Lena Salpietro, PhD, LPCC, NCC, is an assistant professor in Lifespan Development and Educational Sciences at Kent State University. She earned her PhD in Counselor Education and MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from the University of Toledo. Her clinical experience spans community mental health agencies, college counseling centers, and private practice, including work with survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, and stalking. She also has experience supporting adolescents and adults experiencing depression, anxiety, grief, trauma, low self-esteem, and life transitions. Her research focuses on gatekeeping and remediation in counselor education, LGBTQ+ health and counseling experiences, and counselor grief following client suicide. She received the 2024 Research in Counselor Education and Supervision Award.

Clark D. Ausloos, PhD (he/him), is core faculty in the Counseling Program at Oakland University, where he leverages his extensive experience working with LGBTQ+ youth in clinical and school settings. He holds an MA in School and Clinical Mental Health Counseling and maintains professional licensure in Ohio and Michigan. Clark's dedication to queer and trans youth and their families is reflected in his extensive scholarly work, which includes more than 20 peer-reviewed manuscripts and book chapters, as well as over 60 conference presentations. In 2023, he was named the UNC Charlotte Robert Barret Distinguished Lecturer on Multicultural Issues in Counseling. His contributions to the counseling profession have earned him numerous accolades, including the Ohio Counselor of the Year Award (2020), the Professional Integrity and Leadership Award from OASERVIC (2020), the Ned Farley Service Award from SAIGE (2023), and the SAIGE Presidential Award (2024).Clark provides consultation to numerous organizations, including the Court-Appointed Special Advocates of Clermont County, Ohio; the Northwest Ohio Family Resource Center; the Ohio State 988 Operators; Columbus Public Health; the Hunt Institute; and Rutgers University. He serves on the Sensitivity and Bias Review Committee and contributes as a content expert and item writer for the National Counselor Examination (NCE).His professional affiliations include active membership in the American Counseling Association (ACA), National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC), Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES), Association for Assessment and Research in Counseling (AARC), Society for Sexual, Affectional, Intersex, and Gender Expansive Identities (SAIGE), Association for Child and Adolescent Counseling (ACAC), and Association for Counselors and Counselor Educators in Social Justice (ACSSW).

Madeline Clark, PhD, LPCC-S (OH), LPC (VA), NCC, ACS, is an associate professor in the Department of Counselor Education, School Psychology, and Human Services at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She earned her PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision and her MS in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Old Dominion University, with doctoral cognates in qualitative research and educational research methodology. Madeline's scholarship focuses on poverty and social class in counseling, multicultural counseling competence, counselor preparation, professional competence, and inclusive learning environments. She has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, delivered numerous scholarly presentations, and published two books. Her professional leadership includes serving as president of the Association for Assessment and Research in Counseling (AARC) and as the 2026–2027 president of the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES).

Rosalyn Zacarias, MS, LMHC, CST, is a Florida Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Certified Sex Therapist at the Jacksonville Center for Sexual Health. She earned her Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from the University of North Florida and completed additional training in mental health sexology. Rosalyn's clinical work focuses on sex therapy, identity exploration, anxiety, depression, life transitions, and relationship concerns, with particular interests in serving LGBTQ+ individuals, women, and couples. Her research has examined sexual curiosity among bisexual women, lesbian and bisexual women's perspectives on marriage and family, reproductive rights, and counselor grief following client suicide.

Jacob Perez, MS, is a doctoral student in the combined Counseling Psychology and School Psychology program at Florida State University, where he is also a member of the Career Development and Technology Research Team. He earned his Master of Science from the University of North Florida's Brooks College of Health. Jacob's research interests include multicultural counseling competence, LGBTQ+ counseling and advocacy, counselor grief following client suicide, and the experiences of LGBTQ+ students of color. His scholarship has appeared in the Journal of Counseling & Development and the Journal of Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools.

Denise Takakjy is a visionary movement architect, counselor educator, and public scholar whose work is transforming the field of counseling into a site of conscience-centered, liberatory praxis. As the founder of *Counselors for Liberatory Practice* (CLP), she leads a national coalition committed to dismantling white supremacy in counseling and reimagining the profession through curriculum reform, coalition-building, and strategic publishing. Her leadership is marked by radical attunement, systemic imagination, and a refusal to replicate harm under the guise of neutrality or cultural competence. Denise’s journey began with a deep reckoning: witnessing how counseling education and clinical norms often reproduce racial harm, silence dissent, and pathologize resistance. These experiences catalyzed her commitment to building alternatives rooted in abolitionist theory, decolonial scholarship, and Black feminist thought. She draws from thinkers like Audre Lorde, bell hooks, and Mariame Kaba to reframe counseling as a tool for collective care, accountability, and transformation. Her qualifications span curriculum design, ethical supervision, and public scholarship. Denise has curated liberatory reading arcs for master’s-level counseling programs, revised syllabi to reflect emergent justice-oriented scholarship, and trained supervisors to recognize and interrupt racial harm. She operationalizes theory into scalable tools—reflection prompts, decision-making models, and movement-building frameworks—that help institutions shift from performative inclusion to structural change. Denise is currently writing a book on white supremacy in counseling, designed as both a scholarly intervention and a movement artifact. She is mapping aligned publishers and crafting a proposal that positions the book as a foundational resource for counselor educators, practitioners, and justice-oriented institutions. Her public scholarship bridges academic rigor with movement relevance, and her facilitation style fosters generative critique, deep listening, and co-creation. Her long-term vision is to establish liberatory standards for counseling education and practice nationwide. Through CLP, she is building the infrastructure for systemic change—where counseling is no longer defined by compliance, but by conscience. Denise’s work invites the field to move beyond reform and toward transformation, offering a blueprint for healing, resistance, and liberation. 

