Celebrating Alumni – Shamanda Burston Chosen to Lead Program for Behavioral Health Charlotte

GWU Alumna and Adjunct Coordinates Enhanced Outpatient Treatment  

BOILING SPRINGS, N.C.—Students are the focus of Gardner-Webb University’s mission. Faculty members seek to engage students with unique, experiential learning opportunities to prepare them for their next steps as GWU alumni. Whether they choose to begin a career or accept the academic challenges of graduate school, they are equipped with knowledge and skills to lead, and inspired to serve and impact their communities.

Gardner-Webb celebrates alumni who are making a positive and lasting difference in the lives of others.

Shamanda Burston, a 2014 alumna of Gardner-Webb’s Master of Arts in clinical mental health counseling program, is a psychotherapist at Atrium Health. She was promoted to new program coordinator in the enhanced outpatient treatment program at Atrium’s Behavioral Health Charlotte. Burston also earned her bachelor’s degree in human services from GWU in 2012. She serves as an adjunct professor in the Gardner-Webb School of Psychological Science and Counselor Education.

She is a licensed clinical mental health counselor, licensed clinical addictions specialist, author, and the CEO of LuLu B. Productions LLC., a production company specializing in cinema-therapy-focused content. Burston is a third-year doctoral student in the counselor education and supervision program at Walden University in Minneapolis, Minn. Her research interests are cinema therapy, trauma, and decreasing counseling stigma for Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) populations.

Stay connected

Gardner-Webb’s faculty and staff are eager to hear about and celebrate alumni news and success. There are three ways to share your story with us:

• Contact a faculty member.
• Touch base with Alumni Relations.
• Submit a class note here.

Gardner-Webb University is North Carolina’s recognized leader in private, Christian higher education. A Carnegie-Classified Doctoral/Professional University, GWU is home to nine colleges and schools, more than 80 undergraduate and graduate majors, and a world-class faculty. Located on a beautiful 225-acre campus in Boiling Springs, N.C., Gardner-Webb prepares graduates to impact their chosen professions, equips them with the skills to advance the frontiers of knowledge, and inspires them to make a positive and lasting difference in the lives of others. Ignite your future at Gardner-Webb.edu.