In January 2023, Carlow University’s Masters of Professional Counseling program received a $4.9 million grant to provide mental health resources in our community. A portion of the grant funding was allocated to opening a partnership clinic between the MPC program and WHSD. The Carlow Counseling Clinic’s mission is to provide a comprehensive training experience for MPC practicum and internship students within the School-Based Mental Health track while providing free, trauma-informed, school-based mental health services to Woodland Hills students and their families. The Carlow Counseling Clinic’s services include individual, family, and group counseling, creating Continuing Education opportunities for LCSWs and LPCs working in the school district, consulting with teachers and staff regarding classroom environment, crisis intervention, and clinical assessment. As the Clinical Director, Dr. Cash is responsible for supervising the counselors-in-training, coordinating clinical services for clients, building community partnerships and marketing the CCC, providing training/workshop opportunities, and evaluating CCC’s services.

Education

• PhD, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, NC (2020)
• MS – Counseling, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, NC (2017)
• BA – History, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS (2014)

Professional Memberships

• American Counseling Association
• Association of Counselor Educators and Supervisors
• Association for Spiritual, Ethical, Religion, and Values in Counseling

Research

Interests: Clinical Supervision; Best practices in counselor education; Broaching in counseling and supervision; Religious/spiritual identity and trauma

• Dissertation Study, UNCG Defended May 2020: Since religious identity is known to influence one’s self-concept, moral judgments, and worldview, it is imperative for counselor educators to understand how counselors-in-training are integrating their religious identity with their professional identity, especially as legal cases such as Ward v. Wilbanks and Keeton v. Anderson-Wiley, and the ethical conflicts they present, challenge the field of counselor education. A religious identity that may face particular challenges in the counselor education environment is Evangelical Protestants, as their faith practice tends to emphasize Biblical literalism, missionary efforts, and socio-political stances that can conflict with the values presented in the American Counseling Association’s Code of Ethics.
  The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experiences of evangelical- identifying counselors in their counselor education, in order to better inform counselor educators on the challenges of integrating potentially conflicting identities of faith and profession. Four participants who self-identified white evangelical women shared their lived experiences during their counselor education program via semi-structured interviews. The research team summarized common themes and experiences using the methodology of Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA).
  The fourteen common themes that arose across the interviews were sorted into three phases: Pre-Program Factors, During Program Effects, and Post-Program Effects. After developing these themes through IPA, Social Identity Theory was used as a model to examine the phenomenon in an effort to build a conceptual understanding of white evangelical identity distress and integration before, during, and after counselor education programs.
• Research Apprenticeship, UNCG August 2017 – May 2018: As a part of my doctoral training program, I worked alongside Assistant Professor, Dr. Connie T. Jones, in supporting her research endeavors. This mentor relationship gave me the opportunity to learn how to develop a research agenda, experience the challenges and complexities of having multiple projects as various stages of completion, learn different methodologies, and write collaboratively with different authors. My responsibilities included organizing, entering, and analyzing data; co-authoring papers; designing, printing, and mailing surveys; and conducting phone interviews.
• Master’s Research Experience, UNCG Spring 2017: I assisted faculty in research projects by gathering data regarding school counseling in NC, creation probes for interview questions in a qualitative study, and generating annotated bibliographies on the Multicultural Counseling Competence Training Scale, and Multicultural Counseling Knowledge and Awareness Scale, and the content of substance use courses.

Publications

• Cash, R. M., Wachter-Morris, C. A., Borders, L. D., Janke, E. M., Cashwell, C. S. (2020). A struggle for “grace and truth”: A qualitative investigation of counselor education’s effects on white evangelical identity (Publication No. 9388822424) [Doctoral Dissertation, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro]. NCDOCKS.
• Jones, C., Welfare, L., Melchior, S., & Cash, R. (2019). Broaching as a strategy for intercultural understanding in clinical supervision. The Clinical Supervisor, 38(1), 1-16. Doe:10.1080/07325223.2018.1560384

Awards & Recognition

• Guiding Light Award: Clinical Supervisor of Distinction, Carlow University, 2024
• Outstanding Doctoral Student, Chi Sigma Iota, Upsilon Nu Chi Chapter, 2019-2020
• Spartan Leadership Award, UNCG, 2017-2018
• Outstanding Doctoral Student, Chi Sigma Iota, Upsilon Nu Chi Chapter, 2018-2019
• Muriel Kiser Education Scholarship, UNCG, 2017-2018
• Society of Scholars Award, MSU, 2013-2014
• GV “Sonny” Montgomery Foundation Scholarship for Service, MSU, 2012-2013
• Glover Moore and John K. Bettersworth Endowed Scholarship, Mississippi State University (MSU), 2011-2012