St. Louis (Webster Groves) Professional Counseling Program Unit

Hasmik Chakaryan is an associate professor and clinical director of the Department of Professional Counseling at Webster University. She obtained her PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision from the University of Toledo in 2013. Throughout her career, she has been actively involved in social justice and human rights activism and advocacy. Among many projects, Chakaryan has also established a training program for mental health paraprofessionals in Mexico. She has presented in numerous state and national conferences. Her experience includes extensive work with marginalized populations and groups, both nationally and internationally. She specializes in working with immigrant and refugee populations and also training mental health professionals in providing culturally competent services.

Chakaryan is a licensed professional counselor (LPC) in Missouri and a Certified Trauma Specialist, as well as a victim advocate. She specializes in multicultural counseling and supervision, trauma and disaster mental health and grief counseling. She provides training for professionals on intimate partner violence, multicultural competence in counseling and supervision, working with refugee and immigrant populations, and working with victims of various traumas. Her current research focuses on internationalizing the profession of counseling and bringing awareness about mental health stigma and barriers.

Chakaryan was a recipient of the Certificate of Achievement by Webster University College of Arts and Sciences.

Chakaryan is co-investigator for the Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training grant that was awarded to Webster's Department of Professional Counseling by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2021-2025).

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Chakaryan, H. (2018). Need for establishing a clinical counseling degree program in Armenia. Regional Post – Caucasus. 3, 20-23.

Chakaryan, H. and Laux, J. (2018). Establishing a Master’s Counseling Program in Armenia: Historical and socio-cultural context. International Journal for the Advancement of Counseling. 40, 1-13.

Chakaryan, H. (2018). Effective ways to approach sexual assault response and critical elements to consider. Counseling Today. 61(1), 52-57.

Liberati, R. and Chakaryan, H. (2017). Significance of training for LGBTQ intimate partner violence victim counselors. Alabama Counseling Association Journal. 41(3), 28-48.

Chakaryan, H. (2017). Crisis Intervention: Building Resilience in Troubled Times. (Reviewer of "Crisis Intervention: Building Resilience in Troubled Times" by Echterling, L.G. & McKee, J.A.), Cognella Inc.

Stacy L. Henning is an associate professor in the Professional Counseling Department at Webster University. She holds a PhD and an MEd in Counselor Education and Supervision from CACREP-accredited doctoral and master's programs; and is a licensed professional counselor and an approved clinical supervisor through NBCC. Henning is an active member in ACA Committees, including serving as the former senior chair to the ACA Ethics Committee and member of the Public Policy and Legislative Committee; a site team member and chair for the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP); a member of university committees; an administrator, faculty and team member for the Professional Counseling department; and a practicing professional counselor in St. Louis. Current research includes pedagogical efficacy in counselor education, neuroscience in clinical counseling and couples counseling.

DOWNLOAD STACY HENNING'S CV (docx)

Fort, K. Gonzalez. M., Henning, S., Johnson, L, & Wilkerson, J. (2022). Understanding the CACREP Standards and Developing a Self-Study. In D. Stalnaker-Shofner (Ed), "Teaching and Administration in Counselor Education: A Practical Guide for Training Graduate Students and New Educators." New York: New York. Springer. Book Chapter in Progress.

Watson, L. R., & Henning, S. L. (2022). Behavioral outcomes with law enforcement officers with compassion fatigue. "FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin."

Henning, S. L., Smith, A., O'Brien, D., & Paige, K. (2021). "Twentieth century theories; Twenty-first century counseling." [Manuscript in preparation]. Department of Professional Counseling, Webster University.

Sheperis, D., Henning, S. L., Kocet, M. (2015). "Ethical Decision Making in the 21st Century." Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Buckley, M.R. and Henning, S. (2014). Education, credentialing, and professional development. In D. S. Sheperis & C. J. Sheperis (eds.). "Clinical Mental Health Counseling: Fundamentals of Applied Practice." Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Henning, S. L. (2013). Ethical decision making. In D. Levitt & H. J. Hartwig Moorhead (Eds.), "Values and Ethics in Counseling: Real-Life Ethical Decision-Making." New York: Routledge.

Thomas, R., and Henning, S. L. (2012). Clinical counseling in Switzerland. Journal of Counseling and Development, special edition.

Thomas, R., and Henning, S. L. (2012) Counseling in Switzerland. In T. Hohenshil (Ed.) "International Counseling." Washington, DC: American Counseling Association.

Ericka Cables is an assistant professor in the Counseling Department at Webster University. She holds a PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision from the University of Missouri-St. Louis and a MAC in Professional Counseling and School Counseling K-12 from Missouri Baptist University. She is an avid proponent of community-based collaboration in mental well-being serving Black communities. She has made numerous local presentations and partnered with several agencies. She serves as a board member for a St. Louis-based nonprofit organization with a mission to impact systemic poverty through prioritization of social and emotional health.

