Counseling

Samuel T. Gladding is a professor of counseling and chair of the Department of Counseling at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He has been a practicing counselor in both public and private agencies since 1971. His leadership in the field of counseling includes service as president of the following groups: the American Counseling Association (ACA), the American Association of State Counseling Boards (AASCB), the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES), the Association for Specialists in Group Work (ASGW), and Chi Sigma Iota (counseling academic and professional honor society international).


Gladding is the former editor of the Journal for Specialists in Group Work and the author of seven dozen or so professional publications. In 1999, he was cited as being in the top 1% of contributors to the Journal of Counseling and Development for the 15-year period, 1978-1993. Some of Gladding's other recent books are: Clinical Mental Health Counseling in Community and Agency Settings (with Debbie Newsome) (3rd ed., 2009); Group Work: A Counseling Specialty (6th ed., 2012); Family Therapy: History, Theory, and Practice (5th ed., 2011); Becoming a Counselor: The Light, The Bright, and the Serious (2nd ed., 2008); The Counseling Dictionary (3rd ed., 2011); and The Creative Arts in Counseling (4th ed., 2011).


Gladding's previous academic appointments have been at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Fairfield University (Connecticut). He received his degrees from Wake Forest, Yale, and the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. He is a National Certified Counselor (NCC), a Certified Clinical Mental Health Counselor (CCMHC), and a practicing Licensed Professional Counselor (North Carolina). Gladding is a Fellow in the American Counseling Association and a recipient of the Gilbert and Kathleen Wrenn Award for a Humanitarian and Caring Person, the Arthur A. Hitchcock Distinguished Professional Service Award, and the David K. Brooks Distinguished Mentor Award.
Dr. Gladding is married to Claire Tillson Gladding and is the father of three young adult men -Ben, Nate, and Tim. Outside of counseling, he enjoys tennis, swimming, and humor.