Clinical mental health counseling program director awarded as Partner of Hope
DeAndrea Witherspoon Nash was honored in March for her ‘ability to inspire others through her leadership and servanthood.’
Janel Shoun-Smith |
Dr. DeAndrea Witherspoon Nash, director of Lipscomb’s Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program, assistant professor and lead faculty for the addictions specialization, received the Partner of Hope Award from the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (TDMHSAS) in March for her “ability to inspire others through her leadership and servanthood.”
As part of the statewide Tennessee Day of Hope, proclaimed by Tennessee Governor Bill Lee on March 10, to inspire and help those struggling with addiction and mental health issues, Witherspoon Nash partnered with the TDMHSAS to hold the first annual African American Ministry Leaders Summit on the Lipscomb campus.
The summit featured talks by various state and community leaders in the field to help ministers understand the difference between mental health and mental illness, learn how to respond to invitations for help from individuals who may be in crisis and where to find available resources. In addition, a Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) training session for clergy covered how to ask someone if they are thinking about suicide, how to persuade the individual to live, and how to refer the individual to the appropriate help.
Witherspoon Nash was the former clinical director of a local substance use disorder treatment center and served as the program coordinator of child and youth outpatient treatment at a local community mental health center. Additionally, she has years of case management and school-based therapy experience.
Witherspoon Nash uses her specialty experience in the areas of substance use disorder treatment and child and adolescent therapy to facilitate the monthly First Time Drug Offender parent education class sponsored by Metro Nashville Public Schools.
At Lipscomb, Witherspoon Nash not only leads the addiction specialization within the clinical mental health counseling program, but also coordinates the campus’ Collegiate Recovery Initiative.
“Creating a collegiate recovery ally program has provided rich opportunities to further educate our campus on the adverse impact of substance addiction and the power of relationships. Additionally, this partnership has fostered meaningful community connections and developed support groups where students, who may not otherwise meet, share their healing journey,” said Witherspoon Nash. “We are looking forward to growing our recovery presence on campus, and partners such as TDMHSAS can help make that happen.”
During National Recovery Month in 2021, Witherspoon Nash coordinated the first on-campus Collegiate Recovery Academy, offering recovery ally training, opioid overdose reversal training and access to community resources. She and alumnus Jaime Harper (’21) launched the Bisons in Recovery support group, a 12-step support group and trained more than 100 recovery allies on campus.
She has also collaborated with current undergraduate student Sarah “Corinne” Brooks to launch the Lipscomb Young Adults Al-Anon Group, an anonymous and confidential support group for students affected by the addiction, mental illness or dysfunction of others in their life.
Witherspoon Nash earned her M.S. in counseling psychology from Tennessee State University and her Ph.D. in clinical counseling from Trevecca Nazarene University.