Counseling

College of Education and Human Development

Rebecca K. Frels, Ph.D., LPC-S, CSC

rebecca frelsRebecca K. Frels, Ph.D., LPC-S, CSC
Associate Professor
(409) 880-7867 p.
rfrels@lamar.edu

Rebecca Frels, formerly the Chair of the Department of Counseling, has been appointed as Associate Dean of the College of Education and Human Development. With a background in counseling as a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), Play Therapist, and LPC-Supervisor in Texas, her experience spans the mental health community and school settings.  She is a graduate of the University of Houston with a B.A. in Music; University of Houston Victoria with a M.Ed. in Counseling; and Sam Houston State University with a Ph.D. in Counseling and Supervision.

Beginning with her dissertation research in 2010, her scholarship has focused on interdisciplinary work and mentoring in schools.  Her research and scholarly writing also includes research methodology, counselor supervision, play therapy and creative arts.  She has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed articles, four book chapters/book(s), and has presented on the international, national, and local levels in all of her research areas—including workshops for the Organization for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa (OSSREA) in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. These international experiences influenced her model for cross-cultural mentoring and her book Seven Steps to a Comprehensive Literature Review: A multi-model and cultural approach. Her h-index is 12 with highest citations (n = 210) for the 2013 article: Administering Quantitative Instruments with Qualitative Interviews: A Mixed Research Approach published by the Journal of Counseling & Development.

Dr. Frels is a past recipient of the Lamar University Merit Award in recognition of outstanding teaching. Other honors and awards include membership in Phi Beta Delta International Honor Society Beta Xi Chapter; two Distinguished Paper Awards at the American Educational Research Association; Most Read Article in 2014 from Routledge Taylor & Francis Group’s journal Mentoring & Tutoring; Outstanding Paper Award from the Southern Educational Research Association, and a Texas Counseling Association Distinguished Service Award.

Most recently, Dr. Frels was awarded a $1.9 million-dollar grant sponsored by Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to initiate a mentoring program to provide training in crisis services using adult-peer mentors in the schools with school counseling interns. The program, Interdisciplinary Mentoring Partners and Crisis Teams (IMPaCT), is an integrated-care approach to mental health for children, adolescents, and transitional-age youth in Southeast Texas.  Grant funding also includes a 2-year grant funded at $150,000 with Minority Health Research and Education of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to co-develop an inventive peer-led program to target recruitment of underrepresented minorities in the Speech and Hearing Professions at Lamar University.

Dr. Frels has been a part of the Lamar University family since Spring 2011 when she was lead faculty in teaching the first cohort of the Lamar University School Counseling Online Program. Since that time, she has helped lead the effort to establish new programs and degrees including the CACREP accredited M.Ed. in Clinical Mental Health; the M.Ed. in Special Education with the concentration of Educational Diagnostician; and the Certificate Program in Mental Health Counseling. In her free time, she enjoys classical, Broadway musicals, tennis, and “foodie” cuisine.

Awards and Honors

2016 Lamar University Merit Award

2016 Distinguished Service Award Texas Counseling Association

2016, November Invited guest speaker Cardinal Conversations

2015 Phi Beta Delta International Honor Society Beta Xi Chapter Lamar University

h-index is 13 with highest citations (160) for the 2013 article: Administering quantitative instruments with qualitative interviews: A mixed research approach. Journal of Counseling & Development.

Most Read Article of 2014 by Routledge Taylor & Francis Group:  Differences of Mentoring Experiences across Grade Span among Principals, Mentors, and Mentees

2013 Distinguished Paper Award AERA Mentorship and Mentoring Practices Special Interest Group. Differences in mentoring experiences across grade span among principals, mentors, and mentees.

2013 Distinguished Paper Award AERA. Professors of Education Research Special Interest A Framework for using discourse analysis for the review of the literature.

2012 Outstanding Published Manuscript in Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning. The experiences of selected mentors: A cross-cultural examination of the dyadic relationship in school-based mentoring.

2011 Outstanding Paper Award A mixed research study of mixed research courses: experiences and perceptions of instructors at the Southwest Educational Research Association, San Antonio, TX.

Invited Co-Editor Methodological Applications in Education for International Journal of Multiple Research Approaches 5(2): http://mra.e-contentmanagement.com/archives/vol/5/issue/2/

Courses

CNDV 5353 Research and Program Evaluation

CNDV 5334 Measurement and Assessment

CNDV 5380 Residency

CNDV 5390 School Counseling Practicum

Experience

Associate Dean and Associate Professor at Lamar University

Licensed Professional Counselor-Supervisor, Certified School Counselor, and Play Therapist with 10+ years in the clinical and school setting

Education
2010 Sam Houston State University, Ph.D. in Counselor Education
2004 University of Houston-Victoria, M.Ed. in Counseling
1985 University of Houston, B.A. in Music

Teaching Experience
2011-2017   Associate Professor: Department of Counseling and Special Populations, Lamar University.
2012-2013 Coordinator: Lamar University School Counselor Program.
2009-2013 Research in the Schools Production Editor (internationally and nationally refereed journal).
2011-Spring Lecturer: Department of Educational Leadership and Counseling, Sam Houston State University.
2010-Fall Adjunct Professor: University of Houston Sugar Land
2010-Summer Instructor of Play Therapy/Play Room Consultant: Universidad de UNIBE, San Jose, Costa Rica

Clinical Experience
Play therapy and adolescent counseling in practice and founding partner and professional counselor for the Beaumont Counseling Center, specializing in sandtray therapy, mindfulness cognitive therapy, and creative arts counseling with individuals and groups

School Counseling Experience
Fort Bend ISD Cornerstone Elementary School and Oyster Creek Elementary School

Research and Publications

Selected Featured Publications
Stark, M., & Weinbaum, R. K. (in press). Thriving in the grey: The influence of a solution-focused approach in student affairs. College Student Affairs Journal.
  • Onwuegbuzie, A. J., & Frels, R. K. (2016). Seven steps to a comprehensive literature review. London, UK: Sage Publications.
  • Frels, R. K. (2016). Data management and data analysis software. In C. Sheperis, J. S. Young, & M. Daniels (Eds.) Counseling research: Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
  • Frels, R. K., Newman, I. & Newman, C. (2015). Mentoring the next generation of mixed and multiple method researchers.  In S. Hesse-Biber & R. Burke Johnson  (Eds.). Oxford handbook for mixed and multiple method research. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
  • Bellon-Harn, M., & Weinbaum, R. K. (2017). Cross-cultural peer-mentoring: Mentor outcomes and perspectives. Teaching and Learning in Communication Sciences and Disorders.
  • Bellon-Harn, M. L., & Weinbaum, R. K. (2017). Speech and Hearing Cardinal Careers: Recruiting Students from Diverse Populations. Perspectives.
  • Onwuegbuzie, A. J., & Weinbaum, R. K. (2017). A framework for using qualitative comparative analysis for the review of the literature. The Qualitative Report, 22(2) 359-372. Retrieved from http://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/vol22/iss2/1/ 
  • Onwuegbuzie, A. J., & Frels, R. K. (2015). Using Q methodology in the literature review process: A mixed research approach. Journal of Educational Issues, 2, doi:10.5296/jei.v1i2.8396. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.5296/jei.v1i2.8396
  • Stark, M. D., & Frels, R. K. (2014) Using Sandtray as a Collaborative Assessment Tool for Counselor Development, Journal of Creativity in Mental Health, 9(4), 468-482, doi: 10.1080/15401383.2014.897663
  • Ingram, J., Rosli, L., Onwuegbuzie, A.J. & Frels, R. K. (2014). A critical pluralist dialectic examination of the lived experiences of select women doctoral students. The Qualitative Report, 19 (Art. 5). Retrieved from http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR19/onwuegbuzie5.pdf
  • Frels, R. K., Onwuegbuzie, A. J., Collins, K. M. T., & Leech, N. L. (2014). Pedagogical strategies used by selected leading mixed methodologists in mixed research courses. The Journal of Effective Teaching, 14(2). 5-34.
  • Onwuegbuzie, A. J., & Frels, R. K. (2014). A Framework for using discourse analysis for the review of the literature in counseling research. Counseling Outcome Research and Evaluation, 5, 52-63. doi: 10.1177/2150137813515905
  • Frels, R. K., & Onwuegbuzie, A. J.  (2013). Administering quantitative instruments with qualitative interviews: A mixed research approach. Journal of Counseling & Development, 91(2), 84-194. doi: 10.1002/j.1556-6676.2013.00085.x
  • Nelson, J. A., Onwuegbuzie, A. J., Wines, L., & Frels, R. K. (2013). The therapeutic interview process in qualitative research studies. The Qualitative Report, 18 (Art.80). Retrieved from http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR18/nelson79.pdf
  • Frels, R. K. ,& Onwuegbuzie, A. J., Bustamante, R. ,Garza, Y. Leggett, E., Nelson, J. , & Nichter, M. (2013). The purposes and approaches of selected mentors in school-based mentoring: A collective case study. Psychology in the Schools, 50(6). 1-14.
  • Fitzgerald, K., Gordon, T., Canty, A., Stitt, R., Onwuegbuzie, A. J., & Frels, R. K. (2013). Ethnic differences in completion rates as a function of school size in Texas high schools. The Journal of At-Risk Issues, 17(2), 1-10.
  • Frels, R. K., Zientek, L., & Onwuegbuzie, A. J. (2013). Differences in mentoring experiences across grade span among principals, mentors, and mentees. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning 21, 28-58.
  • Frels, R. K., & Onwuegbuzie, A. J. (2012). Principles of play: A dialogical comparison of two case studies in school-based mentoring. International Journal of Play Therapy, 21, 131-148. doi:10.1037/a0028536
  • Frels, R. K., & Onwuegbuzie, A. J. (2012). The experiences of selected mentors: A cross-cultural examination of the dyadic relationship in school-based mentoring. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 20, 1-26. doi:10.1080/13611267.2012.679122
  • Frels, R. K., Onwuegbuzie, A. J., Leech, N., & Collins, K. M. T. (2012). Challenges to teaching mixed research courses. The Journal of Effective Teaching, 12(2), 23-44.
Grants
  • Interdisciplinary Mentoring Partners and Crisis Teams (IMPaCT) toward Behavioral Health Service Providers (under review). Behavioral Health Workforce and Education Training. Amount 2,200,000.00
  • A peer mentoring program for addressing retention of African Americans and Hispanics into the doctoral program of audiology and the master’s program of speech-language pathology. (2014, funded). With Monica Bellon-Harn: Minority Health Research and Education Grant Program Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Co-Director/PI. Amount 150,000.00
  • Student resiliency, connectedness, and transition from high school to college (2013, funded). Lamar University Research Enhancement Grant. PI. Amount 5,000.00

