ACSSW LEADERSHIP
Executive Committee
President, President-Elect, Immediate Past President, Secretary, and the Treasurer
PRESIDENT
Frances McClain, PhD, LCPC, NCC
Dr. Frances McClain ("Dr. Mac") is a licensed clinical professional counselor. Since 2010, she has been the Director of Clinical Training in the Counseling Psychology Department and has been an adjunct instructor with The Chicago School since 2008. She was the Program Director of Clinical Services at a community mental health center on the North Shore, for 10 years prior to joining the academia. Throughout her career she has worked in a number of different capacities that includes clinical work, supervision, grant writing, program development and implementation, case management, psychosocial rehabilitation, community liaison work with both private and state psychiatric hospitals, and consultation with mental health centers around program development and accreditation preparation. Her career journey has taken her from the far South suburbs of Chicago, to Chicago, and Chicago’s North Shore. Dr. Mac has presented at the local, state, and national level on topics related to cultural sensitivity, professional ethics and values conflicts, and human sexuality, especially as it relates to the LGBTQ+ community. She is a co-founder of the Association of Counseling Sexology & Sexual Wellness (ACSSW), an Organizational Affiliate of the American Counseling Association. Dr. Mac is also on the editorial board of the Journal of Counseling Sexology & Sexual Wellness: Research, Practice, and Education (ISSN: 2577-1299) and is the editor of the quarterly ACSSW newsletter. In 2021, she has coordinated the webinars, that are done in partnership between ACSSW and TCSPP. She maintains a limited private practice where she provides pro bono psychotherapy services, as well as providing training and consultation for community agencies, area hospitals, Cook County probation, and Cook County Judges office staff. Her areas of interest in research include social justice, anti-racism, and counseling sexology.
Email: acssw@counselingsexology.com
PRESIDENT ELECT
FOUNDING EDITOR: JOURNAL OF COUNSELING SEXOLOGY AND SEXUAL WELLNESS: RESEARCH, PRACTICE, AND EDUCATION
Robert J. Zeglin, PhD, NCC, LMHC
Dr. Zeglin is an Associate Professor in and Program Director for the Clinical Mental Health Counseling program at the University of North Florida.
His area of research is primarily LGBT health and human sexuality counselor competencies.
Rob is on the editorial boards of the Journal of LGBT Issues in Counseling and the Journal of Counseling & Development. Rob is also the Founding Director of the Community Sexual Health Education and Research Initiative (CSHERI) in the Brooks College of Health at UNF. Rob is the Vice Chairperson for the Board of Directors for the Arc Jacksonville.
Email: acssw@counselingsexology.com
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SECRETARY
Shannon Kakkar, LCPC, LMHC, NCC
Dr. Shannon Kakkar is a licensed clinical professional counselor (LCPC) and a board approved supervisor, in Maryland and an LMHC Massachusetts. She is also a Nationally Certified Counselor (NCC).
Dr. Kakkar earned her BS in Psychology and M.Ed. in Counselor Education at Bridgewater State College. She earned a doctorate in Counselor Education and Supervision from The Pennsylvania State University. She has over ten years of clinical experience in school systems, community counseling services, and working with adults, adolescents, and families.
She is currently assistant professor at Hood College in the Psychology and Counseling Department. Dr. Kakkar has presented at local, national, and international counseling conferences. She utilizes intersectionality, intercultural studies, and post-modern theories in her research, which focuses on minority groups, specifically the LGBTQ community and the Southeast Asian Indian population.
Dr. Kakkar is a member of the American Counseling Association and numerous divisions including ALGBTIC, ACC, and ACES and is the secretary of ACSSW!
Email: acssw@counselingsexology.com
TREASURER
Tanisha Sapp, PhD, LPC, NCC
Dr. Tanisha Sapp, LPC, CST, NCC, ACS, CPCS, MAC, SAP is an Assistant Professor of Counseling at Liberty University. She currently serves as the Secretary for Chi Sigma Iota International Counseling Honor Society and the Treasurer for the Association for Counseling Sexology and Sexual Wellness.
Dr. Sapp is the owner of Tanisha Sapp, LLC where she provides professional development training and clinical supervision services.
Her areas of research and interest include: counselor identity, ethical use of social media, social justice for African Americans and BIPOC, sexual wellness, and professional advocacy in leadership.
Dr. Sapp has served on a number of committees and provided various service to the profession and her community. She currently serves her community as Vice-Chair of the Luella High School, School Council addressing the needs of the community in schools. She has also served as the Director of a group practice, Co-Chair of the Henry County Walk to End Alzheimer’s Committee, Co-Chair of the McDonough Jerk Festival, and Training Coordinator for the State of Georgia Office of Regulatory Services.
Email: acssw@counselingsexology.com
PAST PRESIDENT
Angela Schubert, PhD, LPC, NCC, BC-TMH
Dr. Angela “Angie” Schubert is an Associate Professor and Director of Online Learning for the Clinical Counseling department at Central Methodist University. Dr. Schubert is also the lead clinician and supervisor at Brightside Counseling in Denver, Colorado. She is licensed in Colorado, Missouri, and Florida and is a state approved clinical supervisor.
Her research interests primarily explore clinical training and competencies related to sexuality and sexual health as well as the sexual rights and experiences of marginalized populations whose sexual expressions and orientations fall outside of heteronormative, repronomative lens. Dr. Schubert is in the the process of becoming an AASECT certified sex therapist and continues to advocate for comprehensive K-12 sex education and sex positive training for mental health professionals across the fields.
Email: acssw@counselingsexology.com
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
GOVERNING COUNCIL
BOARD REPRESENTATIVE
Megan Speciale, PhD
Dr. Megan Speciale is an Associate Professor of Counseling at Palo Alto University. Megan has worked as a professional counselor and advocate in a variety of community settings, focusing primarily on sexuality health and wellness and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA+) children, adolescents, adults, and their families. Her research includes feminist and queer perspectives of counseling and counselor education, sexuality counseling and education, and issues related to intersectional LGBTQIA populations. Megan is currently the Editor-in-Chief for The Thoughtful Counselor Podcast and the Associate Editor for the Journal of Counseling Sexology and Sexual Wellness.
Email: acssw@counselingsexology.com
ACSSW GRADUATE
STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE
Rahshonda Kirkwood
Master’s Student | Counseling Psychology
The Chicago School of Professional Psychology – Chicago Campus
ACSSW Graduate Student Representative
Rahshonda holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology and is currently pursuing her master's in counseling psychology with expected graduation in 2024. With over 20 years of experience in human resource operations, payroll, and benefits strategy, the Director of People Operations at Uptake Technologies, Inc. She wants to work with BIPOC individuals that may feel lost or anxious about what they are experiencing regarding sex, gender, identity, and/or relationships. Rahshonda would like to become certified in sex therapy and continue to build her knowledge and expertise about the BIPOC and LGBTQ population, sex, sexuality, and trauma. She is interested in researching the future on the traumas of talking about sex in the black community, the sexualization of black bodies but the unacceptance of blackness, and the masculine spectrum in the black lesbian community.
ACSSW CLINICAL REPRESENTATIVE
Cheryl D Walker, MA, NCC, APC
Ms. Walker is an associate professional counselor and a candidate to become a certified sex therapist. She received her B.S. in marketing from Hampton University in 2000 and is currently pursuing her M.S. in clinical mental health and counseling at Argosy University in Atlanta, Georgia.
Over the past 15 years, she has been an active volunteer for several non-profit organizations as well as local school communities.
Cheryl strongly believes that sexuality is a crucial component of mental wellness and the absence of an authentic and educated exploration of sexual values and sexual behaviors creates a degradation of the human spirit.
She is currently a sex therapist with GlobeCoRe Inc. in Atlanta, Georgia. She also conducts sex positive pyschoeducational groups to women throughout the city
She can be reached at cheryldwalker@comcast.net.
TRUSTEE
Marty Jencius, PhD
Marty Jencius earned his Ph. D. in Counselor Education from the University of South Carolina. His sixteen years of clinical experience included working in addictions, with at-risk youth and schools, in management consultation, and at a family counseling agency. He has been a counselor educator for 25 years. He has over 120 publications in books, chapters, journal articles, and others, along with 100 podcasts related to counseling, counselor education, and faculty life. He has done seminal work in technology, introducing listservs (CESNET-L), websites, online journals, podcasts, and virtual reality to the counseling field. He has had the opportunity to teach counseling and make 20+ trips to Turkey and The Bahamas, Malaysia, Scotland, and Singapore. He is the past president of the North Central Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (NCACES), the national ACES association, and a past representative to the American Counseling Association Governing Council. He is on the International Association for Resilience and Trauma Counseling board and remains active in ACES and ASGW. He will be ACA Treasurer from 2023-2024 and was inducted in 2023 as an ACA Fellow.
