Markella Lanara

Presidential Fellow, Markella, headshot

Markella Lanara

Presidential Fellow


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Markella is a first-year graduate student pursuing a Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, with a professional placement in the Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) at GWU. She is a passionate mental health advocate, committed to enhancing the psychological well-being of GWU students. As a fellow, she aims to improve on-campus housing conditions, advocate for textbook affordability, and promote faculty awareness of student mental health needs. Markella is also dedicated to fostering a strong community for graduate students. In her current role at CAPS, she assists with outreach efforts to increase student awareness of available mental health resources and presents workshops on various mental health topics. As an undergraduate, Markella was an international student-athlete and first-generation college student, actively involved in leadership roles within athletics, her cultural student organization, and mental health initiatives, including the Mental Health Assembly in the Student Government Association (SGA).


Completed: Bachelor of Arts - Psychology, Minor in Sociology

Pursuing: Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling

Internship and Work Experiences:

  • Children's National Hospital
  • Academy Intern at Prison Fellowship - Stand Together Fellowships
  • Student Athlete Captain - NCAA
  • Sports Psychology Program Analyst - SurePeople
  • Co Director - GW Listens
  • Sports Psychology Intern - Spirit and Soul Training

Some of Markella's areas of interest include improving feeling of community and belonging at GWU especially for grad students; increasing professor’s sensitivity to student’s mental health and wellbeing; textbook affordability; housing; exploring how modern technology, AI and VR can be used in counseling to enhance therapeutic outcomes; student-athlete wellbeing. 

Markella is placed in the office of Counseling and Psychological Services

Throughout her placement, Markella has played a vital role in a wide variety of projects, including the below:

  • Social Media & Marketing: Led CAPS's digital marketing, increasing outreach by 40% through collaborations with 100+ campus partners.
  • Resource Creation: Developed targeted resource guides for diverse student demographics.
  • Workshops & Psychoeducation: Delivered workshops to 35+ student-athletes, with 90% of participants finding them relevant and helpful.

Professional Development Takeaways:
In these varied projects, Markella has honed her skills in digital marketing, event coordination, and content creation, sharpening her ability to engage diverse audiences. She also developed her public speaking and psychoeducational workshop facilitation skills, strengthening her capacity to design and deliver impactful presentations and educational resources.