Meet Dr. S. Kent Butler, president of the American Counseling Association (ACA), and the second African American male in 70 years to hold this role.
Instrumental in placing diversity, equity, and inclusion issues front and center on the association's agenda, Butler guided ACA through the COVID-19 pandemic that affected the work of counselors and student service providers across higher education.
Now, as he nears the end of his service as ACA president, he sits down with host David Pluviose, to discuss how to get minoritized students involved with mental wellness, move forward in their academic prowess, and be able to show up as their authentic selves.
KEY POINTS:
QUOTABLES:
“One of the things that I think stops a lot of students from finding academic success is they're too busy trying to deal with life experiences that no one else takes into consideration.”
“When white administrators were coming to me and saying, ‘what can I do?’, I had to stop trying to teach them what to do. And I had to say to them, what do you want to do?”
OTHER RESOURCES:
Learn more about the president of the American Counseling Association at https://www.counseling.org/about-us/governance-bylaws/aca-president
