Damaris Bates

Dr. Bates is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Master of Counseling program at Oregon State University – Cascades. She earned her Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision at North Carolina State University and her MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Appalachian State University. Dr. Bates’ research examines how intersecting identities, disability, neurodivergence, and social and institutional contexts shape mental health, access to care, and experiences within counseling, healthcare, and higher education. Informed by social justice, disability justice, and culturally responsive frameworks, my scholarship centers communities whose experiences have historically been marginalized within research, clinical practice, and professional training. Areas of particular interest include LGBTQ+ and transgender and gender-diverse mental health, the experiences of marginalized and neurodivergent college students, and the psychosocial and counseling needs of individuals with psychiatric and developmental disabilities. Additionally, Dr. Bates has over 6 years of clinical experiences in university counseling centers and inpatient rehabilitation settings, including work with individuals navigating spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, stroke, cancer, aphasia, and other complex medical and disability-related experiences, further inform my interest in accessible, affirming, and interdisciplinary models of care. Across these areas, my work examines how counselor preparation, professional competencies, institutional practices, and systems of care can more effectively recognize and respond to the lived experiences of diverse communities.

Teaching Philosophy and Supervision Approach

Dr. Bates approaches teaching and supervision as a developmental and relational process in which curiosity is central to becoming a counselor. Rather than positioning counselor education as the acquisition of a fixed set of skills, she creates opportunities for students to make sense of what they are learning through experience, dialogue, and reflection. This includes developing greater awareness of how their identities and assumptions enter the counseling relationship and learning to situate clients’ experiences within the cultural, social, and institutional contexts in which they live.

Her approach is also shaped by the belief that counselor educators share responsibility for creating conditions in which students can meaningfully engage in their learning. Drawing from disability justice principles, particularly collective access, interdependence, and recognizing wholeness, she considers how expectations around participation, communication, and learning may privilege some ways of engaging over others. This perspective informs how she designs learning experiences and provides developmental support while maintaining the professional competencies expected of counselors-in-training.

Dr. Bates wants students to leave counselor training with the capacity to think critically about their practice rather than simply reproduce what they have been taught. She encourages students to remain curious in the presence of complexity, practice with cultural humility, and recognize that counseling takes place within larger systems that can both support and constrain the people they serve. Her goal is to prepare counselors who can work thoughtfully within those systems while also recognizing their capacity to advocate for change in their communities.

Selected Peer-Reviewed Publications

Locklear, H. & Bates, D. (In press). Methods in the margins: Supporting counselor education students in decolonized research methods [Special Issue]. International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling.

Grimmett, M., Beckwith A., Lupton-Smith, H., Moody, B., Clark., Messinger, E., Mohamed, R., Edwards, M., Englert, M., & Bates, D. (2024). Intent and Impact: Connecting Multicultural and Social Justice Counselor Training Client Experiences. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development. 52(2), 107–121. https://doi.org/10.1002/jmcd.12292

Schwarze, M., Warren, J., Bates, D., & Butler, J. (2026). Family Counselors’ Perceived Efficacy, Expertise, and Use of Neurobiological Concepts in the Provision of Addiction Counseling Services: A Mixed Methods Study. Journal of Professional Counseling Practice

Locklear, H. & Bates, D. (2026). An uphill battle: Rural school counselors serving queer students as resistance. Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

Selected Peer-reviewed Newsletter Articles

Bates, D., Jegede-Roberts, K., & Locklear, H. (2025, Summer). Toward a Beloved Learning Community: Storytelling As Decolonial Praxis in the Counseling Classroom. Southern Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (SACES) Summer 2025 Newsletter, 20(3), 31-33. https://saces.wildapricot.org/newsletters

Bates, D. J., Hemmingway, J., Snowden, M., Locklear, H. & Williams, P. (2026, Summer). Exploring the Boundaries of Scholarship: What Supporting Decolonized Research Us About Mentorship, Methodology, and the Future of Counselor Education. Southern Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (SACES) Summer 2026 Newsletter, 21(3), 13-15. https://saces.wildapricot.org/newsletters

Selected Presentations

Locklear, H. & Bates, D. J. (2026, November). Supporting Decolonized Research in Counselor Education: The Methods in the Margins Framework. Accepted Education Session to present at the Southern Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (SACES), Louisville, KY.

Purgason, L., Moran, M., DeMeyer, M., Bowser, T. & Bates, D. J. (2026, October). Barriers or Bridges? Redesigning Admissions Amid the Changing Higher Education Landscape. Western Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (WACES), Reno, NV.

Bates, D. J. (2026, April). Trauma-Informed Practices for Counselors Working with Stroke Survivors. Accepted Education Session to present at the Annual American Counseling Association Conference (ACA), Columbus, OH.

Bates, D. J. & Locklear, H. (2025, October). Supporting Counselor Education Students with Disabilities: Balancing Accommodations, Practical Requirements, and Disability Justice. Education session presented at the Annual Association of Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES) Conference, Philadelphia, PA.

Locklear, H. & Bates, D. J. (2025, March). Supporting Queer and Gender Expansive Youth When Caregivers Push Back. Education session presented at the Annual American Counseling Association Conference (ACA), Orlando, FL.

Bates, D. J. (2024, November). Enhancing Disability Training: Narratives of Disabled Counselor Educators in Counselor Education Programs. Roundtable session presented at the Southern Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (SACES), Dallas, TX

Kennedy, M., Bates, D. J., Kempton, B., and Hargrove, K. (2024, November). Promoting Wellness in Doctoral Counselor Education Programs. Education Session presented at the Southern Association for Counselor Education and Supervision, Dallas (SACES), TX

Bates, D. J. & Parker, B. (2023, October). Engaging in Carework: Integrating Disability Justice in Counselor Education and Training. Education Session presented at the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision, Denver, CO

Bates, D. J. (2023, February). Exploring the Role of Disability Justice in Counseling Education Curriculum. Webinar presented at the Nu Sigma Chi Webinar Speaker Series of Chi Sigma Iota Academic and Honor Society International, Raleigh, NC

Edelman, A., Fisher, A., & Bates, D. J. (2023, March) Professional Development Identity and Creating a Leadership Team. Education Session presented at the Online Regional Networking Summits for Chi Sigma Iota Academic and Professional Honor Society International (CSI)

Dardis, K., McMullen, J., Smith, C., Fisher A., & Bates, D. J. (2023, March) Virtual Chapter Leaders Training. Education Session presented at the CSI Days for Chi Sigma Iota Academic and Professional Honor Society International (CSI)

Bates, D. J., & Hargrove, K. (2022, February) Making Space for Treating Eating Disorders, Eating Concerns, and Body-Image Distress in Marginalized Communities. Education Session presented at the Chi Sigma Iota, Nu Sigma Chi Chapter, Webinar Series, Raleigh, NC

Bates, D. J., & Hargrove, K. (2022, February) Making Space for Treating Eating Disorders, Eating Concerns, and Body-Image Distress in Marginalized Communities. Education Session presented at the North Carolina Counseling Association, Virtual Conference

Schwarze, M. J., Warren, J., Bates, D. J., & Butler, J. (2022, February) Assessing the Family Counselor's Emphasis and Efficacy in Providing Neurobiological Education to Family Members of Clients in Addiction Treatment. Education Session presented at the North Carolina Counseling Association, Virtual Conference