JTC 26: Turning Passion Into More

Brian Harrington was the Mississippi Counseling Association's Outstanding New Counselor in 2022. He was nationally board-certified and, by every measure, exactly where he was supposed to be in his career. But he felt like there was more he needed to do.

It was not the first time he felt this way. Harrington approached every job with the idea that people needed someone in their corner.

Before becoming a school counselor, he had already worked as a 911 dispatcher, worked in a funeral home and spent three years in the classroom. He has left jobs he loved and walked away from salaries he needed, always moving toward something he couldn’t quite name.

"I loved being a school counselor; I really did," said Harrington, who graduates from the University of Mississippi in May with a doctorate in counselor education. "But the more I did it, the more I could see all these things I wanted to do that just were not possible working in one school."

What he needed, it turned out, was someone who understood why he felt there was more.

Amanda Winburn, a professor in the Department of Leadership and Counselor Education, understood. When Harrington approached her about a specialist program, she knew right away where he belonged.

"From the moment we met, I could see Brian's passion for school counseling and working with children and adolescents," Winburn said. "His strong sense of advocacy and desire to learn and grow made me think right away that he would be a great fit for our doctoral program."

For Harrington, it was the answer he had been searching for. After Commencement at Ole Miss, he heads to Old Dominion University as a member of the faculty there.

Harrington describes his decision-making as moving on a maybe, stepping forward in faith when every option looks both promising and uncertain, then trusting the choice that brings peace.

He moved on this one, leaving a job he loved and taking a $45,000 pay cut. The financial pressure of doctoral study tested him in ways he had not fully anticipated.

"The reality did not hit me until midway through my first year, when my savings were getting all the way down," he said.

Harrington found the support he needed from within his department. Stephanie Lusk, a professor of leadership and counselor education, helped him find work with the McNair Program during that first critical summer. Other faculty helped him to find research and supervisory opportunities that kept him on track and being paid.

Through it all, Winburn made sure he knew her door was open, creating the kind of environment where Harrington felt he could say, honestly, that he was not sure he was going to make it.

"They created such a space that I could go in and say, 'Hey y'all, this is it,'" he said. "And they would jump in and do what they could."

Lusk was one of those people, and she recognized early on what Harrington brought to the program.

"From my first meeting with Brian, he demonstrated his commitment to this field and immediately took on each class, leadership opportunity, research project and supervision requirement with curiosity and enthusiasm," Lusk said.

He found his footing in his second year, when he began teaching. Seeing his name on a syllabus made something click.

"I was like, 'Yeah, I belong in this classroom,'" Harrington said. "This is me."

At Old Dominion, he will train the next generation of school counselors. Winburn has little doubt about how that will go.

"They may not know it yet, but there are some lucky students at ODU, because they are about to have a new favorite professor," Winburn said. "Dr. Harrington."

Top: Brian Harrington, a counselor education doctoral graduate, graduates in May before joining the faculty at Old Dominion University, where he will train the next generation of school counselors. Harrington previously served as the Mississippi Counseling Association's Outstanding New Counselor in 2022. Photo by Srijita Chattopadhyay/Ole Miss Digital Imaging Services

See more photos from Brian Harrington's Journey to Commencement