RADFORD – Radford University counselor education chair and professor Alan Forrest is the recipient of the Virginia Counselors Association’s 2007 Humanitarian and Caring Person Award. Forrest received the award at the VCA’s annual convention in Portsmouth recently.

“I am honored and humbled to be the recipient of this award,” said Forrest. “It has particular meaning for me in that it comes from the compassionate and caring community of counselors throughout Virginia. It is with gratitude and deep humility that I accept this award and thank my colleagues in the Department of Counselor Education who have supported me in all my service activities.”  

According to VCA information, the organization seeks to honor “persons who give to others without fanfare or expectation of reward other than personal satisfaction in seeing other persons made happier or the social milieu given more integrity.”

RU counselor education faculty member Nadine Hartig wrote one of several letters in support of Forrest’s nomination for the award. In her letter she notes some of his recent projects. One was a year-long project through which area clergy received training in responding to people’s counseling needs, an important effort because in this region clergy are often the first contacts in situations of tragedy, illness or mental health problems. She describes another project as a “quick response to the needs of the community after the 4-16-07 tragedy.” Forrest also volunteered as a counselor to Hurricane Katrina victims in Biloxi, Miss. “While I have witnessed individuals who participate in post-tragedy events as part of a self-serving effort, Alan mobilized and provided services in a truly humble fashion,” writes Hartig. She also writes of Forrest’s “gentle and wise leadership to our Department of Counselor Education. ... He is able to be democratic and fair in his decision-making process. Students report that he is inspiring and passionate about counseling and humanitarian issues.”

Forrest has been part of the counselor education department in RU’s College of Education and Human Development since 1999 and has been a clinical counselor, consultant and trainer in private practice in Radford since 1992. He earned a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts/psychology from Eisenhower College, a master’s degree in community psychology from the University of New Haven and a doctoral degree in counselor education from the College of William and Mary. Among other awards, in 2002 he received the RU College of Education and Human Development’s Outstanding Faculty Service Award.