小蓝视频鈥檚 Dr. LaTonya Summers has been rewarded for her hard work in incorporating ethnic considerations into mental health counseling.
Her diligence in creating the Black Mental Health Symposium at 小蓝视频 for students to learn more about mental health in minority communities led to her Southern Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (SACES) award. The SACES award is given to those who infuse social justice and advocacy into their teaching, research, service, and are active in legislation.
鈥淚 infuse advocacy in our teaching for my multi-cultural counseling class,鈥� said Dr. Summers. 鈥淚nstead of lecturing on social justice and advocacy, I took my whole class to a local counseling association so that they could see how decisions are made, how it impacts the community and the profession.鈥�
Dr. Summers has been working in mental health for 23 years with specializations in ethnic minority mental health, supervision and program development. She has been working with the University for the past two years and obtained the positions of faculty in residence and Assistant Professor for counseling in the Brooks Rehabilitation College of Healthcare Sciences.
Dr. Summers says it鈥檚 important that students are in board rooms where decisions are made to gain hands-on experience.
鈥淪omeone there actually sponsored them and paid their membership fees so they could all be a part of this counseling association,鈥� said Dr. Summers. 鈥淣ow, that鈥檚 advocacy.鈥�
The Black Mental Health Symposium seeks to improve mental health literacy and remove the stigma of treatment in the African-American community. BMHS occurs annually where hundreds of mental health professionals can submit outlines for new treatment plans and approaches.
鈥淚n black communities, we don鈥檛 really know when it is a good time to go to therapy,鈥� said Dr. Summers. 鈥淚t has to be really bad for us to go and I鈥檓 like, no, this is a good time to go and I love increasing people鈥檚 mental health literacy in terms of not just what it鈥檚 about but how it helps.鈥�
Though Dr. Summers won an award for this initiative, she continues to pursue her goal to produce at least one research project per year.
鈥淩ight now, I鈥檓 flexing my addictions鈥� muscle by doing a study with our aviation students about pilot impairment,鈥� said Dr. Summers. 鈥淔or pilots, addictions, fatigue, are all things that can cause crashes, and I thought what if we started working with students early to implement wellness, we might be able to present some of these pilot impairments or burnout or crashes.鈥�
This coordinates with her previous experience in counseling those with addictions.
鈥淔or Aviation student wellness, this is going to sound really weird, but one night I had a dream where I designed this study and on the piece of paper I wrote down aeronautics,鈥� said Dr. Summers. 鈥淚 designed the study in my sleep and when I woke up I thought 鈥榳hat in the world is aeronautics?鈥欌��
After researching the definition of aeronautics, she discovered similar past studies focused on wellness.
鈥淚 went over to Aviation and met the director and asked how he would feel about me doing a study on student wellness to make sure students are well, and he went for it,鈥� said Dr. Summers. 鈥淚t will be an anonymous study so I won鈥檛 be working with students directly in order to get honest information about drug use or alcohol use.鈥�
Dr. Summers has seen the benefits of her research and hands-on teaching and learning for students interested in entering mental health.
鈥淛ust last week, I went to support a student who spoke to a counseling association to advocate for the Jacksonville LGBT community because they鈥檙e less likely to get services,鈥� said Dr. Summers. 鈥淪he spoke to a room of counselors and said this is something that needs to be changed and what will your board do about it?鈥�
Dr. Summers also says she enjoys mentoring her minority students who are uncertain about their path while attending JU due to financial or emotional reasons. She encourages them not to compare themselves to other students and that their voices matter.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 a reward,鈥� said Dr. Summers. 鈥淲hen you can make disciples of people who will also do the work.鈥�
