GSLMU STUDENT FEATURE | Brianna Smith ’20 is in her final year in the LMU School of Education‘s mental health counseling and PPS credentialing program. In 2019, Smith earned a $2,850 grant from the Los Angeles Department of Mental Health to conduct arts for mental wellness workshops for students K-8 at an after school non-profit in Pomona, CA. Students from the program displayed their art at the monthly Pomona Art Walk, while Smith and fellow staff members engaged the community in topics around mental health.
Smith also led a one-day peer-mentor training conference for over seventy high school students from Downtown Magnet High School, organizing 11 of her fellow graduate students to teach workshops about anxiety, relationships, depression, communication skills and identity. This opportunity was a great learning experience for the LMU students to hone their counseling, mental health and presentation skills while also benefiting a local school and future peer-mentors.
Finally, Smith presented with Dr. Fernando Estrada at the Western Psychological Association on “Narratives by Master-Level Students on the Meaning of Foreign Language Proficiency and Recognition in Professional Psychology.” This research has sparked conversations about how to train bilingual graduate students to counsel diverse clients and how the field can better acknowledge the unique, skilled work done by bilingual counselors.
Currently, Smith works at LMU in the office of Student Success, helping to lead the Guardian Scholars, Veterans, Transfer and Out-of-State programs to support students and help them thrive in their time at college and beyond.
