, an Adjunct Professor at the University of Holy Cross, and an NBCC Foundation fellowship program alum.

A large part of school counseling is supporting students one-on-one and leading group sessions, but Dr. Boudion says advocacy is the most significant part of his work. He collaborates with the school administration, teachers, and other staff to address the impact of systemic issues on student behavioral health.

“As a Black male school counselor, my role carries a unique weight and often includes unspoken responsibilities that go far beyond the job description. I often find myself acting as a cultural translator,” he shares.

Part of this work is helping school staff understand student behavior instead of misjudging behavior or taking it out of context.

“I believe my presence shifts a narrative. I model emotional intelligence, vulnerability, and care. I am one of the first Black men some students see in a helping profession, and that is healing within itself,” Dr. Boudion shares. “I hold space for Black and Brown students to show up as their full selves, free from fear of judgment or stereotype.”

Students at C.T. Janet School feel inspired by Dr. Boudion and how he provides authentic, personable care. Dr. Boudion is passionate about seeing his students find their voices and start believing in themselves.

“Being part of that journey, especially for Black and Brown students who often don’t see themselves represented in counseling roles, is incredibly meaningful,” he shares. “It's knowing that just showing up, being real with them, and genuinely caring could change the entire trajectory of their life.”

Dr. Boudion says some highlights of his work include launching an Anti-Bullying Awareness Week campaign, supporting a care-closet with food and clothes for students from low-income communities, and fostering community partnerships with Marrero businesses.

School counselors are responsible for many different tasks, and sometimes that work doesn’t get the acclaim it deserves. Dr. Boudion shares what this award means to him.

“Being recognized by NBCC was a moment of affirmation that the work I do, often quietly and behind the scenes, matters. I immediately thought of the students, families, and mentors who’ve poured into me along the way,” he says. “This award isn’t just mine; it belongs to the whole village that shaped me. Being a part of NBCC has truly changed my life for the better. Shout out to my Limited-Edition family, the 2022 Doctoral Fellows!”

Zachary Pietrantoni, PhD, NCC, LSC, is an Assistant Professor of Counseling, Recreation, and School Psychology at Florida International University (FIU). He is also the principal investigator of Project Pathways, a collaborative project between FIU and Miami-Dade County Public Schools. This is a grant that is increasing access to multilingual school counselors. Project Pathways meets critical community needs, as approximately 66% of the population in Miami-Dade County speaks Spanish as their primary language, according to the Miami-Dade Beacon Council.

Through Project Pathways, school counseling students at FIU are trained to support the specific needs of Miami-Dade County Public Schools. They assess the mental health needs in the public school system and develop interventions as students. This helps students excel in internships and jobs in the school district after graduation.

When the collaboration began in 2023, there were around six school counseling students at FIU in Project Pathways. The second year of the program recently concluded with nearly 30 students enrolled. Graduates are transitioning into the workforce and making a positive impact in Miami-Dade County Public Schools.

“What keeps me motivated in that process is knowing that I am making small changes and being able to have connections with individuals who can make bigger changes in their schools,” Dr. Pietrantoni says. “Together we can work towards changing some of those aspects and making mental health services more accessible for individuals.”

The Propelling Mental Health, Powering the Future: School Counseling Award recognizes revolutionary programs like Project Pathways and the many lives it’s changing.

“NBCC sets the standard for excellence and being recognized helped validate my work and recognize that I am making a difference. And for NBCC to say that was something that was very meaningful for me,” Dr. Pietrantoni says.

*Since the writing of this piece, the principal investigators of the grant for Project Pathways have been notified of the discontinuation of the grant's funding.

NBCC is honored to celebrate Dr. Boudion, Dr. Wachter Morris, and Dr. Pietrantoni. School counselors provide accessible mental health support by meeting students where they are. Through advocacy, determination, and passion, these professionals are changing lives. Listen to the award winners share their stories on NBCC’s YouTube channel.