March 10, 2016
Maureen Fitzgerald
Communications Coordinator, ATTC Network Coordinating Office
Editor, NIATx
The NAADAC Minority
Fellowship Program for Addiction Counselors (NMFP-AC), funded by SAMHSA, awards tuition stipends of up to
$20,000 to qualified students who are eligible for graduation from an
accredited Master’s program in addiction/substance use disorders counseling and
are committed to working with minority or transition age clients (ages 18-25).
The goal of the fellowship is to build the addiction
treatment workforce that treats underserved communities and populations,
including minority populations, LGBT populations, and transition-age youth.
The program launched in 2014, selecting 13 fellows for the
first cohort. Two of those fellows interviewed recently, Tanya Richem and Nil Shores, describe
receiving the award as “life-changing.”
Helping her hometown: Tanya Richem
Tanya Richem |
Alcohol abuse is the primary cause of substance use
disorders in Tanya’s community, and it has affected many in her own
family—including her husband, who is now in recovery. In fact, he’s now attending
Montana State University to become a licensed addiction counselor.
Tanya learned about the NMFP-AC program through an
announcement from NAADAC. At the time, a financial crisis was about to derail
her graduate studies.
“It seemed like it was written just for someone like me, and
it came along at a time when I didn’t know how I was going to finance my
studies.”
As reported recently in the Choteau
Acantha, a weekly newspaper, Tanya’s fellowship will increase the
availability of counseling to youth ages 16-25 in north-central Montana.
Tanya is now completing her graduate degree through Prescott College. She’s also working
full-time as a clinical intern and combining her addiction counseling studies
with a certificate in expressive arts therapy. She’s creating a
psychoeducational art therapy project aimed to start a dialogue in her
community about how to help people re-enter their communities after
incarceration.
“People undergo treatment in the criminal justice system,
but they recover in their communities,” says Tanya. “Sometimes there isn’t a
lot available to help them make that transition.”
Tanya is committed to making an impact in her community. “My
goal is to help families build the skills they need to support their loved ones
who suffer from a substance use disorder.”
Crossing cultures: Nil Shores
NAADAC Director Cynthia Moreno-Tuohy (L) with Nil Shores |
Her husband’s struggles motivated Nil to pursue a graduate
degree in mental health counseling with an emphasis on trauma and addiction. She
learned about the NMFP-AC fellowship through her advisor at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. While
completing her studies, Nil has also been working full time as a counselor in
child protective services at Savio
House, a local social services agency. Nil's background and language skills (she's fluent in Spanish and Portuguese, as well as English) play an important part in her work, as many of her clients speak only
Spanish, or have limited English language skills.
One requirement of the NMFP-AC fellowship is to complete six
educational webinars available through the NAADAC Institute Webinar Series. Nil cites the webinar “Cultural Humility and Counseling Hispanic and Latino Populations”
as being particularly valuable to her work.
“All of the webinars have increased my knowledge about
cross-cultural issues and cultural sensitivity,” says Nil. "As a multicultural individual, I find it extremely rewarding to be able to truly understand the various challenges my clients face in their acculturation process. I am reminded in almost every session with my Hispanic clients of the importance that cultural sensitivity plays in the process of helping them navigate a world outside of their own."
Nil encourages any student in a master’s program in
addiction studies to consider applying for the NMFP-AC fellowship. “It is a
great opportunity to expand your knowledge of how to best serve minorities and
underserved populations.”
The application period
for the second cohort for the NMFP-AC program ends on March 15, 2016. For more information, visit www.naadac.org
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