College of Education

Summer Writing Collaborative

The Summer Writing Collaborative (SWC) is our first attempt at creating opportunities to promote and advance scholarly writing competence and research rigor among counselor education students and early career counselor educators and supervisors within a collaborative learning environment provided by experienced mentors in the field. We believe the SWC will contribute much to the advancement of the counseling field. We trust that this experience will enrich your lived experience and journey as a counseling scholar. Thank you for visiting this page and considering making the SWC part of your professional journey!

Goal: With a view to foster academic collegiality, collaboration, research rigor, and scholarship among counselors and counselor educators, CRLL will host a distance writing collaborative.

Participants: Counselor education doctoral students, new counseling researchers, and advanced master’s students seeking to improve their research conceptualization skills and writing ability in a collaborative learning environment. Within a collaboratively determined time frame, participants will be able to produce a multiple-authored manuscript to the point of near completion, or ready to submit for publication.

Interested in participating? Ideal participants are individuals seeking:

• To improve understanding of the process of scholarly writing and counselor education publication
• To enhance ability to write effectively, edit efficiently, and identify characteristics of relationship with writing
• To increase ability to formulate, review, and revise manuscript conceptualization, and support others in their conceptualization process
• To improve relationship with feedback on writing skills via providing and receiving constructive feedback
• To produce a near-ready, or completed, manuscript for submission to a scholarly journal or book chapter
• Mentoring in scholarly writing
• Growth in scholarly writing in a collaborative environment together with participants from diverse backgrounds

Registration is full. Be on the lookout for open spots in our SWC webinar series! Consider joining us next summer!

SWC Mentors

We are very pleased to have seven well-published, experienced, and committed senior counselor educators and scholars to mentor six writing collaborative groups. The mentors hail from a number of states in the country. They come with rich and diverse professional and personal backgrounds and interests. The mentors are:

• Dr. Michael P. Chaney, Oakland University, MI.
  • Michael P. Chaney is an associate professor in the Department of Counseling at Oakland University.  He is past-President of the Association of LGBT Issues in Counseling, and serves as Editor for the Journal of LGBT Issues in Counseling and an editorial board member for the Journal of Addictions and Offender Counseling and the Journal of Counseling Sexology and Sexual Wellness.  He has numerous publications in peer-reviewed journals in the areas of substance use disorders, sexual compulsivity, sexual orientation, male body image, social justice and advocacy in counseling. For publication records, please see GoogleScholar site.

    • Mentoring: Experience and Perspectives

      Being mentored throughout my career has improved my style of writing, enhanced my ability to transform ideas and concepts into publishable manuscripts, and bolstered my confidence as a scholar.  I am inspired to pass what I have learned about writing from my mentors to students and new professionals so that they may accomplish all of their personal and professional writing goals.  I think many students and new professionals think writing is tedious, hard, and overwhelming, I believe I can show them how writing can be manageable, rewarding, and fun!

    • Current Research Interests

      • LGBTQ+ issues, substance use disorders, sexual compulsivity, male body image, social justice and advocacy in counseling. 

    • Most Recent Citations

      Chaney, M. P., Dubaybo, F., & Chang, C.Y. (in press). Affirmative counseling with LGBTQ+ Arab Americans. Journal of Mental Health Counseling.

      Chaney, M. P., & Whitman, J. S. (in press). Affirmative wellness counseling with older LGBTQ+ adults. Journal of Mental Health Counseling.

    • Potential Writing Projects

      TBD. Co-mentoring with Dr. Joy Whitman

• Dr. Devika Dibya Choudhuri, Eastern Michigan University, MI.
  • A Professor in the Counseling Program at Eastern Michigan University, Devika Dibya Choudhuri has 20 years of clinical experience working with refugees, immigrant and multicultural populations, as well as trauma survivors.  Her research focuses on multicultural issues in counseling, counselor supervision and pedagogy with over 30 journal articles and chapters and 50 national and international presentations.   She served on the National Board of Certified Counselors and is currently President of the international Association for Specialists in Group Work. For publication record, please see GoogleScholar site.

  • Mentoring: Experience and Perspectives

    I believe that I can facilitate growth and intentionality in those seeking to be scholars and practitioners in Counselor education on how they choose to acculturate.  I’ve taken mentoring seminars and focused particularly on scholars of color through both the Minority Fellowship Program, Diversity Scholars Network at U of Michigan, and in other ways serving on dissertations.  The current NSF grant I am working on is about mentoring as belonging for minoritized STEM graduate students. 

  • Research and Writing Interests

    Specifically tend to be focused on qualitative research. 

  • Select Recent Publications

    Choudhuri, D. D. (2005). Conducting culturally sensitive qualitative research.  In M. G. Constantine and D. W. Sue (Eds.), Strategies for building multicultural competence in mental health and education settings (pp. 269-282).John Wiley & Sons.

