Social work graduate student featured in state publication

William Lowry Jr., a combat veteran and master of social work student at East Carolina University, has received a scholarship dedicated to increasing the number of practitioners working with military service members and their families.

Lowry (Contributed photo)

Lowry was featured in the North Carolina Governors Institute on Substance Abuse winter newsletter.

The scholarship, funded by the N.C. Division of Mental Health Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services, aims to dually license practitioners and increase the number of licensed clinical addiction specialists working in North Carolina. The scholarship program is building a workforce that will support military service members and their families.

Lowry served 30 years in the military and is a combat veteran of the Gulf War and Operation Iraqi Freedom. His goal is to help people recover from substance use, mental health and medical issues.

Lowry is employed as a N.C. certified peer support specialist and integrative health coach in the Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Center in Wilmington.

In the future, Lowry hopes to open a practice that serves veterans, at-risk youth and adults and provides educational workshops and training. He will graduate in May 2019.

-by Crystal Baity, ECU News Services