Global Counsellor Awards winner 2026 – Alyssa Casallo

Can you describe your feelings as you collected your award and explain what this accolade means to you?

The overwhelming feeling was gratitude.

As I walked up to collect the award, I found myself reflecting on the countless conversations, collaborations and relationships that have shaped my journey, not just within my own school, but across the global counselling community. For me, this recognition has never been about an individual achievement. It represents the power of community and what becomes possible when we intentionally bring people together.

Throughout my career, I have always believed that counselling is fundamentally a human profession. It is built on trust, dialogue and relationships. Whether through regional and global BMI/Times Higher Education initiatives, conferences, workshops, advisory boards or informal conversations with colleagues across continents, my goal has always been to create spaces where people feel safe to share ideas, ask difficult questions, challenge assumptions and learn from one another.

During my time at Harvard, one lesson that resonated with me was that meaningful change rarely happens in isolation, it happens through collective leadership. It happens when diverse voices come together around a shared purpose. This award reminds me that our profession is strongest when we move beyond our individual schools and work together to support students, families and one another.

More than anything, this accolade belongs to the community itself. It is a reflection of what we can accomplish when we choose collaboration over competition and connection over silos.

Looking back on your counselling journey, what has been one of your most meaningful student success stories, and what did it teach you about the impact of effective university guidance?

One of the most meaningful students I have ever worked with is a young person I have known since he was in Grade 3.

Over the years, I had the privilege of watching him grow from a curious child into a thoughtful, capable, young adult preparing for university. I taught him in the classroom, advised him through academic and personal challenges, celebrated his successes, and supported him through moments of uncertainty. By the time he graduated, our relationship spanned nearly a decade.

What made this experience so meaningful was not a university acceptance letter or a prestigious outcome. It was witnessing the entirety of his developmental journey.

As counsellors, we often focus on applications, admissions and destinations. Yet this student reminded me that our true impact lies in helping young people become the people they are meant to become. University guidance is not simply about helping students enter higher education. It is about helping them understand themselves.

His journey often reminds me of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, which I learned from Professor Alexis Redding from HGSE. Every student exists within multiple interconnected systems – family, school, peers, culture, community and society. Effective counselling requires us to understand all of those circles and how they influence a student’s growth.

This experience taught me the importance of empathy, patience and perspective. It reinforced that counselling is a long-term investment in human development. Sometimes the most important thing we can do is remain present. 

Years later, it is not the university outcome I remember most. It is the person he became.

If you could give one piece of advice to new or aspiring university counsellors who want to make a lasting difference in students’ lives, what would it be and why?

Before you seek to understand your students, take the time to understand yourself.

Reflect on your own story, experiences, assumptions and biases. The moments that shaped you. The challenges you have overcome. The privileges you have benefited from.

The more self-aware we become, the better equipped we are to support young people whose journeys may look different from our own.

As counsellors, we enter students’ lives during some of their most formative years. We are not simply helping them choose universities. We are helping them navigate questions of identity, belonging, purpose and possibility.

My advice is to become part of their story, not as the author, but as a trusted guide.

Be there to encourage them when they doubt themselves. Be there to challenge them when they need to grow. Be there to illuminate pathways they may not yet see. Be there to listen when they feel unheard.

Students may forget the rankings, statistics or admissions strategies we share. But they rarely forget the adults who believed in them. That is where lasting impact begins.

Many counsellors play an important role beyond their own schools. How do you give back to the wider counselling community in your region, and why is this important to you?

Community support and collaboration has always meant creating spaces where people feel seen, challenged, inspired and connected beyond titles or institutions.

Throughout my career, I have never viewed counselling as work that should happen behind closed doors. Some of the best ideas, strongest partnerships and most meaningful learning happen when we open our doors and invite others into the conversation.

Whether through creating events such as ElevatED, speaking at conferences, facilitating workshops, serving on advisory boards, or leading the Counsellor Community and Collaboration Committee for BMI/Times Higher Education, my goal has always been the same: bring people together.

I believe that universities, counsellors, school leaders, students and families all have a seat at the same table. Yet too often we operate separately. We attend different conferences, have different priorities and speak different professional languages. My work has focused on creating opportunities for those groups to come together, listen to one another and learn from one another.

This is important to me because I have personally benefited from the generosity of this profession. Some of the opportunities I have had, the programmes I have built and the leader I have become are a direct result of people who shared their knowledge, opened doors and invested in me. Giving back is simply continuing that cycle.

At the end of the day, our work is not about universities, rankings or admissions outcomes. It is about people. When we collaborate better as professionals, students ultimately benefit.

The BMI Global Forum 2026 was all about human connections in counselling – what was your key takeaway from this event?

My biggest takeaway was that we are far more connected than we often realise.

Over the course of the forum, I spoke with counsellors from Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, North America and South America. Despite the differences in our educational systems, cultures and contexts, many of the conversations felt remarkably familiar.

We are all asking similar questions: how do we better support students? How do we navigate an increasingly complex admissions landscape? How do we create more equitable pathways and opportunities? How do we sustain ourselves in a profession that asks so much of us?

What struck me most was the generosity of our community. People were willing to share their successes, but also their challenges, uncertainties and lessons learned. Those conversations reminded me that none of us have to do this work alone.

If there is one thing I would encourage counsellors to do, it is to lean into your peers. Reach out to the counsellor in Brazil. Learn from the colleague in Singapore. Have coffee with the university representative from Scotland. Start the conversation.

Some of the most transformative ideas, partnerships and friendships in my career began with a simple conversation.

At its heart, counselling is a profession built on relationships. The forum reminded me that our greatest resource is not a guidebook, a policy or a programme. It is one another.