    Choudhuri, D. D., Peregoy, J., & Glauser, A. (2004). Guidelines for writing a qualitative manuscript for the Journal of Counseling & Development, Journal of Counseling & Development, 82, 443-447.

• Dr. Jared Lau, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV.
  • Jared Lau is an Associate Professor in the Department of Counselor Education, School Psychology, and Human Services (CSH) at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), where he also serves as CSH Graduate Coordinator and the Counselor Education Program Coordinator.  Jared’s research is largely defined as Multicultural and Ecological Counseling and Development with research strands in the areas of: (a) counselor preparation, (b) ecological counselor education, and (c) measurement and evaluation. For publication records, please see GoogleScholar site.

    • Mentoring: Experience and Perspectives

      Mentoring has not only gotten me interested in writing, but it gave me confidence to write and to assume various roles in writing projects (e.g., lead or collaborate). It means a lot to me as I am the recipient of having a writing mentor who took time to work with me and to help me understand not just how to write for publication, but the process of writing for publication, which includes rejection.  Thus it is important for me to share what I was taught and to try to help others.  I hope to contribute in the same way I have received: support, guidance, advanced knowledge and feedback, and meaningful relationships.  While I feel that I have advanced as a writer, I have much to go as far as being a mentor writer, thus it would be very meaningful to me to also learn from the members of the team. 

    • Current Research Interests

      My current research interests include applying ecological theory to major aspects of counselor education to include training environments of counselor preparation programs, clinical supervision, advising and mentoring, and faculty recruitment and support.  Relatedly, another current research interest is in developing and applying methodologies to measure and assess ecological theory to various aspects of counselor education (e.g., instrument development, advanced statistical methods, etc.).  An ongoing research interest is in international counseling students and graduates. 

    • Most Recent Publications

      Zhu, P., Lau, J., & Navalta, C. P. (2020). An ecological approach to understanding the pervasive and hidden shame in complex trauma. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 42(2), 155-169. doi: l10.11144/mehc.42.2.05

      Lau, J., Su, Y.-W., Chen, C.-C., & Dai, C.-L. (2019). Utilizing a collaborative model in supervision with international counseling students. Journal of Humanistic Counseling, 58(2), 150-164. doi: 10.1002/johc.12103

      Interested Projects for the Collaborative

      • General description. Ecological Supervision (conceptual). Provides a description, overview, and rationale for ecological supervision in counselor education.  Ecological supervision is defined as clinical supervision through the ecological model.  Example case studies, recommendations to supervisors, and implications future practice and research can be included. Tentative timeline. Form team in mid-late June, hold weekly meetings to develop the conceptual outline of paper, establish roles, and do weekly check-in.  The “accountability” model will be applied for providing feedback, motivation, and tracking progress. Aim is to have rough draft completed by mid-late September and ready for submission by late September/early October.  Skills required include ability to search databases for literature, have an interest in writing in collaborative team, interest in ecological theory and clinical supervision, willingness to meet regularly.    
      • Applying multilevel modeling (MLM) in counseling research (data-based, using secondary data). This paper will describe the appropriateness of MLM in counseling research, particularly when applying ecological theory.  Using secondary data to illustrate the process, this paper will highlight MLMs appropriateness with ecological theory and provide a “how to” section on using MLM.  Tentative timeline. Form team in mid-late June, hold weekly meetings to develop the conceptual outline of paper, establish roles, and do weekly check-in.  The “accountability” model will be applied for providing feedback, motivation, and tracking progress. Aim is to have rough draft completed by mid-late September and ready for submission by late September/early October.  Skills required include ability to search databases for literature, entry-level knowledge and experience with statistics and interest in advanced level statistics (I can also secure an outside member to join if we are lacking in this area), access to statistical software (I would like to use R as I do not have SPSS on my computer at the moment), have an interest in writing in collaborative team, interest in ecological theory, willingness to meet regularly. 
• Dr. Yanhong Liu, Syracuse University, NY.
  • Yanhong Liu is an Assistant Professor and the School Counseling Program Coordinator at Syracuse University.  Dr. Liu obtained her Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision from Penn State in 2015.  Her scholarly work centers around marginalized youth and their supporting systems, with topics ranging from adopted youth/families, school climate, school-based interventions, and measurement and instrumentation.  She has published actively and consistently over the past five years across a spectrum of counseling and counseling-related journals. For publication records, please see GoogleScholar site.

  • Mentoring: Experience and Perspectives

    As a researcher, I have benefited tremendously from mentorship provided by my mentors from different capacities. I have gained many insights from numerous rounds of feedback provided by my mentors.  I have also learned to develop research questions, distinguish research methods, and screening journals from both formal and informal mentorship. Through the writing collaborative, I hope to be able to return the quality mentorship that I have received.  I anticipate my group members to be dedicated, humble, and ready to grow; and I look forward to engage in scholarly discourses.

  • Current Research Interests

    Adoption research; evidence-based school counseling; systemic support and vulnerable youth; youth attachment, belonging, and connectedness; international faculty/students in counselor education and supervision

  • Recent Publications

    • Liu, Y., Kim, H., Carney, J. V., Chung, K., & Hazler, R. J. (In Press). Individual and contextual factors associated with school connectedness grounded in the Social Development Model. Journal of Counseling & Development.

      Liu, Y., Cochrane, W., Fox, D., & Sanetti, L. M. H. (2020). Treatment integrity of intervention studies in the Professional School Counseling from 1997 to 2018: A systematic review. Professional School Counseling, 23 (1), 1-9. doi: 10.1177/2156759X20907068

  • Projects of Interest for the Collaborative

    1. A conceptual/position manuscript on consequences and opportunities evolved from the COVID-19 in relation to PreK-12 education and mental health.

    2. A systematic review on youth interventions across counseling journals (an expanded project from one of my recent publication on intervention integrity in school counseling: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/2156759X20907068)

• Dr. Debbie D. Sturm, James Madison University, VA.
  • Dr. Strum is an Associate Professor and Program Director at James Madison University and a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC). "My clinical background focused on clients who have experienced trauma and community violence.  My research interests include advocacy practices, climate crisis, nature connection and mental health, environmental justice, and counselor mental health and burnout prevention.  I love being outside, breathing fresh air, running, hiking, cycling and just being in the sun with my husband and dog."

  • Mentoring: Experience and Perspective

    • When I was a doctoral student, a well-meaning faculty member told my cohort that we weren’t “R-1” material and our job searches should focus on teaching-focused institutions.  I internalized that to mean that I would never be a serious researcher.  So I sought mentors to compensate for what I perceived as my shortcomings.  My main mentor helped me re-write that narrative. It took a while, but ultimately, I learned that I am quite capable of solid research.  I still prefer the collaborative process, though.  I like the energy, the shared ideas, the discovery of each person’s strengths and process.  That is what attracts me to this process – the ability to reveal each person’s unique and valuable contribution.  As a mentor, I can help with structure, focus, process… and possibility! And hopefully my contribution will be instilling a belief that there is a place for each person in the research process.

  • Current Research Interests

              Advocacy pedagogy.  Specifically, how are counselor educators trained to teach advocacy competencies to counselors and counselor educators in training; from what fields do we draw influence; how are we trained and/or how do we train the technical aspects of advocacy outlined in ACA’s advocacy competencies (specifically technical communication skills including fact sheets, press releases and processes such as stakeholder identification and facilitation).

              Job satisfaction, mental health and burnout in counselor educators.  I’m interested in experiences of counselor educators in administrative roles and perceptions of peer support, distribution of workload, expectations versus reality; I am also very interested in the emotional impact on counselor educators who serve in the lead role of gatekeeping for their program, what impact does remediation or removal of students have on the faculty member responsible for shepherding that process, what factors influence that.

              Climate crisis and mental health.   I helped found ACA’s Task Force on Climate Crisis & Mental Health and am very interested in expanding the conversation on implications of the climate crisis on mental health, on roles counselors can play working with clients and participating in community resilience efforts; I’m interested in how the climate crisis changes the way we conceptualize and respond to disasters; and interested in how to develop a sense of efficacy among youth who experience eco-anxiety so they can feel empowered with regard to solving the problems in their communities.

              Nature connectedness.  I am also interested in our relationship to the natural world, the positive impact of nature on mental health, the importance of sense of place and place attachment.

  • Most Recent Publications

    Sturm, D., Nance, J. & Metz, A.* (2020). Environmental Justice as Social Justice: An Invitation to Counselors. Manuscript accepted for publication to the Virginia Counselors Journal.

    Field, T. A., Ghoston, M. R., Grimes, T. O., Sturm, D. C., Kaur, M., Aninditya, A., & Toomey, M. (2019). Trainee counselor development of social justice counseling competencies. Journal of Social Action in Counseling and Psychology, 11(1), 33-50.

