Rayelle Davis is a lifelong resident of Allegany County in Maryland.  She graduated from Bishop Walsh high school in May of 1998 and got married that July. Do the math. Yep. She was a teenage bride and mother of three kids by 23. After spending her 20s raising babies and listening to everyone tell her she ruined her whole life by not going to college, she reconnected with her educational goals. Her husband is her biggest cheerleader and he encouraged her to register for classes at the local Allegany College of Maryland. After being laid off from her job at a local call center, she was able to attend classes full time while their youngest daughter attended on campus childcare. Rayelle went on to earn her  Associates Degree in Psychology in 2009 and then she transferred to the University of Maryland Global Campus where she attended online classes. She became a member of the psychology honor society Psi Chi and graduated with her bachelor’s degree in psychology achieving her goals of overcoming the teenage mom odds and getting a 4 year degree before she turned 31. She applied to graduate school at Frostburg State University where she was rejected and later waitlisted. With a family rooted in the area, she was unable to pick up and move to attend graduate school anywhere she could get in. She then found Duquesne University and was accepted into their evening program. Going to Pittsburgh from Cumberland twice a week for grad school seemed crazy especially since she is a terrible driver with no sense of direction. Rayelle’s husband continued to show amazing support and he drove her to each and every class until she graduated with her master’s degree in marriage and family therapy in 2016. 

Rayelle started working full time as a counselor in 2016 and her kids were in middle school and high school. She completed her practicum at Garrett County Health Department and then worked as an alcohol and drug counselor at Allegany County Health Department’s Massie Unit,  and the  Cumberland Comprehensive Treatment Center. After getting her license to diagnose and treat mental health disorders she then worked full time as an outpatient mental health therapist at Villa Maria in Cumberland. 

After working in her community and seeing the personal stories behind the opioid epidemic, Rayelle wanted to be able to help more people and she returned to Duquesne University as a doctoral student in 2019. Once again her husband joined her for their now familiar road trips to the city of Pittsburgh. She also returned to Allegany College of Maryland to teach undergraduate and early college level psychology classes. She continued to work full time as a counselorand attend classes full time as the world turned to Zoom during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout 2020  and 2021 she worked as a clinical supervisor at the university helping to guide the new generation of counseling interns through this unprecedented event. In the fall of 2021 she left her agency position and started her own private practice. She also taught Advanced Marriage and Family Therapy at Duquesne University and she is proud of the connection she makes with her students. 

Rayelle is now a Doctoral Candidate and has been working diligently on her research related to the mental health needs in Appalachia. She received a grant from the American Counseling Association and will soon publish a workbook designed to help make mental health concepts and their application easier for people to access. She has presented at numerous professional conferences including the Maryland Rural Health Conference and the HRSA Addictions: Innovations in Prevention Conference. She has been selected to present at the national American Counseling Association conference in 2022. She was recently honored with the Richard Duncan Memorial award by the counselor education department at Duquesne University. She is an expert content reviewer and contributing author to multiple higher education websites. 

Rayelle and her husband George are very proud of their three children, now adults, who are each working hard toward their own dreams. When she is not working or creating in the mental health world, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, attending musical theatre, and has her sights set on learning bass guitar and archery. She is passionate about education and the power it has to change lives while holding space and encouragement for the unique difficulties first generation and non-traditional students face. She was both.

In her counseling work, Rayelle specializes in addiction and trauma, specifically relational trauma. She has expertise around ADHD, especially the late diagnosis of ADHD in females. She knows what it is like to feel the pain of living a life not aligned with who you are and to feel like everyone is against you while having long term goals seem a lifetime away. She knows the demands of modern life and the stress of prioritizing when everything seems equally important. She also knows the power of what the proper supports can do for others. This inspires her work every day and as she says “I do not claim perfection, so I don’t expect it from others. Healthy communication is key to connection and connection is how we heal.” She will join you in raging against a system designed to keep you down and help you to make your own light. 

Stuff I say a lot

“Unlearning is a powerful part of healing”

“It’s okay to not have it all figured out. You aren’t supposed to.”

“You can “what if “ yourself to death without ever living life”

“There is so much profit in fear”

“People are people” “We humans are messy”

“Someone can hurt you even if they didn’t mean it. Their intention does not change the impact”

“Empathy without boundaries equals trouble”

“No one likes change, but it’s the only thing that’s constant”

“Celebrate your victories even if it seems silly. You know how hard it once was!”