School counselors are committed to showing up for children and providing a resource that may not be accessible outside of school. Denise Hawkins, NCC, is taking that a step further in her continued advocacy for her students outside the classroom.  

This year, Hawkins was honored with the NBCC Propelling Mental Health, Powering the Future: School Counseling Award for her work as a counselor in Gwinnett County Schools in Grayson, Georgia.  

“The work that I do that really brings me joy is working with students of color and really bringing out their brilliance,” Hawkins says.  

Hawkins serves students by making them feel heard, understood, and seen. She holds small groups with girls to allow them to share their stories, helps students prepare for college, and encourages students to take on leadership roles.  

Hawkins says involving parents in the work with her students is important to their success. She hosts discussions with parents each month to help them support their children. This includes helping them to understand different acronyms used in the educational setting, teaching them how to communicate with teachers, and helping them learn what their children love to do. 

“Sometimes in the [school] building we're kind of like in a box, so [students] have to take certain classes,” Hawkins says. “Those classes don't always feed into what they're passionate about, what their strengths are. I help parents to identify things outside of the school system that would enrich their students’ learning.”  

Hawkins says this is especially true for her, as her parents wanted her to be either a doctor or a lawyer. She went to Chapman University to get a bachelor’s degree in pre-law. Soon, Hawkins learned she didn’t want a career in law. Her talents led her to a different profession: counseling.   

While working in a bank to pay for her education, Hawkins’ co-workers would come to her and talk about problems in their lives, or simply to have someone listen to them.  

“I enjoyed that more than I enjoyed my job,” Hawkins admits. “I started to recognize what strengths I brought to the table. It wasn't necessarily defending people as a lawyer, but it was more so advocating for them and listening to their story.” 

Her career trajectory shifted, and Hawkins has now worked as a school counselor for more than 16 years.  

“One of the values of being a school counselor today is you get to help students align careers with their personal strengths and what they bring to the table. I didn't have that when I was growing up,” Hawkins says.  

The Propelling Mental Health, Powering the Future: School Counseling Award was given to Hawkins because of her outstanding efforts to address youth mental health needs and to promote equity in health and education.  

Hawkins says this is significant because school counselors often go unrecognized for propelling mental health in their students. Many schools put a heavy emphasis on graduation and academic achievement. Supporting students’ mental health is critical for those things to happen.  

“If [students] are not healthy, mentally or emotionally, the academic piece is not going to fall in line. What this award means is that [school counselors] are recognized for the mental health piece, the emotional piece, and the activities that we have to do with students to make sure that they are socially healthy and emotionally healthy,” she says.  

Although Hawkins didn’t see herself becoming a school counselor before she began college, she was still able to discover her passion. Now, that passion is changing lives.  

“I feel like I was brought to this world to be a school counselor,” Hawkins says. 

Learn more about Hawkins and how she’s supporting students in our recent interview at the 2024 NBCC Foundation Bridging the Gap Symposium.