Congratulations to Chakayla Coulter for winning the 2026 Ignation Award! This award is Loyola’s highest honor given to one outstanding graduate student, annually. Ignatian Award winners have distinguished themselves by their holistic involvement in the life of the university — representing Loyola with honor and distinction, maintaining a distinguished grade point average, living a strong faith commitment, demonstrating examples of service for and with others, and showing high regard for Ignatian, Jesuit values. We are so proud of you!
Faculty member, Dr. Sarah Stillwell, and third-year internship student, Sophia Bologna, traveled to Atlanta for the Chronic Illness Therapist Conference on March 6-7, 2026. They both presented, "A Clinician’s Guide to Getting Kinky with Chronic Conditions + Pain." This presentation explores the intersection of sexuality and chronic conditions. Congratulations to Dr. Stillwell and Sophia, we are proud of you!
Dr. Ebrahim and three second-year students, Margaret Adams, Aboorva Sivasankaran, and Dominic Collara presented at the Law and Ethics in Counseling Conference hosted by Holy Cross University on January 28, 2026. Dominic and Dr. Ebrahim led a round-table discussion on the ethics regarding a case study he used in Ethics class. Margaret, Aboorva, and Dr. Ebrahim presented on "The Complex Ethics of Intimate Dual Relationships," and compared their case studies on intimate dual relationships. We are proud of you!
Dr. Hunter and first year student, Blake Erskin, participated in a panel discussion hosted by Loyola's Career Center on "Pathways to a Career in Counseling". Joining them was Morgan Faust, PLPC, a school counselor at Holy Name of Jesus School, and Rebekah Cianci, LPC, BCBA, the director of Crescent City Bloom Consulting. Thank you to Dr. Hunter and Blake for representing the Department of Counseling!
Congratulations to second year counseling student Ellis Sather for authoring her article, "Persona-mediated dissociation: A new framework for understanding the work/self-split in sex workers", in Frontiers Public Health as a solo author. This theory paper explores the adaptive function of dissociation in sex workers. We are so proud of you, Ellis!
Congratulations to three second-year students, Ellis Sather, Logan Blouin, and Anna Bowlin, for publishing their research paper, “Risk and Resilience in the Red Lights: A Mini-Review on Sex Worker Lived Experiences and Mental Health Outcomes” in Frontiers Public Health. Their article was accepted after having only 20 days to prepare a manuscript for submission. Congratulations to these impressive students!
Faculty member Dr. Sarah Stillwell has won the Kelly Frailing Excellence in Online Teaching Award. This award recognizes Loyola faculty whose performance exemplifies a commitment to excellence in online teaching, online course development, innovative online pedagogical development, and online student engagement. Congratulations to Dr. Stillwell!
Dr. Sarah Stillwell presented "Kink-Aware Therapy 101" with second-year student, Logan Blouin, and "Getting Kinky with Chronic Conditions" with 3rd year student and Chi Sigma Iota president, Sophia Bologna. Additionally, Dr. Stillwell hosted a board meeting and division event for SAIGE-LA.
3rd year and former graduate assistant, Anna Pham, gave a poster presentation on "Cross Cultural Care in Grief Work".
Dr. Christine Ebrahim was the recipient of the 2025 LCA Presidential Award. Additionally, she presented on "Counseling Supervision: A Review of Ethical Codes and Best Practices" and hosted a panel discussion with fellow board members of the Louisiana Association for Counselor Education and Supervision on "Navigating the Supervision Process".