A master’s in Counseling helped Anah Galloway help trauma victims.
She has played a part in Wilmington University’s Alumni Association since graduating with a B.S. in Psychology in 2014. As an assistant vice president on its executive board, she’s encouraged countless graduates to “share their time, talent, and treasure” as Wildcat alumni.
Earning a master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling through WilmU’s College of Social and Behavioral Sciences has enabled her to put that recommendation into practice. In the two years since completing her master’s, she’s been applying her education toward assistance, most recently at Survivors of Abuse in Recovery (SOAR). This statewide nonprofit organization provides mental health services to victims of sexual trauma and their families.
“I do exactly what my master’s program prepared me to do,” says Galloway, “and I love what I’m doing. WilmU has opened up so many doors for me.”
She joined SOAR full-time in April of 2019. As a program manager, she conducts clinical assessment interviews with adult clients, manages the intake process, and coordinates efforts at the Wilmington, Newark, Dover, and Georgetown locations. She’s even started training and supervising SOAR’s interns, a role she’d filled herself during the final semesters of her master’s program.
“The Clinical Mental Health Counseling program does a good job of integrating practical and experiential learning into its coursework,” she says, including actual group therapy sessions in which classmates are participants.
It also proved to be ahead of the curve in terms of teaching its students what they’ll need on the job. “I found out once I began working in counseling that our program really highlights trauma-informed care,” she says. “It incorporates it into every class, which is useful because I work with trauma survivors. Everyone in helping professions should be trauma-informed, but not everyone is.”
For Galloway, it’s taken time to learn how to help guide survivors of physical and emotional trauma toward recovery. But one’s talent can prove to be a treasure to those in need, she says.
“I never saw mental health counseling as something unfamiliar or shameful,” she says. “ I’m proud to take my strengths and apply them to care.”