Alumni Feature: Fabian Moreno

M.S. Clinical Mental Health Counseling

Hello! My name is Eduardo Fabian Moreno and I am originally from the Hendersonville area, now living and practicing as a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor in Asheville, NC.

I graduated from Brevard College in 2015 with my bachelor’s in psychology degree, and then I graduated with my master’s in clinical mental health counseling at Western Carolina University in 2017. I entered the program initially wanting to work at the VA or with adults only, until personal events pulled me to want to be more present for the needs of children.

I am a full-time bilingual outpatient therapist who works with Access Family Services in meeting the clinical mental health needs of children, adolescents, and young adults in Buncombe County. Our agency has a contract with Buncombe County Public Schools that allows for us to provide counseling services within the school to accommodate the needs of families and vulnerable populations. Being one of the few bilingual therapists in the area has led to a strong utilization of myself within the unmet needs of immigrant and diverse families. I have had opportunity to work within schools, as well as an ability to provide workshops to advocate around the experience of Latinx folk in WNC and the perspectives practitioners and teachers need to have while working within our communities.

Additionally, since my completion of the program, I have received eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) training by Roy Kiessling and I am currently finding the use of this modality within other practices such as child-centered play therapy approaches, expressive arts, CBT, and more. I find that this training, coupled with the counseling program at WCU, has allowed me to better understand the overall basis and practice of the varying theoretic orientations within sessions to best be flexible and meeting the needs of the individuals I serve.

Currently, I am back in school through an online program to improve my written and grammatical aspect of Spanish as I would like to one day conduct and publish research in Spanish and English. I am also taking additional steps in larger advocacy and program development for children in our state, in which more will be shared in a few years!