Charity A. Kurz, PhD, LPCC (Ohio), LPC (Texas), NCC is a licensed professional clinical counselor in Ohio, a licensed school counselor in Ohio, a licensed professional counselor in Texas, a national certified counselor, and an Associate Professor of Counseling in the Department of Counselor Education and Family Studies at Liberty University. Charity earned her PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision from The Pennsylvania State University and has served as a special education teacher and school counselor in multiple school districts. She has also worked in clinical mental health settings, including career counseling, college counseling, and private practice. Her research interests include transitioning students with disabilities to postsecondary options, career development, counseling children and adolescents using creative interventions, assessment, global mental health, and best practices for online education, and she is excited to share her passion for brick building and counseling.

Charity A. Kurz, PhD, LPCC (Ohio), LPC (Texas), NCC is a licensed professional clinical counselor in Ohio, a licensed school counselor in Ohio, a licensed professional counselor in Texas, a national certified counselor, and an Associate Professor of Counseling in the Department of Counselor Education and Family Studies at Liberty University. Charity earned her PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision from The Pennsylvania State University and has served as a special education teacher and school counselor in multiple school districts. She has also worked in clinical mental health settings, including career counseling, college counseling, and private practice. Her research interests include transitioning students with disabilities to postsecondary options, career development, counseling children and adolescents using creative interventions, assessment, global mental health, and best practices for online education, and she is excited to share her passion for brick building and counseling.

Ann Ordway has a Juris Doctor, an MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, and a PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision. Ann has published and presented about advocacy for children, high conflict family dynamics, counselors in court-involved roles, and ethics.  She is the author of the upcoming 9th edition of the Counselor and the Law, published by ACA and is a member of the ACA Ethics Revision Task Force.  Ann is the program director at AFCC, a non-profit, international, multidisciplinary membership organization that provides education and training for family court-involved professionals. 

Rachel is a counselor, supervisor, and owner of a multidisciplinary private practice in Washington, DC. She completed her graduate level education and training at Johns Hopkins in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. She’s published multiple articles on mental health issues in venues such as The Washington Post and the AARP Magazine. Additionally, she’s presented countless talks to organizations including the American Psychiatric Association. Rachel has been inducted into numerous honor societies and received awards such as the Distinguished Alumni award from George Mason University. Her philanthropic work includes her position as President of the Allay Foundation which provides funding for mental healthcare for moms in-need.

Danielle Pester Boyd is a faculty member in the Department of Special Education, Rehabilitation, and Counseling in the College of Education at Auburn University. Her scholarship focuses on counselor advocacy, leadership, public policy, and professional identity development.  

Matthew L. Nice is a faculty member in the Department of Counseling at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. His research and professional interests include counselor advocacy, public policy, leadership development, and counselor education.  

Danica G. Hays serves in the College of Education at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. An accomplished scholar and leader in counselor education, her research focuses on qualitative research methods, multicultural counseling, counselor development, and leadership.  

A. Stephen Lenz, Ph.D., LPC is Professor and Chair in the Department of Counseling, Health and Kinesiology  at Texas A&M University-San Antonio. As a practitioner-scholar, Dr. Lenz has worked with individuals experiencing acute stress responses and the symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder for the last 10-years across community agency and private practice settings. He has been nationally recognized for his work with program evaluation and development for adolescents and young adults as well as contributions to the body of empirical evidence related to treating trauma. He is presently an Assistant Professor, Chair of the Counseling Outcome Research and Program Evaluation Academy at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, and President-Elect of the Association for Assessment and Research in Counseling, a division of the American Counseling Association. His work has primarily looked at applications of trauma-focused treatments among individuals with PTSD, as well as, modeling the relations between developmental trauma, emergent resilience characteristics, and degree of current well-being.

Mary Steiner Iiames, PhD earned her doctorate in Counselor Education and Supervision from the University of Toledo in 2000. She was a public-school counselor in a rural setting in Lima, Ohio for over 30 years. She taught as an adjunct professor for approximately 9 years before accepting a full-time faculty position in the Master of Arts in Clinical Counseling program at Winebrenner Theological Seminary. For the past decade, Mary has taught Legal and Ethical Issues in Counseling to master's level students. She has presented ethics trainings for local agencies, Northwest Ohio Counseling Association, and the All-Ohio Counselors Conference. She serves as an ethics consultant for counselors in both private and community mental health settings. She collaborates with attorneys to understand and apply state laws to the work of professional counselors and address conflicts that laws sometimes create with ethical practices. Mary is also a Grief Recovery Specialist and facilitate grief groups in rural towns in her area. She is invited to speak about mental health topics at local meetings, conferences, and special events in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Additionally, she provides pro bono career guidance to area college-age individuals who seek clarity and direction for their life aspirations. Furthermore, Mary serves on two Big Brothers/Big Sisters Collaboration Boards in the rural areas in which she resides and has served on the Board of the Norwest Ohio Counseling Association for 10 years. She participates in the ACES Rural Interest Network which addresses the needs of counselors in rural settings and ways that counselor educators can prepare and support counselors and their rural communities. Lastly, Mary served as the Chief Academic Officers for one year at her institution and has served as the counselor education program director for the past two years. She plans to continue answering the call to serve her rural area, her institution, and the counseling profession.