Tamara White, professor at NSU’s Center for Psychological studies lives in Las Vegas, but flies to Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, Miami, Tampa and Jacksonville every month to teach courses in the counseling program at NSU — that’s how rare her expertise is.
White began teaching at NSU’s Las Vegas, NV student educational center, but the center’s counseling program went on hiatus six years ago. Since then, NSU flies her to various campuses every month to teach because there are few school counselors with doctorate degrees.
“The program I teach is short —only weekend classes,” said White. “And since it is so short, you want people who are actually practicing it. The students want theory and practical application. In my district, a colleague of mine and me are the only two school counselors with doctorates and we’re the 5th largest school district.”
White said her rare expertise makes her an asset to NSU faculty, but she also loves traveling to Florida — simply because she teaches NSU students. She said they are excited, concerned and ask many questions.
“I’ve never had a bad class at Nova. They’re inquisitive and they do their work. They don’t complain when they come to class. They’re really great students,” said White.
White can thank NSU students for the idea of a school counseling website that she is in the process of developing. She said this website is designed to be a resource for beginning school counselors so they can find information while they’re at work.
“I still get emails from students that I had four or five years ago asking questions,” she said. “So I’m developing a counseling website that will provide resources like forms and links to help students as they settle into their new job as school counselors. No one else helps them.”
This desire to help is what fueled White’s decision to continue teaching, since it was not the career goal she started out with. She realized her experiences could help future school counselors.
“A lot of teaching is storytelling and I’ve had a lot of experiences. I lived in Brooklyn, NY for the first half of my career, and I’ve worked in foster care and shelters. Having those experiences made me realize there was a common thread and that I could use that information to help those who were trying to help kids,” said White.
Helping children continues to be the driving force in White’s life. She’s worked in foster care, social services, and homeless shelters and with special education students, probation students and jailed children. White said she will continue to help the community when she retires in four or five years.
“One of the things I’m going to champion for when I retire is the value of education. We do not, as a country, value education enough. We do not acknowledge mental health and behavior health enough,” said White.
Many children are not evaluated for mental health disorders when they’re younger, but 70 percent of the children in jail have this disorder, said White. If children are evaluated younger, they can get the help they need and wouldn’t be suffering today, she said.
“We cultivate our own serial killers. We build them, and then we execute them. People won’t get out of this life what they need if their mind is not right,” said White.
She believes everyone has to have the ability to learn and cope. She said if you can’t learn anything and can’t cope with everyday life, then you’re done. However, if people have a mental health issue, but learn how to cope with it, they’ll be OK.
“I really feel I have been charged by my profession and my job to put a stop to this. We need to break these cycles of non–success and kids not reaching their potential and empower them. That’s why I do what I do,” said White.
