Quinn Snyder

College attended/year graduated: Fairmont State/SNHU ’24

What attracted you to the Clinical Mental Health Counseling (CMHC) Program at WVWC?

After my experiences with fully remote online learning I knew I wanted the experience of a more personal education for graduate learning while also allowing me to continue with my life/work/school balance as I had come accustomed to with the online program I was in. I was immediately impressed with the personal connections from my first phone calls with Kate Belt, the graduate admissions counselor at WVWC when I was just seeking information. Upon meeting Jen (Dr. Jennifer Randall Reyes), the program director of the CMHC program, I knew this was the personal connection to higher education I was seeking that would allow me to flourish in my higher education journey while raising my three children and working full time.

What do you like most about the CMHC Program?

The personal connections to the faculty and other members of the cohort. This truly feels like a family of individuals here to encourage the development of our higher education and pushing us to be the best counselors we can be with a personal touch of the hybrid model of online learning.

Why do you want to go into the counseling field?

I have worked in childcare for the last 15 years. I’ve seen first hand the effects of the drug epidemic in our beautiful state as well as have some familial connections to this dire problem. Infants born pre-exposed to drugs have a specific set of developmental needs that are ever changing as they grow and develop. Those children are also at higher risk for perpetuating those cycles of addiction. I feel called to help make a difference in the lives of those children as well as our state as a whole. I want to help stop the perpetuation of those cycles by helping those children and in extending that help be a therapy resource to those families as a whole.

Anything else you would like us to know?

I’m so incredibly thankful for the opportunity to be in this program!