Vivian Lee Named a NBCC Minority Fellowship Program-Youth Fellow

Congratulations are in order for Vivian Lee, awardee of the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) Minority Fellowship Program-Youth! Lee will receive $8,000 for funding and training to support her education and facilitate her service to underserved minority populations, with a specific focus on transition-age youth (ages 16–25).

With an undergraduate degree in economics and management science from MIT and work experience anchored in the business sector, Vivian decided to make a career change. She’s currently pursuing a M.A. in professional counseling with a concentration in clinical mental health. Based on her own experience working her way through her studies, Vivian aims to advocate for increased awareness of the stressors affecting low socioeconomic status students, in addition to developing prevention-level initiatives to help stave off crises before they start.

After graduating, she hopes to continue her studies in a doctoral program in clinical psychology. Her career goal is to work with eating disorders using an integrative, holistic approach. In fact, she recently received the David Barlow Early Career Award for Research Excellence for her poster "What I wish my therapist knew: Cultural considerations in the treatment of eating disorders" to be presented at the 2018 Renfrew Center Foundation Conference on Eating Disorders.

Her biggest tip to other students when completing an application: know your why. She explains, “preparing my application inspired me to think more deeply about the “why” behind my career: who were the populations that I wanted to work with, why did I believe in advocating for their needs, and what could I do — as just one person in a huge system — to create the biggest impact.”

Congratulations once again!