Graduate student awarded addictions counseling fellowship

Sandra Marie Quotson of Austintown, a graduate student in Youngstown State University’s Counseling program, has been awarded a fellowship by a foundation affiliated with the National Board for Certified Counselors.

The NBCC Foundation selected Quotson for an $11,000 Minority Fellowship Program – Addictions Counselors that will provide training and funding to support her addictions counseling work with underserved minority youth ages 16-20.

Quotson earned her undergraduate degree in Music Education from YSU’s Dana School of Music in 2014 and is pursuing a master’s degree in School Counseling and Clinical Mental Health Counseling. She works at Rayen Early College in the Youngstown City Schools as a school counseling graduate assistant and provides private lessons in violin, viola and cello at Music and Arts, a business in Canfield. Previously, she taught music in the Youngstown Schools for two years before starting work on her graduate degree.

The goal of the fellowship program is to reduce health disparities and improve behavioral health care outcomes for racially and ethnically diverse populations by increasing the available number of culturally competent behavioral health professionals. The award is made possible by a grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

The National Board for Certified Counselors and the non-profit NBCC Foundation are based in Greensboro, N.C. 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 64,000 board-certified counselors in the United States and more than 50 countries.