Brittany Suggs, assistant professor and graduate clinical coordinator in the department of counseling and human services at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, has received the Robert H. Rencken Emerging Professional Leader Award from the American Counseling Association. The award recognizes an ACA member who has demonstrated the potential to become a dedicated leader of the counseling profession in future years.
Before joining the Old Dominion University faculty, Dr. Suggs was a core team member of a community-based counseling, wellness, consulting, and training center. In addition to her clinical and teaching endeavors, she conducts research on clinical technology competence, collaborative mental health care, multicultural competence, peer consultation, social determinants of health, race-based traumatic stressors, and emerging adulthood.
As a leader in her field, Dr. Suggs has served as a member of ACA’s Human Rights Committee, a Chi Sigma Iota Leadership Fellow, president of the Virginia Association for Counselor Education and Supervision, chair of the Virginia Counselors Association Division Council, and board member of the Coalition for Technology in Behavioral Science. She has also been a reviewer for the Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision and the Journal of Mental Health Counseling.
Dr. Suggs is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology and Africana studies. She holds a master of public health degree in global and community health from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, a master’s degree in community mental health and pastoral counseling from Hampton University in Virginia, and a Ph.D. in counselor education and supervision from Regent University in Virginia Beach.
