Omar
Troutman
Omar Troutman
- Campus: Online
- Department: Counselor Education
- Institution: The Chicago School
Biography
Dr. Troutman is an Associate Professor in the M.A. Clinical Mental Health Counseling program. He is a National Certified Counselor (NCC), Board-Certified TeleMental Health Provider (BC-TMH), and holds dual licensure in the State of South Carolina as a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and Licensed Professional Counselor Supervisor (LPCS). His professional affiliations include the South Carolina Counseling Association (SCCA) and the American Counseling Association (ACA), with divisional membership in the Association for Creativity in Counseling (ACC), the Association for Counselor Education & Supervision (ACES), Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development (AMCD), Society for Sexual, Affectional, Intersex and Gender Expansive Identities (SAIGE), as well as the Southern Association for Counselor Education & Supervision (SACES).
His areas of expertise are related to multicultural concerns in counseling with a specific focus on the LGBTQQIA+ population. His primary area of inquiry are the parallel developmental processes of adolescents who present as LGBTQQIA+ as well as their families. In recognizing the often-delicate nature of treating this population and their families, Dr. Troutman frequently creates and infuses creative therapeutic interventions to reduce barriers and invite engagement. One of which being the creation of a parental group to focus specifically on the often forgotten dynamic of the parental experience of the coming out process.
As a Counselor Educator, Dr. Troutman recognizes the paucity of educational endeavors and experiences related to the LGBTQQIA+ community. As such, he created a class to address this blind spot in the counselor preparation process, which had its inaugural run in the Spring of 2024. He has also called upon CACREP for more specificity in its accreditation standards as it pertains to multicultural education explicitly related to the LGBTQQIA+ population. To provide further support to students, he currently serves as the faculty co-advisor for Pride+, a student organization for LGBTQQIA+ students and their allies.
Prior to joining The Chicago School, Dr. Troutman worked in community mental health for seven years. As he rose through the ranks and ultimately became a Clinical Director for the Child, Adolescent, & Family division of Lexington County Community Mental Health Center, a part of the South Carolina Department of Mental Health, he traveled to the majority of the mental health centers under the purview of the state agency educating practitioners and administrative personnel on the LGBTQQIA+ population, creative strategies of treatment, and how to create an affirming environment to reduce premature termination and persistence to symptom alleviation. In continuing to support his community, he is frequently called upon to conduct trainings for other facilities across the state. He has also provided support to LGBTQQIA+ youth by way of the Trevor Project as a volunteer crisis counselor and private practitioner.
Education History
Degree Institution Year Ph.D. Counselor Education University of South Carolina , Columbia, SC 2014 Ed.S. Counselor Education University of South Carolina , Columbia, SC 2009 B.A. Psychology University of South Carolina , Columbia, SC 2006 B.S. Business Administration University of South Carolina , Columbia, SC 2001 Professional Memberships
Presentations
Title Location Date When students bully faculty: Strategies for reflection and redirection. Dallas, TX 2024, November Creative interventions for LGBTQQIA+ adolescents in chaos, conflict, and crisis: A humanistic counseling approach. Virtual 2024, May Enhancing clinical practice with the LGBTQQIA2S+ community: A programmatic approach. Virtual 2024, May Serving a community under attack: Treatment of LGBTQQIA+ youth. New Orleans, LA 2024, April Mitigating the impact of “toxic” relationships on physical and psychological health. St. Petersburg, FL 2024, February Treating LGBTQQIA+ youth from hostile and rejecting families: Creative interventions for a population in crisis. St. Petersburg, FL 2024, February University supervision relationships: How culture plays a role in fostering growth to counselors in training. St. Petersburg, FL 2024, February Passion around teaching: Balancing our passion for student success with the realities of gatekeeping. Melbourne, FL 2023, November Creative interventions for LGBTQQIA+ adolescents in hostile and chaotic environments. Melbourne, FL 2023, November Existential theory and practice: Roundtable discussion. Virtual 2023, May Areas of Expertise
Area Expertise Child & Adolescent Development Identity Development Parenting Styles Social Development Clinical Psychology / Mental Health ADD/ADHD Anxiety Disorders Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Oppositional-Defiant Disorders Self-Injury Trauma/PTSD Diversity Community Mental Health Cultural Issues Diversity Issues Ethnic Identity Development Gender Issues, Class GLBT Identity Models Multicultural Training Racism and White Privilege Social Economic Status Social Justice and Advocacy Marriage & Family Couples Counseling Family Therapy Foster Care Relationships and Dating Mood Disorders Depression Dysthymia Research Design/Methodology Qualitative Inquiry Sexuality/Gender Issues Gender Identity HIV/AIDS LGBTQ Therapeutic/Theoretical Orientation Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Constructivist/Narrative Theory Family Systems Theory Group Counseling Humanistic/Existential Interpersonal Multicultural psychology Licenses
Board Certified TeleMental Health Counselor (BC-TMH) Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) , South Carolina Licensed Professional Counselor Supervisor (LPCS) , South Carolina National Certified Counselor (NCC) Publications
Journal Troutman, O., & Evans, K. M. (2014). A psychoeducational group for parents of lesbian, gay, and bisexual adolescents.. Journal of School Counseling, 12 (18),
Troutman, O., & Packer-Williams, C. (2014). Moving beyond CACREP standards: Training counselors to work competently with LGBT clients.. The Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision, 6 (1),
Question and Answer
Please describe your teaching philosophy. In my educative endeavors, I seek to create a classroom environment which is grounded in the constructivist approach of contextual learning, inquiry, and parallel processing. More specifically, it is my belief that not only do students require a firm knowledge base but they must also develop and be comfortable with utilizing the skill of critical thinking in the overarching development of their metacognitive skills to become competent consumers of information. To this end, my students are encouraged to accept with caution the constructs of information presented and subsequently go beyond the surface level of rote knowledge in an effort to find applicability and appropriate modification in a pluralistic and increasingly diverse society.
While my students are always held accountable for the ‘basics’ it is in their parallel processing and growth with the information that is emphasized in the philosophy of my teaching. As such, I consistently endeavor to provide the space and time for my students to actually make sense of the content presented from their own perspective instead of my own.
The infusion of an experiential processing component by way of in-depth class discussions focused on analysis, interpretation, and application of the information presented is something I deem crucial to the education experience. Encouraging students to engage their peers in thoughtful discussions begins to provide the basis by which they will learn from others in the future. Additionally, further encouraging students to engage me during the learning process has the ability to flatten a perceived classroom hierarchy in which my role is reconceived as a guide along the journey of enlightenment instead of as an authority. For instance, topics which are rather difficult for my students to grasp are opened up to dialogue instead of presenting more facts and information. As the students begin to derive their own ascribed meaning to the construct or topic presented, they are more likely to retain the information in an application instead of factual form.
Humor is almost always a component of my instruction. In my mind, students are more likely to engage in a relaxed, enlightening, and humor-filled class rather than a simple presentation of course material that is a mere synopsis of the textbook. Humor also has the ability to invite students to be fully present, come out of their shells, and lowers their guard as they begin feel free to make sense of what is being presented.