    Tentative Writing Projects for the Collaborative

    • Climate Change and Counselor Disaster Response Practices: Examine current disaster response curriculum, training and practices and provide implications/recommendations relating to climate change (consider IPCC projects and US Climate Change report, maybe even International Red Cross climate change disaster response recommendations)?
    • COVID-19 as a chronic trauma: Conceptualizing the pandemic as a shared chronic trauma, implications for either school counselors returning to schools or university counselors returning to the academic year re supporting their school community. Involves understanding psychoneurobiological responses of chronic trauma, what that means for clients and the system, role of counselors and counseling program for supporting their system.
    • Using ACA advocacy competencies as a guiding framework, how counselors can address the climate crisis with clients and in their community.
    • Eco-anxiety or climate-anxiety among adolescents and how to cultivate a sense of self-efficacy (for counselors working in schools or with youth groups). NOTE: This could help inform a grant that Ryan Reese and I are working toward that connects adolescents to their community elders/story-tellers as a way to develop place attachment and sense of efficacy as future advocates and change agents.
    • I’m interested in ACEs in counselors in training from two angles: how it influences their decision to become counselors and how personal ACEs might impact risk of burnout or vicarious trauma in early career counselors.  I have a pretty big data set in the works but it won’t be quite ready.  I wonder if we could do a review of literature over 1) why people become counselors and 2) what we know about factors relating to burnout/vicarious trauma in new professionals? Maybe we can see if there is an overlap in the literature?
• Dr. Joy S. Whitman, Northwestern University, IL.
  • Joy S. Whitman is Clinical Full Professor at the Family Institute of Northwestern University.  She is a board member of the International Academy for LGBT+ Psychology and Related Fields and serves on the editorial board for the Journal of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues in Counseling.  Joy is the coeditor of several books, two which are Homework Assignments and Handouts for LGBTQ+ Clients: A Mental Health and Counseling Handbook and Preparing the Educator in Counselor Education. For publication records, please see GoogleScholar site.

  • Mentoring: Experience and Perspectives

    Mentoring began with my dissertation chair who encouraged me to transform a class I developed into an article.  Though the first draft was not accepted, another faculty member helped me transform the editorial feedback I received into an accepted article.  A different mentor taught me collaboration while in my first position as Assistant Professor.  It was through these experiences I learned that writing takes passion, commitment, collaboration, and persistence.  I hope to offer this kind of mentorship to others to give back to the profession and to honor those who gave me these gifts early in my own academic career.

  • Research Interests

    Current potential project of interest is one I started a year ago but did not get off the ground.  I am very interested in the process of mentoring LGBTQ new counseling professionals and academics both from the impact on the new professional/academic and the mentor.

  • Select Recent Publications

    Chaney, M., & Whitman J. S. (in press). Affirmative wellness counseling with older LGBTQ+ adults, Journal of Mental Health Counseling.

    Haddock, L. R., & Whitman, J. S. (Eds.) (2018). Preparing the educator in counselor education: A comprehensive guide to building knowledge and developing skills. Routledge.

• Dr. Jeff D. Wolfgang, North Carolina A&T University, NC.
  • Jeff D. Wolfgang, Ph. D., is an Assistant professor and researcher at North Carolina A&T State University.  His research focuses on effects of trauma on young children and their families.  Research includes: (a) determining empirically tested culturally-sensitive clinical interventions for pediatric counseling, (b) addressing effects of cultural hegemony in education, (c) investigating the ecological impact of traumatic stress on diverse communities, and (d) the development of multicultural social justice competencies in research methodologies and procedures. For publication records, please see GoogleScholar site.

  • Current Research Interests

    1. Pediatric counseling and traumatic stress

    2. Development of multicultural social justice competencies in research methodologies

    3. Collaboration in research

    4. Culture specific theory and interventions

  • Projects Interested to Work in the Collaborative

    1. Exploring counselor burnout among professional counselors in two southern states (databased).
    2. An exploration of a counselor education program’s Sense of Community (databased).
    3.  Use of Interpersonal Process Recall in clinical courses. (thematic literature review)

  • Mentoring: Experience and Perspectives

    Having a mentor in writing helped me develop as a technical writer and understand journal writing. My mentors really impressed that it takes many iterations of work to come to the final work. As well as knowing how and when to synthesis information and to continue to dialogue and negotiation on the final product.

    Mentoring others is the next step in my growth as a professional counselor educator. It combines supervision of writing and research while passing on lessons learned and methods.

    My hopes are to share that research is intentional, our writing is important to evidence-based practices, and an opportunity to give voice to our diverse perspectives.

SWC Stewardship Team

• Gideon Litherland, PhD Counseling Candidate, Oregon State University
• Gretchen Schulthes, PhD Counseling Candidate, Oregon State University
• Krupali Michaels, PhD Counseling Candidate, Oregon State University
• Kari Fitzgerald, PhD Counselor Education and Supervision Student, Northern Illinois University
• Christian Raether, MA Counseling Candidate, Northwestern University
• Kok-Mun Ng, Professor/Counselor Educator, Oregon State University

For more information, please contact: [email protected]