Rick Balkin, Ph.D., LPC, NCC is a Professor and Department Chair of Leadership and Counselor Education, as well as the Coordinator of Educational Research and Design in the School of Education at the University of Mississippi. He currently serves as Editor-in-Chief for the International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling and is a past Editor of the Journal of Counseling & Development, the flagship journal of the American Counseling Association (ACA). An ACA Fellow and past president of the Association for Assessment and Research in Counseling, Dr. Balkin has been active in the counseling profession since 1993 and in academia since 2003. With over 100 publications, Dr. Balkin's work spans textbooks, published tests and technical manuals, peer-reviewed manuscripts, book chapters, and conference proceedings. His research focuses on counseling outcomes, adolescent crises, and at-risk youth, driving initiatives to expand mental health services in underserved areas. Notably, he spearheaded a tele-mental health delivery system offering free counseling to high-need youth in Mississippi. Dr. Balkin has also contributed significantly to the study of religious diversity and forgiveness. He developed the Forgiveness Reconciliation Inventory, a model and measure for addressing forgiveness and conflict in counseling. His book, Practicing Forgiveness: A Path Toward Healing, published by Oxford University Press, further explores this topic.