BSU Professor Named Counselor Educator of the Year

For the second time in recent years, Massachusetts’ top counselor educator is a Bridgewater State University professor.

Dr. M. Nikki Freeburg received the 2026 award from the Massachusetts Mental Health Counselors Association, just three years after now-emerita Professor Christy Lyons Graham earned the same honor.

“It was a total surprise to me,” Freeburg said. “They’re the gold standard in the state and to have them acknowledge me is beyond an honor.”

Freeburg was nominated by Amanda Barudin-Carreiro, the associate director of fieldwork and lab manager in the Department of Counselor Education. The award recognizes academic professionals’ outstanding service to graduate students.

Freeburg’s accomplishments include helping organize an annual academic conference whose reach extended beyond BSU, as well as efforts to study artificial intelligence use in mental health education, said Dr. Marci Swede, dean of the College of Education and Health Professions.

“We are extraordinarily proud of the impact Dr. Freeburg has in the mental health counseling profession as an educator, scholar and clinician,” she said.

Freeburg hopes her students walk away with the skills to treat their clients’ emotional and mental health needs, as well as an understanding of how to achieve a work-life balance.

“When you’re taking care of other people, you get lost in the fold,” she said. “Yes, care for others, but take care of yourself first.”

BSU’s success with this award reflects the high caliber of the counselor education faculty, as well as the university-wide culture of excellence and focus on student support, she said.

“That means you get to teach students at a higher capacity than a lot of other places,” she said, citing a lab where students simulate counseling sessions as one difference maker. “We’re given these great resources that we can then channel into our students.”

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