This episode is part of the DEI Symposium Series, developed from the DEI Symposium presented at the 2025 NCDA Global Career Development Conference in Atlanta, Georgia.

In this episode Dr. Frank Gorritz hosts Dr. Natasha Barnes-Gwynn, a clinical professor and career consultant. The conversation centers around supporting at-risk students through innovative strategies. Dr. Barnes-Gwynn discusses her unique Instagrowth concept, which uses Instagram as a framework to engage students incorporating social-emotional learning (SEL) and career development theories. She emphasizes the importance of connection, shifting the deficit-focused perspective on at-risk students to one of empowerment and strength identification. Dr. Barnes-Gwynn also examines the critical role of SEL components such as self-awareness, self-regulation, and decision-making skills in academic and personal growth. By integrating career counseling theories and practical SEL strategies, she advocates for a holistic approach to nurturing all students' potential, emphasizing the collective responsibility of educators, counselors, and parents. The podcast concludes with reflections on the need to develop tools, possibly even an app, to expand and implement these innovative strategies more broadly.

Dr. Natasha Barnes-Gwynn, CCC, NCC, FCD-I is a Clinical Professor at Southern New Hampshire University. She also serves as a career consultant through her private practice, Increasing Our Understanding (I.O.U.) Consultation, LLC. Dr. Barnes-Gwynn is a newly appointed board member for the Council of Accreditation and Related Educational Programs.

Dr. Frank Gorritz FitzSimons, LPC, is a counselor educator in Florida. He is a nationally recognized scholar and counselor educator on topics including providing affirmative counseling care to queer and transgender communities of color, providing multicultural supervision, utilizing diverse approaches to counseling work, as well as addressing and disrupting white supremacy in counselor education.