Service

National/International Service

2014-2017 American Counseling Association: Professional Standards Committee

2013-2014 Professional Mentoring Program Mentor for American Counseling Association

2010-2012 Production Editor for Research in the Schools

2013 Guest Co-Editor of a special issue on Methodological Applications in Education for International Journal of Multiple Research Approaches 5(2): http://mra.e-contentmanagement.com/archives/vol/5/issue/2/

2012 Guest Co-Editor of two special issues on Mixed Methods Research in Education for International Journal of Multiple Research Approaches: http://mra.e-contentmanagement.com/archives/vol/6/issue/1/call/ 

 

Peer Reviewer

Journal of Community Counseling

Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning

International Journal of Multiple Research Approaches

Oxford Bibliographies

Research in the Schools

Journal of Mixed Methods Research

 

Regional Service

2012-2015 Director-at-Large. Southwest Educational Research Association (3-year term elected position)

2013-2014 Newsletter Editor for Southwest Educational Research Association

2012-2013 Chapter President: Sam Houston Association for Play Therapy

2013, 2014 Invited Preconference Workshop Co-Presenter for Southwest Educational Research Association

State Service
2014-2016 Texas Counseling Association: Graduate Student Committee Co-Chair
2014 Texas Counseling Association Professional Mentoring in Counseling
2014 Texas Counseling Association Graduate Student Newsletter Editor
July, 2014 Texas Counseling Association Leadership Conference Training
2010 Texas Association for Play Therapists: Conference Volunteer Committee Chair
2010 Graduate Student Advising Board: Sam Houston State University

University/College/Department Service
2015-2017 Lamar University Research Council
NCATE Team for 2012 Visit
College of Education & Development Research Committee Member (elected position)
College Assessment Steering Committee (appointed position)
2013-present Supervision of LPC-Interns employed at Lamar University
LEAD Mentoring and Service Program (established via THECB Grant)
2011-2013, August, Program Coordinator School Counseling 

Community Service
Frels, R. K. (2015, March). Keys to play therapy for working with children in crisis: A relational approach. Presentation for the Southeast Texas Counseling Association Workshop Series
Frels, R. K. (November-  December, 2014). Play therapy foundations and applications. Beaumont Counseling Center, Beaumont, TX
Frels, R. K. (2013, May). The Healing power of play. Presentation for the Southeast Texas Counseling Association Workshop Series
Frels, R. K. (2013, November). Wellness in the midst of academics and social commitments: It’s messy being human. Kelly High School, Beaumont, TX