Best of State® Honors Argosy University, Salt Lake City Student

Grandmother of Fourteen Completes Master’s Degree Despite the Odds

Draper, Utah, June 1 – Argosy University, Salt Lake City is pleased to announce that Debbie Moon, a student in the University’s Marriage and Family Therapy program, has been named College/University Student of the Year at the annual Best in State Awards gala.

Moon recently completed the master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy program at the campus in just under two years, with a 4.0 GPA and after having lost both her home and her business very near her retirement. Moon came to Argosy University, Salt Lake City to pursue a calling she had discovered years before working with special needs students in art classes. Moon’s passion for the joy, transformation and healing that came from therapy pushed her through hurdles in her education, taking her from a woman to had never sent an email to an avid professional, blogging her clients and texting her 14 grandchildren. “Learning the technology was as much a challenge to me as learning my trade,” says Moon.  

“Debbie is an excellent student with an extraordinary gentleness in therapy and a unique ability to sense what a client needs in the moment,” says campus president David Tietjen. “Beyond her studies, Debbie is known for her support of her fellow classmates and desire to help her community.”

Moon and her husband have founded Harmony Counseling, where Moon helps patients with communication, trauma recovery, and healing generational patterns.  “I work with individuals, couples, families, teens, and children,” says Moon.  “I use Solution Focused Therapy which aims at the immediate solution so my clients can feel better right away.  I also use Emotionally Focused Therapy techniques to reduce distress in individuals and relationships and help my clients create more secure attachment bonds.  Mental health is flexibility; the ability to learn from experience and adapt to new situations.” 

The Best of State Awards were created to recognize outstanding individuals, organizations and businesses in Utah. “By recognizing excellence in our community and sharing examples of success and triumph in so many worthy endeavors, we hope all will be inspired to reach a little higher, to try a little harder, and to work a little smarter for our dreams and goals,” according to the group’s site. Judges for the awards look for individuals, businesses and organizations that excel in their endeavors, use innovative approaches or methods and contribute to a better quality of life in Utah. 

Moon was honored at the Best of State Awards gala in Salt Lake City on June 4, 2011.

About Argosy University

Argosy University (www.argosy.edu), with 28 campus locations in 13 states and online, is a private academic institution dedicated to providing undergraduate and graduate degree programs to students through its seven colleges: Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Business, Education, Health Sciences, Undergraduate Studies, The Art Institute of California and Western State College of Law. With one of the largest communities of graduate students in the nation, Argosy University offers doctoral and master’s degree programs in Psychology, Business, Counseling and Education. The institution offers bachelor’s degree programs in Psychology, Business, Liberal Arts and Criminal Justice and, through The Art Institute of California, serves as an important source of education for design, media arts, fashion and culinary arts students and professionals. Degree levels and programs offered vary by location. Full and part-time law programs are offered through Western State College of Law. Argosy University is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (985 Atlantic Avenue, Suite 100, Alameda, California, 94501, http://www.wascsenior.org). Licensed by the Florida Commission for Independent Education, License No. 2610. See auprograms.info  for program duration, tuition, fees, and other costs, median debt, federal salary data, alumni success, and other important info.