OSU Graduate Students Awarded $8,000 Counseling Fellowship

Friday, May 4, 2018

The National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) Foundation recently selected two Oklahoma State University graduate students for the NBCC Minority Fellowship Program-Youth (MFP-Y). Chabreal Atkins McDaniel and Y. Ade Bakare will each receive $8,000 to support their education and facilitate their service to underserved minority populations, with a specific focus on transition-age youth (ages 16-25).

McDaniel is from Tulsa, Oklahoma and graduated with her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from OSU in 2016. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in mental health counseling in the OSU College of Education, Health and Aviation. After graduation, McDaniel intends to work with transition-age minority youth, particularly low-income African-American females. She would also like to collaborate with school counselors to provide preventive measures for at-risk youth living in impoverished areas, where access to mental health services is typically unavailable. Receiving this fellowship will allow McDaniel to promote the counseling profession, advocate for minority transition-age youth and young adults, develop a professional identity as a counselor and attend conferences that will increase her knowledge related to counseling minorities.

Bakare is from Schwenksville, Pennsylvania and a graduate of Clarion University of Pennsylvania. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in mental health counseling in the College of Education, Health and Aviation at OSU-Tulsa. While working toward full licensure, Bakare desires to serve transition-age youth, primarily in the Black and Lantinx communities. Her goal is to utilize her expertise and passion for continuing education and life skills development in group homes, transitional living programs and adolescent partial-hospitalization or in-patient facilities.

Bakare hopes to conduct research on how race and ethnic trauma impact the identity development process of these young people in order to create programming that navigates the multiple intersections of identity development in a clinical and trauma-informed manner. Earning this fellowship will allow her the opportunity to build social capital while connecting and collaborating with fellow clinicians, pursue research opportunities and attend relevant trainings, conferences and symposiums.

“We are very proud of this honor being bestowed upon our students, which reflects the outstanding quality of our mental health counseling program,” said John Romans, dean of the OSU College of Education, Health and Aviation. “This support will allow them to continue their impactful work and pave the way for future projects.”

In addition to McDaniel and Bakare, 28 other master’s-level counseling students were selected to receive the fellowship award. The NBCC MFP-Y is made possible by a grant awarded to NBCC by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in September 2014. The Foundation is contracted by NBCC to administer the NBCC MFP-Y as well as training and collaboration activities that are open to all National Certified Counselors. 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.