OASERVIC LEADERSHIP (2022 - 2023)

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  Ellise (Ellie) Raghavan, MA, LPC is a doctoral candidate at the University of Toledo. Prior to becoming a counselor, Ellie owned and operated her own values-based life coaching business helping adolescents make a powerful transition to adulthood.   She is passionate about creating whole-human organizational and government policies as well as empowering individual counselors to thrive in their work, relationships and personal growth.  Ellie currently practices counseling at the Zepf Center, a local community mental health agency working towards the Sanctuary Institute certification to be a trauma-informed organization. Ellie enjoys working with clients and counseling peers alike on incorporating their spirituality and/or personal principles into their next level of transformation. She also enjoys participating in DBT-informed counseling and facilitating memory reprocessing work for clients with trauma.  Her research interests include counselor wellness, building educational community, effective allyship training techniques, and the use of community based participatory research in studying successful aging for marginalized older adults. Ellie recently served as President for Chi Sigma Iota’s Alpha Omega chapter at the University of Toledo for the 2020-2021 year. 

 Stephanie Durham, MA, LPCC is practicing in a school-based setting in Dayton, Ohio. She has totaled over four years of mental health practice working with children and teens in agency-based and school-based settings. She has education, training, and practical experience working with neurodevelopmental disorders including Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Autism Spectrum Disorder, as well as anxiety, depression, and trauma disorders for which she has provided treatment via individual, group, and family interventions. Additionally, Stephanie has filled roles on the Ohio Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values on Counseling (OASERVIC), Society for Sexual, Affectional, Intersex, and Gender Expansive Identities of Ohio (SAIGEO), and Chi Sigma Iota, Beta Gamma boards over the past five years. These roles have aligned with her interest in LGBTQI+ issues, ethical practice, and professional advocacy. Stephanie has presented at state and local levels throughout the past four years, most recently on the lifespan development of spiritual and religious identities, as well as published on complementary health alternatives. Currently, Stephanie has taken a recent interest in exploring religious trauma. 

Dr. Dominique D. Burns (she, her) has worked as a Counselor Educator and is currently an assistant professor at New England College. She has worked as the Title IX Coordinator at an HBCU. Additionally, she served as the Statewide Human Trafficking Coordinator for the Ohio Network of Children’s Advocacy Centers. She received her PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision in December 2018 from the University of Toledo, in Toledo, Ohio. Dr. Burns received her MS in Clinical Mental Health Counseling (2015) from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada. In addition to receiving her BA in Psychology (2012) from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. Dr. Burns is a Licensed Professional Counselor in the state of Ohio, Clinical Professional Counselor Intern in the state of Nevada, and Nationally Certified Counselor (NCC). Previously, she served as a victim advocate and professional counselor for a community agency in Clark county serving survivors of human trafficking, domestic violence, rape, and sexual assault. Her passion and professional experience working with survivors led her to serve on The Cupcake Girls National Board of Directors as a board member and Treasurer, where she uses her skills in services of TCG and community at large. Additionally, she serves as Treasurer for the Ohio Association for Spirituality, Ethics, and Religious Values in Counseling. She enjoys being outdoors, yoga, dance, poetry, reading, and spending time with family and friends. 

Dinisha is a doctoral student at the University of Toledo studying Counselor Education.  She is a Provisionally Licensed Professional Counselor. She earned her master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and her Education Specialist in Counseling Leadership from Mississippi College. She has experience working with children, adolescents, and adults at residential treatment and intensive outpatient treatment. Her therapeutic style is post- modern, and she utilizes a combination of Adlerian theory and Solution Focused Brief Therapy as her theoretical orientation. She is passionate about holistic healing and utilizes hypnotherapy, play therapy, and mindfulness to enhance relaxation and emotion regulation.

Dr. Fawn Gordon received her BA in psychology and sociology from Kent State University and her MAEd and PhD from the University of Akron. Her doctoral research focused on exploring the relationship between social support and collective self-esteem in women. She is currently serving as president-elect and secretary for the North Central Ohio Counseling (NCOCA) Chapter, co-chairing the Ohio Graduate Student Committee, and will soon serve as Secretary for OASERVIC. She continues to work part-time as a counselor in private practice.  

Michael Desposito is both an independently Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor with Supervision Designation (LPCC-S) at a private practice in Canton, Ohio and adjunct instructor with Malone University’s Clinical Mental Health Counseling master’s program. He has served in the mental health field for the past 10 years and has experience working with at-risk youth transitioning to adulthood, severe and pervasive mental illness (SPMI) populations, dual-diagnosis populations, emotion regulation and grief, LGBTQI+ populations, and facilitating group programming in mental health inpatient settings.  Michael has held executive roles on several professional counseling organizations such as president of the Ohio Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values on Counseling (OASERVIC) from 2019-2020, the Sexual, Affectional, Intersex, and Gender Expansive association of Ohio (SAIGE-O), which was formally ALGBTICO, from 2016-2017, was an emerging leader of SAIGE/ALGBTIC National from 2017-2018, and served on the Ohio Counseling Association membership committee from 2016-2018. Michael currently serves as a committee member for the Association for Humanistic Counseling’s (AHC) membership committee, the emerging leader committee of SAIGE. Michael has presented at national, state, and local venues on a number of topics including emotion regulation and mood disorders, affirmative therapy and pedagogy practices for LGBTQI+ populations, and wellness. Additionally, he has published on Affirmative Therapy and Wellness and won 1st place in the entry-level category for the Chi Sigma Iota’s Wellness Leadership competition.