TRUSTEE
Patricia Arredondo, EdD
Patricia Arredondo, EdD, has dedicated her career to addressing multicultural competencies in counseling and psychology training, research, and practice. She brings cultural worldviews into all areas of clinical practice in order to ground or contextualize the clinical applications. She has authored books, book chapters, journal articles, and training videos on culture-centered counseling, working with Latinx families, immigrant identity development, and women’s leadership.
Dr. Arredondo is a past president of ACA and AMCD, founding member of CSJ, and currently an Elder on the JMCD board of reviewers. She is a servant leader.
TRUSTEE
James Wadley, PhD
Dr. James Wadley is Professor and Chair of the Counseling and Human Services department at Lincoln University. As a scholar-practitioner, he is a licensed professional counselor and maintains a private practice in the States of Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
He is the founding editor of the scholarly, interdisciplinary journal, the Journal of Black Sexuality and Relationships (University of Nebraska Press). He is also the founder and Principal of the Association of Black Sexologists and Clinicians and his professional background in human sexuality education, educational leadership, and program development has enabled him to galvanize scholars and practitioners in the field of sexology across the world.
His research and publication interests include sexual decision making among young adults, masculinity development and conceptions of fatherhood by non-custodial fathers, and HIV/AIDS prevention. He has written undergraduate and graduate courses and authored twenty-two courses for the Master of Science in Counseling program for Lincoln University (PA). In addition, he recently co-authored thirteen doctoral level courses for the Theological Seminary of Puerto Rico. In 2015, Dr. Wadley earned his NBCC-International Mental Health Facilitator certification after spending time with Rwandan therapists discussing the impact of genocide and trauma in the early 1990’s. In 2016, he helped developed curricula and conducted a sexuality education course at the University of Muhimbili in Tanzania for the nursing and midwifery program. Later that year, he developed and taught an applied research methods course at Cape Peninsula University of Technology in Cape Town, South Africa. In 2017, Dr. Wadley’s work and advocacy domestically and abroad enabled him to complete his first documentary, Raw to Reel: Race, Drugs, and Sex in Trenton, New Jersey, which captures some of the challenges that emerge in addiction and recovery. Finally, in 2018, Dr. Wadley co-edited The Art of Sex Therapy Supervision (Routledge) which is a book devoted to the clinical experiences of supervisors and supervisees in the field of sex therapy. The book won AASECT’s 2019 Book of the Year Award. His new book, The Handbook of Sexuality Leadership: Inspiring Community Engagement, Social Empowerment, and Transformational Influence (Routledge) carves a new path for sexuality educators, counselors, and therapists in that it serves as an invitation for re-conceptualizing the consultative roles that sexuality professionals engage in.
EMERGING LEADERS
EMERGING LEADER
DOCTORAL STUDENT
CODY HELGESEN, LPCA, NCC
Cody Helgesen (they/them/theirs) currently works as a full-time school based mental health counselor as well as an advanced clinician and assistant clinical coordinator at a private practice. They are currently pursuing the terminal degree in counselor education and supervision at Southern Connecticut State University where they also serve as a full-time graduate studies graduate assistant and teaching assistant, as well as starting their post-masters certificate in school counseling.
Mx. Helgesen earned their master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling from Southern Connecticut State University while working in both residential and inpatient settings. Mx. Helgesen’s research interests include queer studies, intersectionality, protected populations, and clinical applications in agency and school settings.
EMERGING LEADER
MASTERS STUDENT
TANNA DAVIS
Tanna Davis is in her 3rd year of her Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Central Methodist University. She is currently working as a Counseling Intern at Middle Path Counseling in Missouri where she is working primarily with young adult women.
Tanna has been a member of ACSSW through the duration of her graduate studies and is excited to be a part of the Emerging Leadership program. She is looking forward to working with ACSSW in this capacity and learning more about research and leadership from her peers and mentors.