LPCANC Board Member Lili Sznaidman, MS, LPC, ACS Wins Distinguished Practitioner Award from UNC-Greensboro Department of Counseling and Educational Development

This year’s recipient of the Distinguished Practitioner Award received her Master’s & Ed.S degrees from the Department of Counseling & Educational Development in 1996. Hailing originally from Argentina, she received her education degree in Early Childhood Education in Buenos Aires. After working several years as a pre-school teacher, and several moves between N and S America, she moved permanently to the United States.

Volunteering at a women’s center and local AIDS organization in VA as a peer counselor helped reinforce her drive to become a professional counselor. During her graduate school years here at UNCG, she was actively involved with CSI and continued her volunteer peer counseling, despite commuting several times a week from Durham. Since graduating, she had become credentialed as a LPC in NC, a National Certified Counselor and an Approved Clinical Supervisor. For over a decade she has been providing mental health services in English and in Spanish to ethnically and economically diverse populations at both community and school settings. She has done rape and crisis work, co-facilitated a middle-school-based psycho-educational adolescent group for Latino females, and worked with families before starting her own private practice in 2007. More recently, this person has spearheaded the creation of a pro-bono therapy project for uninsured residents of Durham and Orange Counties.

Obviously, her impact working with underserved populations has been immense. However, that is not all. She has also found the time to better her profession as an advocate and supervisor. She has served as field supervisor for both Practicum and Internship Students. She has been serving on the Board of Directors of the LPCANC since 2008 and is currently Chair of the University Relations Committee. In 2008 she initiated the creation of a Mentoring Program for New Professionals from their last semester in graduate school through their first 6 months in the field.

This list of accomplishments not only exemplifies her tireless advocacy and high energy, but defines her values of empowering the disadvantaged and facilitating the development of others. She truly has a generous spirit.
In her “spare” time, she is an active International folk dancer, a frequent traveler, and spirited friend. I learn from her in every interaction, whether a new strategy or idea toward a common goal, tips on vegetarianism, or the physical and cultural advantages of a having a non-working lunch. She has much to offer and I am proud to claim her as an alum of our program, a colleague, and a friend.

Please join me in congratulating Lili Sznaidman MS, LPC, ACS as the 2009 Distinguished Practitioner.

A Keith Mobley, PhD, LPC, ACS
Counseling and Consulting Clinic
Department of Counseling and Educational Development
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro