Chelsea Fullilove Awarded $8,000 Counseling Fellowship From NBCC and Affiliates

Fort Myers, FL—The NBCC Foundation, an affiliate of the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC), recently selected Chelsea Fullilove of Fort Myers, Florida, for the NBCC Minority Fellowship Program-Youth (MFP-Y). As an NBCC MFP-Y fellow, Fullilove will receive funding and training to support her education and facilitate her service to underserved minority populations, with a specific focus on transition-age youth (ages 16–25). The NBCC MFP-Y is made possible by a grant awarded to NBCC by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) in September 2014. The Foundation is contracted by NBCC to administer the NBCC MFP-Y, 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 reduce health disparities and improve behavioral health care outcomes for racially and ethnically diverse populations by increasing the number of available culturally competent behavioral health professionals. The NBCC MFP will distribute $8,000 education awards to Fullilove and the 29 other master’s-level counseling students selected to receive the fellowship award. Fullilove is a graduate of Webster University, in Saint Louis, Missouri, and is currently pursuing a master’s in the clinical mental health and school counseling programs at Florida Gulf Coast University, in Fort Myers. After graduating, Fullilove will continue to spend her time assisting adolescents and their families in finding paths for success. She plans to continue her education in the field of counseling psychology while also serving South Florida Hispanic youth through summer resiliency training programs. Her vision is to inspire hope, resilience and direction in transition-age minorities. Her nonprofit organization will seek to target at-risk Hispanic youth with education training, opportunity and fellowship to help stop the allure of substance abuse. She will also speak out about the consequences of college-age binge drinking in the hopes of raising awareness among college students in Florida. Earning this distinguished fellowship has called attention to her diversity and culturally competent bilingual skills in helping the underserved populations. The NBCC Foundation has also awarded 23 $20,000 doctoral fellowships through the Minority Fellowship Program and 31 master’s-level fellowships of up to $11,000 through the MFP-Addictions Counselors (MFP-AC).The Foundation plans to open the next NBCC MFP-Y application period in September 2017. To learn more about the NBCC MFP and its fellows, please visit www.nbccf.org/Programs/Scholarships. 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.