Felix Morton IV

Profile

Felix Morton IV, Ph.D., LCMHC-QS, GTC (he/him/his) is a Clinical Assistant Professor in Counselor Education at William & Mary, a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor, Clinical Supervisor, and Geek Therapy® Certified Therapist. His clinical experience spans hospital trauma units, community mental health, schools, and college and university settings, informing a professional identity grounded in culturally responsive, strengths-based and liberatory approaches to counseling and wellness.

Dr. Morton’s scholarship centers the mental health, wellness and flourishing of Black men and boys, with particular attention to identity, belonging, culture and the conditions that allow people and communities to thrive. As a counselor, educator, researcher and public scholar, he explores the intersection of mental health and popular culture, drawing on storytelling, fandom and Afrofuturism to imagine new possibilities for healing, connection and self-understanding. He is the author of the forthcoming book Black Panther & Black Men's Mental Health: A Wakanda Within Reach (Wiley), which explores Black men’s wellness through the cultural and narrative world of Marvel’s Black Panther. Across his work, he advocates for honoring the stories, cultural knowledge and imaginative worlds people already use to understand themselves and their lives.

Dr. Morton has served as a fellow with the American Psychological Association and remains actively engaged in the counseling field as a practicing therapist and speaker. He also founded and leads a nationally recognized professional network of more than 500 Black male counselors and counselor educators, designed to expand access to culturally affirming and representative mental health care. He has delivered national and international presentations across both academic spaces, including the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and the Association for Humanistic Counseling, and non-academic spaces, including Star Wars Celebration Tokyo and San Diego Comic-Con. These engagements reflect his commitment to bringing conversations about mental health and human flourishing into the cultural spaces where people already find meaning, connection and community.

Education

Ph.D. in Counseling and Counselor Education, North Carolina State University, 2023
M.A. in Counseling, Wake Forest University, 2019
M.Ed. in Higher Education Administration, University of North Carolina at Wilimington, 2017
B.S. in Middle Grades Education, East Carolina University, 2013

Activities and Honors

Young Alumni Achievement Award (2023), East Carolina University

Jane E. Myers Wellness Counseling Award (2023), North Carolina Counseling Association

Doctoral Fellow, Interdisciplinary Minority Fellowship Program (2022), American Psychological Association

Leadership Fellow, CSI Leadership Fellows & Interns Program (2020), Chi Sigma Iota Counseling Academic and Professional Honor Society International

Group Practice Award (2020), Association for Specialists in Group Work

Selected Publications

Morton IV, F., Lorelle, S., & Atkins, K. M. (2026). Forged Through Loss: Exploring the Transcending Model of Grief and Loss Through the Lens of Superheroes. Journal of Creativity in Mental Health, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/15401383.2026.2724381

Morton, F., Shannon, J., Morton, T., Campbell, J., Belson, N., & Yarbrough, E. (2026). The paradox of joy: Exploring liberation, humanity, and black men’s wellness in Ryan Coogler’s Sinners. The Journal of Humanistic Counseling. https://doi.org/10.1002/johc.70056

Morton IV, F. (2025). A Wakanda Within Reach: Black Panther and the Mental Health of Black Men. Journal of Creativity in Mental Health, 21(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/15401383.2025.2595006

Morton, F. (2025). Breathing Room: A qualitative study on how Black college men define and pursue wellness at predominantly white institutions. Journal of College Student Mental Health, 1–31. https://doi.org/10.1080/28367138.2025.2510685

Morton, F. (2022). Integrating wellness into Black male initiative programs. College Student Affairs Journal 40(3), 86-93. https://doi.org/10.1353/csj.2022.0027