Savitri Dixon-Saxon, Ph.D., LPC, NCC, Associate Dean, School of Counseling and Social Service, Walden University
Dr. Savitri Dixon-Saxon is an expert on family and parenting issues, identity formation among African-American women, the African-American middle-class experience, and the effects of poverty on mental health. For more than 20 years, she has trained and consulted on issues related to race, ethnicity, and diversity.
In 2004, Dr. Dixon-Saxon became the custodial parent of her now seven-year-old daughter and also held three jobs to help make ends meet, including working as an outpatient therapist. As a therapist, she investigated the relationship between family status and a child’s health through her work with young boys who had varying degrees of mental health issues and who were being raised by single, low-income women.
An avid observer of the female experience in various settings, Dr. Dixon-Saxon has always taken an interest in the changing roles of women. Her work has generated tremendous insights into the physical, financial, and emotional health of single African-American mothers. This has given her a greater understanding of how the stress of raising children prepares these mothers for success in society while affirming their identities. Dr. Dixon-Saxon also has trained counselors and counselor educators on the issue of identity development among people who are spiritual and religious and at the same time are allies to gay, lesbian, and bisexual individuals.
Dr. Dixon-Saxon received her Ph.D. in Counselor Education from North Carolina State University. She holds an M.Ed. in Student Personnel Services and a B.A. in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of South Carolina. In 2008, she was identified as a Laureate Award Winner for Excellence, and in 2002 she won the Academic Achievement Award, presented by the Association for the Concerns of African-American Graduate Students. A resident of Raleigh, N.C., Dr. Dixon-Saxon believes life is about priorities and not perfection, so she will always choose sitting outside with her daughter and talking about what they see in the clouds over doing laundry and mopping the floor.
