NBCC is excited to present the new members joining the NBCC Board of Directors: Michael Brooks, PhD, NCC, LMHC, LPC-S, Mary Linda Diaz, PhD, LPC-S, Tina Lott, EdD, NCC, ACS, LCPC, CADC, Rich Stapleton, EdD, NCC, ACS, BC-TMH, LMHC, and Ponce DeLeon Tidwell, Jr.

"The new directors bring a wealth of experience and expertise to their board engagement, with backgrounds in counseling, business, law, education, and non-profit leadership," says Dr. Kylie Dotson-Blake, President and CEO of NBCC and Affiliates. "These are leaders any organization would be honored to welcome onto the board, and they have chosen to share their time and leadership talents with NBCC! We are thrilled to have them join the team. Our organization will be strengthened and sustained by their strategic leadership."

Dr. Michael Brooks received a BA in psychology from Morehouse College, and an MA and PhD in counselor education and supervision from the University of Central Florida. He is an associate professor of counselor education at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro. Dr. Brooks’ research centers on Black male success factors, counselor education pedagogy, and ex-offender recidivism and vocational rehabilitation. Dr. Brooks also serves as program coordinator of the rehabilitation counseling and rehabilitation counselor education PhD program at N.C. A&T.

Dr. Mary Linda Diaz received her BS in psychology, MS in counseling, and PhD in counseling education with an emphasis in psychology from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. She is in private practice in Corpus Christi and provides evidence-based therapy services to adolescents and adults with anxiety, panic attacks, depression, alcohol and drug addiction, and other behavioral disorders, as well as supervision to counselors. She also conducts and prepares psychological assessments for undocumented immigrant applicants seeking permanent residency in the United States and conducts mental health examinations for Social Security applicants.

Dr. Tina Lott earned her BA in psychology with a minor in addictions from Chicago State University, and both an MA in community counseling and an EdD in counselor education and supervision at Governors State University. She is the Executive Director at MADO Healthcare Centers in Chicago, Illinois. Dr. Lott’s area of focus is on stigma and its impact on the well-being of people diagnosed with severe mental illness. Dr. Lott is also a contracted counselor through Betterhelp, where she provides online counseling through the lens of rational emotive behavior therapy. She is an advocate for social justice and has a personal and professional goal of addressing issues related to stigma at both the micro- and macro-levels of society.

Dr. Rich Stapleton is a member of the core faculty at Walden University in the master’s in clinical mental health counseling program. Dr. Stapleton also owns a small private practice in Iowa City, Iowa. His focus is on helping other mental health and medical professionals who are experiencing vicarious trauma and impostor syndrome. He worked with adults with disabilities and provided mental health in schools through a rural mental health clinic in Southeast Iowa as part of the National Health Service Corps. Dr. Stapleton is an advocate for payment parity for telemental health services, which is an essential tool to bring quality mental health services to people living in rural and remote areas. He is also an advocate for expanding Medicare coverage for professional counseling. 

The public member of the NBCC Board of Directors, Ponce DeLeon Tidwell, Jr., received a BS in business administration from North Carolina A&T State University, and a law degree from Howard University. He is Assistant General Counsel in the Bio-Medicines Business Unit of Eli Lilly and Company in Indianapolis, Indiana. Mr. Tidwell has served on numerous boards, including the United Way of Central Indiana, where he served as Co-Chair of the Diversity Leadership Circle Committee; Dance Kaleidoscope; the Indianapolis Opera; the N.C. A&T Board of Visitors; and the N.C. A&T Athletic Foundation.