In 2018, Cables was selected to participate in the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) Doctoral Scholars Program based in Atlanta, Georgia, and in 2022, the Excite the Dream Scholars Program with Old Dominion University (ODU) in Norfolk, Virginia. Both of these unique opportunities were focused on enhancement for research development, presentation and teaching mentorship for individuals who are part of the global majority group.

Cables is also a nationally board-certified (NCC), licensed professional counselor (LPC) and LPC supervisor in the state of Missouri, and an approved clinical supervisor (ACS). Her background entails trauma training in eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) and trauma-focused cognitive behavior therapy (TF-CBT). She currently provides clinical supervision to provisionally licensed professional counselors seeking full licensure.

Her research interests include resilience and post-traumatic growth and counselor identity development.

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Cables, E., Smith, P. & Edwin, M. (2023). Moments of Excellence in Career Counseling: Empathy. In E. Balın, M. Edwin, D. Ulupınar, & C. Zalaquett (eds.), Moments of Excellence in Counseling and Psychotherapy: Learning What Works for Relationship Building and Increased Effectiveness. Coherent Digital, LLC.

Cables, E. (2023). Culturally Responsive Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. In S.B. Dermer and J.R. Abdullah (eds.), The SAGE Encyclopedia of Multicultural Counseling, Social Justice, and Advocacy. SAGE Publications, Inc.

Cables, Ericka, "Resilience in Black Mental Health Counselors" (2022). Dissertations. 1178.

Miller, R. D., Paul, Z. A., Brown, E. C., Coker, A. D., Martin, C., Hurless, N. L., Cables, E. R., Freedle, A., Hussmann, M., & Abernathy, M. M. (in progress) Women and the practice of self-censorship. Manuscript submitted for publication (April, 2022).

Martin, C., Cables, E., & Kashubeck-West, S. (in progress). Predictors of attitudes toward trauma-informed care among mental health professionals working with immigrant and refugee clients.

Hemla D. Singaravelu, PhD, is a licensed professional counselor and professor in the Department of Professional Counseling. Prior to her role at Webster, she was an associate professor at Saint Louis University and served as the co-chair/director of the master's program. She was an assistant professor at Southwest Missouri State University and prior to this, the coordinator of Counseling, Career and Mentor Programs at Fitchburg State University in Massachusetts, USA. She received her doctorate in Counselor Education from Southern Illinois University Carbondale, specializing in Multicultural/Diversity Counseling and Career Development. She has been the editorial board member for the Journal of Counseling and Development, the Career Development Quarterly (ad hoc), and the Journal of LGBT issues in Counseling. She has published and presented in the areas of multicultural counseling, career development of diverse populations, and the gay, lesbian and bisexual population. She has also published the book, "A Handbook for Counseling International Students in the United States." She identifies as a Malaysian Indian.

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Singaravelu, H. and Cheah, W. (in press, 2019). Being gay and lesbian in Malaysia. In Nakamura, N. & Logie, C. (Eds.) "LGBT Mental Health-Global Perspectives & Experiences." APA Press.

Cheah, W. H., and Singaravelu, H. (2017). The coming-out process of gay and lesbian individuals from Islamic Malaysia:  Communication strategies and motivations. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 46(5), 401-423. doi: 10.1080/17475759.2017.1362460

Chittooran, R., Stiles, D. and Singaravelu, H. (June 2015). Educating for social justice: Perspectives from three professional programs in the USA. International School Psychology Association Conference Proceedings, Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Reubelt, S., Singaravelu, H., Brown, C., Daneshpour, M., (2015). Exploration of Cross-Cultural Couples’ Marital Adjustment: Iranian-American Women Married to European-American Men. Current Psychology, (DOI) 10.1007/s12144-015-9312-3.

Singaravelu, H.D. & Pope, M. (2007). "Handbook for Counseling
International Students in the United States." VA: American Counseling Association Press.

Melissa Spriggs has worked in the human services field for over 20 years in the areas of disabilities services, substance abuse, juvenile corrections, mental health and several middle and high school settings. Spriggs has also been adjunct faculty at George Washington University, Trinity Washington University, McKendree University and Lindenwood University. She holds a bachelor's degree in Psychology from Truman State University, a master's degree in Counseling from Western Illinois University and a doctorate in Counseling from George Washington University.

Spriggs enjoys educating, mentoring and advising her students as they progress and grow through the program and in their careers. Her current research interests are compassion fatigue, wounded healers and identity and career development of human services workers.