Marquel Norton

(they/them)

Advanced Clinical Intern

Marquel Norton, Ed.S, NCSP (they/any) is a doctoral student in the Counseling Psychology program and licensed School Psychologist in Massachusetts. They attended Tufts University for undergraduate education (majors: Child Development and Clinical Psychology, minor: Dance) and graduate education in school psychology (concentration: Educational Studies). 

They previously worked in the Boston Public Schools system for four years with students ages 2-22, performing hundreds of psychoeducational evaluations for educational disabilities ranging from neurodevelopmental (ADHD, Autism), learning disabilities, and emotional concerns. They performed school-based mental health services, including counseling services pursuant to IEPs and tiered-interventions, and consultation with educators and caregivers. They have transitioned from school-based work to community mental health, following their passion for community work and organizing. 

Marquel uses an emotion-focused, person-centered, relational integrative approach to center that client as an expert on their life and experiences. They approach client problems with empathy and directness to facilitate new experiences in facing their problems and thriving in their inner and social worlds. They center social, affective, and healing justice in their work, positioning their client as a critical theorist in understanding how power and oppression manifest in their lived experience. We can always radically imagine the ways we story ourselves, each other, and the world.

Marquel considers themself an educator, advocate and scholar who is deeply committed to developing critical community spaces for Black queer and trans individuals to commune, heal, and organize. In this, they hope to work across sectors to develop community based support programs for trans youth and their families and communities to thrive in the educational and psychological domains of their life. Their current scholarship considers the interaction of emotional well-being and critical consciousness in Black trans and queer youth organizing spaces.