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Dr. Rawn Boulden

Grant Principal Investigator and Project Director

“There’s always been trauma, addiction and sadness in the lives of our children, but now there is also a growing hunger to learn how to help. It’s so rewarding in these trainings when you see the light bulb go off and you know that these participants are ready to be the difference in children’s lives across the state.”

Dr. Rawn Boulden is an assistant professor in the School of Counseling and Well-being at West Virginia University in Morgantown, WV. Additionally, he provides outpatient counseling services to children in the Greater Morgantown region. His scholarship focuses primarily on school counseling and counseling youth and adolescents. Before becoming an assistant professor, Dr. Boulden was a school counselor in Virginia. He primarily teaches master’s courses in WVU’s CACREP-accredited counseling program. His research interests include school counseling, culturally-sustaining practices, and psychometric research. Dr. Boulden has secured more than $5.6 million of federal grants as principal investigator (PI) addressing youth mental health disparities in West Virginia. He is the proud recipient of both the 2023 College of Applied Human Sciences Outstanding Researcher award, and the 2023 WVU Values Coin awarded for his efforts that align with WVU’s land grant mission.

He earned his Ph.D. and B.S. from Old Dominion University, and an M.Ed. from the University of Maryland. Dr. Boulden is a licensed school counselor (VA), nationally certified counselor (NCC) and school counselor (NCSC), fully-certified Youth Mental Health First Aid instructor, and is also a provisionally licensed counselor in West Virginia.