Brian Kennedy, second from right, received TxSAIGE’s Michael DeVoll Award this week.
Brian Kennedy, a licensed professional counselor with Room for Change, on Wednesday, Oct. 30, received the Michael DeVoll Award of Excellence in Counseling from TxSAIGE, a division of the Texas Counseling Association.
TxSAIGE is the advocacy arm of the Texas Counseling Association, representing sexual, affectual, intersex and gender expression identities in the counseling field in Texas.
Texas Counseling Association, with a membership of more than 8,000 mental health professionals in the state, hosted its annual Professional Growth Conference at the Sheraton Hotel in Dallas this week. The award Kennedy received is named after Michael DeVoll, one of the founders of TxSAIGE and past president of the Texas Counseling Association. DeVoll founded a camp for queer teens and small groups for the teen’s parents, was an advocate for sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression legislative issues and an avid educator on LGBTQIA issues. The award is an extension of his legacy.
Kennedy is a licensed professional counselor at Room for Change in Oak Lawn providing affirmative care to the LGBTQ community. His work as LGBTQ community liaison has resulted in heightened visibility and exponential growth in just two years. His dedication to providing access to mental health for underrepresented populations, providing safe healthcare spaces for the LGBTQ community and connecting his clients and other professionals to resources were cited as reasons for his recognition.
Kennedy posted on social media that he was “humbled to accept this [award] and want to acknowledge and give credit to our team at Room for Change Oak Lawn for providing excellent mental health care to our community.”
Kennedy also serves as a senator with TxSAIGE, which was named the TCA Division of the Year at the conference this week.
— Tammye Nash