Syntia Santos Dietz, PhD, Associate Professor in New England’s Clinical Mental Health Counseling program and MA in School Counseling Program Director, published her article: “Reflexiones Sobre la Orientación Educativa en América Latina: Un Llamado a la Acción” (Reflections about School Counseling in Latin America: A Call for Action) as part of a special edition of the Journal of School-Based Counseling Policy and Evaluation. This special edition, which contains five articles in Spanish, elevates the voices of Latin American professionals and shares some of the nuances of the school counseling profession in Latin America.
Santos Dietz’s article discusses the importance and need for public policies and research projects to support the profession of educational guidance. She makes a call to action for those who have access to decision-making, resources, and leadership in the profession, to create, participate in, and support research, policy, and practice initiatives in educational guidance as invaluable support.
“I am honored and proud to be part of a special edition,” said Santos Dietz. “I hope there will be more editions like this in the future.”
A former k-12 educator in Honduras with an elementary school teaching certificate and a bachelor’s degree in education with a major in school counseling, Santos Dietz has had the privilege of being an international student and international faculty and working on various international education initiatives. She is an advocate for the prevention, protection, and development of the mental, family, and social health of all students.
Santos Dietz obtained her PhD in Counseling and Counselor Education at North Carolina State University and her MEd in School Counseling from the State University of New York at Buffalo as a Fulbright scholar. She worked as a professor and program coordinator in her home country, Honduras, in their school counseling program at the Universidad Pedagógica Nacional Francisco Morazán. She was also an assistant professor in counselor education at East Carolina University.
Her research agenda, service efforts, and teaching focus on cultural competence development, diversity, and social justice. Santos Dietz is interested in examining the process of cultural competence development for counselors in training and understanding the impact on that development in diverse counseling settings. She is particularly interested in examining how counselor educators support cultural competence development through local and global initiatives, and how the counseling profession serves historically marginalized populations such as the Latinx communities. Santos Dietz is actively involved in the profession, presently serving as an editorial board member for the Professional Counselor Journal and the Journal of School-based Counseling Policy and Evaluation.
