Paisley Receives National Counseling Award

Pamela O. Paisley, professor and head of the school counseling program in the College of Education, has received the 2006 'Ohana Honors Award from the Counselors for Social Justice (CSJ).

The national awards are given annually at the American Counseling Association spring conference to honor individuals in counseling who affirm diversity and advocate for social justice.

UGA's school counseling program, based in the department of counseling and human development services, is nationally accredited by the Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP), and meets the standards of the Professional Standards Commission for the State of Georgia. It offers an M.Ed. and a specialist degree.

In addition to coordinating the school counseling program, Paisley also teaches on the counseling psychology doctoral faculty. She has been principal investigator on a national grant to transform school counseling preparation and practice, and has been president of the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision. Her research interests are in school counseling program development, issues related to children and adolescents, and promoting development for the adults in children's lives.

Paisley has won teaching awards at both UGA and Appalachian State University, where she taught for seven years before coming to UGA. Prior to that, she worked as a teacher and counselor in public schools for 10 years in North Carolina.

Her colleague, Deryl Bailey, an assistant professor in counseling and human development services who developed a mentoring program for adolescent African-American males called “Gentlemen on the Move,” received the 2004 ‘Ohana Honors Award.

The ‘Ohana Honors Award, created by Michael D'Andrea and Judy Daniels, counselor education faculty at the University of Hawaii-Manoa in 1994, is given to individuals in counseling who best demonstrate the spirit of nine elements of the indigenous Hawaiian concept of 'ohana or extended family: caring, humility, intelligence, generosity, integrity and honesty, unconditional love, spiritual power, courtesy and courage.

Wednesday, April 5, 2006
Writer: Angela Hains, 706/542-5889, anicole7@uga.edu
Contact: Pamela Paisley, 706/542-4130, ppaisley@uga.edu