In the twelfth year of TPC’s Dissertation Excellence Award program, awards were presented to the authors of two winning dissertations, one in qualitative research and one in quantitative research. After an extensive review of submissions from across the United States, the committee selected Drs. Pamela Fullerton and Heather Olivier to receive the 2025 Dissertation Excellence Awards. Dr. Fullerton received the award in quantitative research for her dissertation entitled Undocumented Immigrant Intervention Training for Counselors: A Quasi-Experimental Study on the MSJCC and Ethnic Tolerance, and Dr. Olivier received the award in qualitative research for her dissertation entitled Therapeutic Approaches to Working with Perinatal Loss Clients: A Grounded Theory Study.
Pamela Fullerton (she/her), PhD, NCC, ACS, CCTP, C-DBT, CCATP, CGP, is the founder and clinical director of Advocacy & Education Consulting, a counseling and consulting organization dedicated to ensuring equitable access to mental health and well-being services. She is a Latina bilingual Certified Clinical Trauma Professional (CCTP), a Certified Dialectical Behavior Therapy professional (C-DBT), a Certified Clinical Anxiety Treatment Professional (CCATP), a Certified Grief Informed Professional (CGP), and an Approved Clinical Supervisor (ACS) and consultant specializing in working with communities of the global majority, trauma, anxiety, life transitions, and career counseling. In addition to being a professional writer and international speaker, Dr. Fullerton is an adjunct instructor in the counselor education department at Northeastern Illinois University. She also runs a nonprofit to support Latinx youth in the Chicagoland area and consults for behavioral health advisory boards, providing advice and input to assist in promoting health and wellness for underserved communities in Illinois.
Heather Olivier (she/her), PhD, NCC, LPC, CCTP, PMH-C, is a Licensed Professional Counselor Supervisor specializing in perinatal loss, psychosomatic presentations of traumatic loss, and neurodiversity. She is an Assistant Professor of counseling at Southeastern Louisiana University with a focus on creating comprehensive curriculum design as well as bridging perinatal loss research and neurodiversity research. Dr. Olivier is the owner of Olivier Counseling and Consulting, a private practice serving clients who have experienced perinatal loss and other traumatic losses using Brainspotting. She is also the owner of Inclusive Design where she is a consultant specializing in creating affirming spaces for neurodivergent and other underserved individuals.
Dr. Olivier was the recipient of the 2023 Outstanding Dissertation Award from the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision and the 2023 Research Award from the Louisiana Counseling Association. She is an editorial review board member for The Professional Counselor and an ad-hoc reviewer for Counselor Education and Supervision. Dr. Olivier served the state of Louisiana as a member of the Louisiana Pregnancy Associated Mortality Review board within the department of health and has presented her award-winning perinatal loss research at international, national, and state levels to raise awareness on how client care is impacted by cultural stigma regarding reproductive health. Her love for counselor education was acknowledged by receiving the 2024 Rising Counselor Educator award by the Louisiana Association for Counselor Education and Supervision.
TPC looks forward to recognizing outstanding dissertations like those of Drs. Fullerton and Olivier for many years to come.
Read more about the TPC scholarship awards here.
