People Moving the Mountains: Candace Layne, West Virginia’s favorite “Buckeye Mountaineer”

For almost two-decades, Candace Layne has been a steadfast custodian of mental health in the Mountain State. Currently in the midst of a nearly nine-year turn as director of Marshall University’s Counseling Center, the self-professed “Buckeye Mountaineer” has more than 16-years of direct counseling experience, with another dozen years spent teaching others how to gain that experience for themselves. 

Layne holds a professional counseling license in the State of West Virginia. Additionally, Layne is a certified peer educator (CPE) training instructor, and certified in suicide prevention training. At present, Layne teaches at both Lindsey Wilson College and Bridge Valley Community and Technical College, where she has trained in mindfulness techniques, dialectical behavior therapy techniques, and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR). 

Layne is the only Black owner of a private mental health practice in the Huntington-area, and conducts community outreach through a partnership with the Fairfield Community Development Corporation, and RaShad Sanders. Although born and raised in Ohio, Layne has worked for and served within the communities of Huntington and Fairfield since the early 2000’s. 

Layne serves as secretary of the executive board of the Marshall University Black Alumni Association, and executive board member of the Junior League of Huntington, as well as Bible Bowl coach, Recreation Committee chair, and Program Committee chair at Antioch Missionary Baptist Church. 

For all of these reasons and more, Black By God: The West Virginian is spotlighting Candace Layne  as one of our People Moving the Mountains—not simply because she made a commitment to West Virginia’s mental health more than 20 years ago, but because she is still doing the work today. 

Read more about Candace at HuntingtonBlackHistory.com. all about another West Virginian who’s Moving Mountains HERE.