Dr. Rebecca Sapp is a Professor of Counseling and serves as Program Director for the Master of Science in Counseling program. She also serves as Area Chair for the Social Learning Area. As a couples and family counselor, Dr. Sapp sees her role as coming alongside others who may be struggling in life with relationships and joining them on their journey toward supportive, lasting relationships. As a counselor educator, she works with students who have a desire and drive to come alongside others struggling in a variety of ways, including emotionally, socially, with addictions, abuse, or other hardships. She equips them with the knowledge and skills to succeed in their professional goals and grows with them through challenging topics in the classroom and cases in their counseling intern practices. Dr. Sapp believes we should all be lifelong learners and spur one another on toward excellence in service to Christ.

Dr. Sapp is a licensed marital and family therapist who has worked in the mental health field for more than 30 years. She began her career counseling college students at Milligan before spending the majority of her counseling career as a child and youth counselor in a school-based setting through a local community mental health agency. She continues to supervise school-based mental health employees in the local school district. In addition, she completed her PhD in Social Work, focusing on children’s mental health issues and family functioning.

In 2012, Dr. Sapp began working full-time for Milligan and was instrumental in launching the Master of Science in Counseling program. In addition to teaching full-time in the Counseling program and supervising school-based mental health counselors, she maintains a private practice counseling couples as a Level 3 trained Gottman couples counselor. She shares her knowledge and years of experience with students in courses such as Couples and Family Counseling, Internship, and an elective called Healing Effects of Nature.

Dr. Sapp has made it her lifelong goal to serve Christ in all she does, and she sees the privilege of teaching at Milligan as a way of serving her coworkers, students, and indirectly their clients as a mission and hopefully an example of servant-leadership.

Education:
BS, Milligan College, Psychology and Office Administration, 1985
MA, Counseling, Emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy, East Tennessee State University, 1990
PhD, Social Work, University of Tennessee, 2003