Last month I wrote about passages that we experience. I also informed you about changes planned for Counseling Today. Over the years, changes to this publication have been incremental, based on suggestions you have shared with us. I probably don’t need to tell you that this edition of Counseling Today represents the biggest and most far-reaching change in our history.

Welcome to your first issue of Counseling Today as a four-color magazine! We will continue to provide information and news that addresses issues impacting the counseling profession, but in a new way.

For our first magazine cover story (see page 30), we contacted a cross section of ACA members and leaders and asked them to identify “new” or evolving client issues that professional counselors can expect to work with in the coming years. This article provides perspective and explores long-term implications for the counseling profession.

Also in this inaugural issue are a number of feature articles, including the five winning entries from the ACA Foundation Graduate Student Essay Contest. You will be introduced to several new columns, each developed based on member feedback. New Perspectives will cater to both graduate students and new professionals. Counselor Career Stories will explore the career paths of a variety of counseling professionals and share the lessons they learned along the way. The Top Five will ask counselors to share their best practical tips and strategies pertaining to their areas of expertise and specialization. And The Digital Psyway will examine the ins and outs of how counseling professionals can use technology to their best advantage.

July also brings the start of a new fiscal year for the American Counseling Association. While expressing our appreciation for those who left office last month, such as Immediate Past President Brian Canfield and his cohort of leaders at the branch, region, division and national
levels, we now welcome a new group of energetic and dedicated individuals to assume leadership positions.

This month, Colleen Logan takes over as ACA president. Colleen has been involved with ACA for many years and will be an outstanding advocate in carrying out the association’s mission. The staff and I wish her well as she embarks on this yearlong journey to represent ACA and advance the profession. Read Colleen’s first column on page 5 .

This new version of Counseling Today is representative of ACA responding to your needs, and I want you to know that we will continue to seek out your thoughts and suggestions. We believe one of the best ways to get your input is by asking! If you receive one of our surveys during the next several months, please take the time to share your thoughts as we map out plans for the next few years.

Last month, I shared with you the incredible job that those directly involved with Counseling Today were doing to bring our magazine concept to reality. Our very able editor-in-chief, Jonathan Rollins, led this project, but he received a great deal of support from many on staff, as well as those in leadership, our writers and our columnists. So I’d like to provide a collective “thank you” to all those who helped to birth this new endeavor.

We all know that change is not easy, but when that change is part of an organized plan based on input, discussion and need, we hope it makes it easier to accept. My goal is that the changes you see (and will continue to see) in your Counseling Today will resonate with the needs you have identified and will enhance your practice as a member of the counseling profession.

As always, I hope you will contact me with any comments, questions or suggestions that you might have. In fact, with the launch of the “new” Counseling Today , it is even more critical that I hear from you. Please contact me via e-mail at ryep@counseling.org or by phone at 800.347.6647 ext. 231.

Thanks and be well.