Phone: 757-221-2352
“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.”
Lao Tzu
Charles F. Gressard is a Chancellor Professor in the Counselor Education Program at the College of William & Mary. He has over 45 years of experience as a counselor and as a counselor educator. Before returning to graduate school for his Ph.D. at the University or Iowa, Dr. Gressard worked as an addiction counselor for five years after receiving his Master’s degree from Kent State University. After receiving his Ph.D., Dr. Gressard taught for seven years in the counseling program at the University of Virginia and for five years he was an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the UVA School of Medicine. In 1993, Dr. Gressard joined the Counselor Education faculty at William and Mary where he developed and coordinated the Master’s in Addiction Counseling program for twenty-four years.
Dr. Gressard’s clinical experience is extensive. After receiving his master’s degree, he was an addiction counselor trainee at the Harvard Medical School for a year and worked for two years as an outreach addiction counselor in Massachusetts. After completing his doctoral studies, Dr. Gressard provided counseling and was director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Personal and Career Development. At the UVA School of Medicine, he served as counseling director of the UVA Addiction Sciences Center’s outpatient clinic for five years before joining the faculty at William & Mary. Dr. Gressard is an NBCC Board Certified Counselor and an NBCC Board Certified Master Addiction Counselor, and is a Licensed as a Professional Counselor, a Marriage and Family Counselor, and a Substance Abuse Treatment Professional in Virginia.
Dr. Gressard has been recognized as a state and national leader in the counseling profession, having served as Chair of the Virginia Board of Counseling, Chair of the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC), Vice-Chair of the Council on Accreditation for Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP), Interim President/CEO of CACREP (2017-2018), Chair of the Virginia Department of Health Professions’ Impaired Professionals Committee, and most recently as chair of CACREP’s International Registry for Counselor Education Programs (IRCEP). His contributions to the counseling profession have been widely recognized. In 2007, he received the Virginia Summer Institute for Addiction Studies’ Visionary Leadership Award; in 2008, he received Chi Sigma Iota’s Thomas J. Sweeney National Professional Leadership Award; in 2009, along with the CACREP staff and the other members of the Standards Revision Committee, he received the ACES Robert O. Stripling Award for Excellence in Standards. In 2016, he received the SACES Locke-Paisley Outstanding Mentor Award and was further recognized by being named a Fellow of the American Counseling Association (ACA).
Dr. Gressard has contributed to the international development of the counseling profession by teaching graduate ethics courses in Romania and St. Lucia, and by presenting at conferences for NBCC and IRCEP in Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, Argentina, Jamaica, St. Thomas, Cuba, Ireland, England, France, Portugal, Switzerland, Turkey, Romania, Swaziland, Malawi, Bahrain, India, Singapore, Japan, China, Hong Kong, and New Zealand.
Education
Ph.D. in Counselor Education, University of Iowa
M.Ed. in Rehabilitation Counseling, Kent State University
B.A. in Psychology, Wittenberg University
Activities and Honors
ACA Presidential Citation, 2018
Interim CACREP President/CEO, 2017-2018
Named ACA Fellow, 2017
Locke-Paisley Outstanding Mentor Award, Southern Association for Counselor Education and Supervision, 2016
Faculty Coordinator for the First Place Doctoral Level Ethics Team, American Counseling Association Ethics Competition, 2014
Chair, International Registry for Counselor Education Programs, 2013-2017
Secretary and Executive Committee, Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values in Counseling, 2013-2016
Vice-Chair, Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP), 2012-2013
President, William & Mary Faculty Assembly, 2012-2013
Outstanding Program Award, International Association of Addiction and Offender Counselors (IAAOC), 2011
Robert O. Stripling Award for Excellence in Standards, Association for Counselor Education and Supervision, 2009
Faculty Coordinator for the First Place Master’s Level Ethics Team, American Counseling Association Ethics Competition, 2009
Thomas J. Sweeney National Professional Leadership Award, Chi Sigma Iota, 2008
Visionary Leadership Award, Virginia Summer Institute for Addictions Studies, 2007
Alumni of the Year, Iowa Rehabilitation Counseling Program, 2004
Chair, National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC), 2002-2003
Chair, Virginia Department of Health Professions Intervention Program Committee, 1997-1999
Chair, Virginia Board of Counseling, 1995
Selected Publications
Williams, A. E., Honderich, E. M., and Gressard, C. F. (2018). The New Leaf experience: college student substance abuse treatment and addiction counselor training clinic. Journal of Addictions and Offender Counseling Annual Review.
Lawson, G., Lambert, S. F., & Gressard, C.F. (2011). Reframing recovery: developmental considerations for maintaining change. Journal of Addictions and Offender Counseling. 32 (1-2), 72-83
Dotson-Blake, K., Foster, V. A., and Gressard, C. F. (2009). Ending the silence of the Mexican immigrant voice in public education: creating culturally inclusive family-school-community partnerships. Professional School Counseling, 12 (3), 230-249.
Powell, D. J., Carruth, B, Gressard, C. F., Harrison, B., Hartman, S., Mattel, P (Consensus Panel Members) Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. Clinical Supervision and Professional Development of the Substance Abuse Counselor. Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) Series 52. DHHS Publication No. (SMA) 09-4435. Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2009.