Counseling award named in honor of behavioral sciences professor

Liberty University School of Behavioral Sciences professor Dr. Lisa Sosin has been announced as the namesake of a new award from the Association for Creativity in Counseling (ACC), a division of the American Counseling Association.

Sosin is the program director for Liberty’s Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision program and a professor in the Department of Counselor Education and Family Studies.

Sosin was presented the first Lisa S. Sosin ACC Spirit Award during an ACC conference on Dec. 9 in Melbourne, Fla. Future recipients will be ACC members who demonstrate an ongoing commitment to the values of ACC, which include a contagious energy and spirit; promoting counseling approaches that support mutually supportive, positive, growth-fostering relationships; and researching and defining relational competencies that facilitate goodwill, empathic personal and professional connections, as well as the appropriate use of power in the profession.

“I was totally caught off guard,” Sosin said about the award. “I’m completely humbled. The glory goes to God; whatever is seen (in me) is Him.”

Sosin is a longtime member of the ACC and has been involved with the conference committee, presented at the conference, and published in its “Journal of Creativity in Mental Health.”

“I burst into tears of joy when the president of the ACC asked me to support the creation of the Lisa Sosin ACC Spirit Award, which will recognize members of the ACC who bring joy and excitement to the association,” said ACC president-elect and board member Dr. Patricia Kimball, a fellow professor in Liberty’s Department of Counselor Education and Family Studies. “Not only do I believe this award is a genuine representation of Lisa, but I keep thinking about what a true demonstration this is of the Holy Spirit working through Lisa, drawing others around her to the love that can only be found in Jesus.”

“We are so happy for and proud of Dr. Lisa Sosin for this well-earned recognition from the Association of Creativity in Counseling,” said Dr. Kenyon Knapp, Dean of the School of Behavioral Sciences. “Dr. Sosin is a joy to work with, constantly pushes her students to their best, and models Christ-like behavior here at Liberty University.”

Over her 35 years of clinical and teaching experience, Sosin’s focus has been in professional counseling and clinical psychology, and still maintaining a clinical practice to serve in the community and to keep her teaching fresh.

Sosin has presented and published on a variety of topics relative to counseling and counselor education and serves on the editorial boards of the American Counseling Association’s flagstaff Journal of Counseling and Development and the North Atlantic Region for Counselor Education and Supervision’s (NARACES) Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision.