“After my master’s, I thought I was done with school forever. I knew I wanted to be a school counselor, and I knew that was a career I would enjoy.” 

Adrianne Robertson said her career trajectory changed when she trained new counselors on students’ mental health challenges in a high school and realized the disparities in mental health preparation.  

“We had a really high social-emotional need, lots of mental health, lots of trauma, and I recognized that some of my colleagues really didn’t get that sort of experience in their training. I would love to be able to work with counselors in training to help them be more balanced in the academic, college, career and social-emotional domains.”

"I was talking with my mentor about the idea of maybe getting a PhD." Through those conversations, Robertson said she realized doing so would be "more powerful systemically to help more school counselors be competent." A year later, she applied to Georgia State University and became a doctoral student. 

Robertson’s award-winning dissertation explored how school counselors used Twitter (now X) to advocate for marginalized students. “We used a hashtag that was developed for practitioners to connect, get resources and build community. Many schools only have a few staff providing mental health support, sometimes even just one. Creating access to a larger community was necessary.” She used the hashtag to create that community and share resources since “school counselors can be isolated and lacked access to counseling specific professional development.”  

By using social media, Robertson analyzed ten years of Twitter data to study how advocacy and language evolved over time. One finding, she reported, was “LGBT” was used in 2012, but it evolved into “LGBTQIA+” by 2020. “Seeing that development of language and connection was really cool,” she said.

Robertson’s counseling career across schools, hospitals and residential facilities shaped her systemic lens. “I saw up-close the trauma and issues that kids go through,” she said. “I taught at a school inside a juvenile detention center and that was when I saw the school-to-prison pipeline firsthand. You see these kids get into the system and then get sent right back into the same communities that have no supports.” She added, “I saw Black and Brown communities facing racism and lack of resources. I was like ‘what are we doing here?’ We really need to make some changes systemically.” 

Much of Robertson’s current work focuses on equity and mental health, especially the impact racism and discrimination have on the mental health of Black and Brown Individuals. “Cultural competency—it’s not just a skill in itself, but something that should be incorporated into every counseling skill.”  

Collaboration is also central to her philosophy. “Even understanding the difference between an accommodation and a modification— I learned that from a school psychologist colleague. Being able to understand language and collaborate makes a huge difference.” Robertson is excited to bring her experience and knowledge to Temple University to train emerging counselors to be mindful of cultural competency and to collaborate effectively with others they interact with in the field. 

Outside of work, since moving to Philadelphia, Robertson is looking forward to trying new restaurants and exploring the city. She reports that she quickly adopted the city’s spirit: “I am loving the Eagles! Go Birds!”