The Professional Counselor | Volume 10, Issue 4 611 increase my leadership skills within the counseling profession, as well as provided me with resources and tools to enhance professional networking.” Another respondent encapsulated leadership within their fellowship experience: I was able to complete my PhD with less financial burden than I had expected. I have made fabulous professional connections with other giants in the field of counseling and cohorts in the fellowship program, which has encouraged my ongoing research and presentation schedule. I have been motivated to give back to my physical community and my academic community because of a newfound sense of responsibility to utilize my degree and skills to their fullest advantage. The fellowship made me realize that my education was much more than a personal and professional milestone, but an opportunity to become a leader and an advocate in the counseling field. I take that very seriously. Discussion Since its inception within doctoral counselor education, the NBCC MFP has awarded fellowships to 158 CES doctoral students all committed to continued work with marginalized and underrepresented students and/or clients within the profession. The SAMHSA-funded MFP aimed to increase diversity among doctoral-level clinical providers and educators. The findings suggest the MFP within counselor education is successfully meeting this goal as evidenced by the theme of access to the profession, in which survey respondents described how the support system offered by the MFP, including networking, the cohort model, the $20,000 financial award, and mentorship, aided in their completion of their doctoral studies and, in many cases, supported their transition to the profession, either as clinical practitioners or counselor educators. According to the survey results, 18 MFP fellows have entered the counselor education profession. Additionally, the NBCC MFP is meeting its intended goal to promote multicultural competence by training doctoral-level counselors who then may appropriately serve diverse communities and students. The theme of clinical and multicultural competence reflected the advantages of ongoing clinical and multiculturally competent training offered throughout the MFP fellowship year. Former NBCC President and CEO Thomas Clawson also reported that another goal for the NBCC MFP was to train and prepare doctoral-level leaders within the counseling profession (as cited in Shallcross, 2012). This goal is also being met as evidenced by the subtheme of leadership within the paying it forward theme. The survey respondents described their commitment to give back to their communities as a result of their participation in the NBCC MFP and indicated that acting as leaders within the profession is one relevant way in which to do so. The survey results report 10 participants are serving as clinical supervisors and/or practitioners in their target communities. In addition, the survey responses also offer glimpses into the NBCC MFP’s potential buffers to known challenges faced by counselor educators of color. These include lack of mentorship by other faculty of color (Henfield et al., 2013), isolation (Seward, 2014), and overall lack of preparedness to adjust to the demand of a system created for White males (Spanierman & Smith, 2017). Participants’ responses suggest that MFP resources, including mentorship, networking, and the cohort model, offered ongoing opportunities for fellows to engage in communities of support, encouragement, and motivation to complete their doctoral degrees and, in many instances, enter the academy. In some cases, responses indicated that fellows experienced a heightened level of support well beyond their
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