Michael Lovato, MA, LMHC, NCC, CMCC is a Doctoral student in Counselor Education at The University of New Mexico (UNM). He brings over 7 years of higher education experience including veterans affairs coordination, student success services, and crisis intervention specialist serving survivors of sexual assault, intimate partner violence, and hate crimes on campus. Michael currently works part-time as a Mental Health Counselor at Engage & Ignite Counseling and serves as a Graduate Assistant & Teaching Assistant at UNM. As a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, he brings both lived experience and professional expertise to his advocacy and clinical work. He also currently serves as a Subject Matter Expert Reviewer for the American Counseling Association, and his research focuses on multicultural counselor education, supervision influence on professional counselor identity development, LGBTQIA+ military/veteran mental health issues, and LGBTQIA+ BIPOC issues in counseling.