Kimberly Mason Peeples Awarded $20,000 Counseling Fellowship From NBCC and Affiliates
STARKVILLE, MS—The NBCC Foundation, an affiliate of the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC), recently selected Kimberly Mason Peeples, of Starkville, Mississippi, for the National Board for Certified Counselors Minority Fellowship Program (NBCC MFP). As an NBCC MFP Fellow, Peeples will receive funding and training to support her education and facilitate her service to underserved minority populations.
The NBCC MFP is made possible by a grant first awarded to NBCC by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) in August 2012. The Foundation is contracted by NBCC to administer the NBCC MFP, 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 strengthen the infrastructure that engages diverse individuals in counseling and increases the number of professional counselors providing effective, culturally competent services to underserved populations.
The NBCC MFP will distribute $20,000 to Peeples and the 22 other doctoral counseling students selected to receive the fellowship award. Peeples is both a graduate and student of Mississippi State University, in Starkville, where she is currently a doctoral student in the counselor education and supervision program. Peeples is interested in research on microaggressions in the supervisory relationship and has presented on this topic at national, international and state conferences. Due to Peeples’ experiences as a minority in her cohort during each of her degree programs, she realized there was a need to study the subtle messages that she had experienced in various settings. Peeples has worked with underserved at-risk youth as an acute therapist, primarily serving African-American youth 5 to 17 years of age. During her time as a therapist, she became even more passionate about the level of care and diagnosis differentiation for African-American youth, specifically males. Currently, Peeples serves as the clinic coordinator of the departmental counseling training clinic at her university, advocating for minority populations and creating awareness of the lack of systematic treatment. Peeples’ interest in underserved populations also includes prison families and adolescent offenders. The fellowship will provide Peeples with trainings and education, supervision, and opportunities to build relationships with other professionals who work with underserved and minority populations. She believes that her desire to support underserved, minority populations stems from experiences of three esteemed African-American women in her life (grandmother, mother, and mentor), being a mother to an African-American male, and a wife to an African-American male. It is through their eyes that her she finds her role to be an agent of change for a population that is stigmatized and marginalized.
The Foundation plans to open the next NBCC MFP application period in September 2016. To learn more about the NBCC MFP and its fellows, please visitwww.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 60,000 National 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.