How important are graduate students and new professionals? Let’s take a look at some recent (and future) actions. This past March, during the American Counseling Association Annual Conference, our opening session began with a look back at our 60-year history as an organization. At the second keynote session, we showed
Month: August 2012
Last month, I shared several ACA initiatives related both to graduate student membership and to the promotion of professional identity. I want to thank everyone who already has reached out to contribute and make your voice heard. This month I’d like to share a few more initiatives and again ask
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled June 28 that the Affordable Care Act is constitutional, save for a provision regarding Medicaid expansion. The American Counseling Association applauds the ruling because it will allow implementation of the legislation — the nation’s first attempt to establish a functioning health care system providing essentially
Whether experienced as a counselor or new to the field, transference, anxiety and blows to one’s esteem are part of managing life as a professional counselor. Two therapists — Gregory K. Moffatt, a veteran counselor, and Simone Alexander, a recent graduate — discuss how specific experiences with clients ended up
The past three decades can be described as a golden age in the history of the American Counseling Association. Licensure laws for professional counselors have been approved in all 50 states and several territories, helping to define the identity of the counseling profession. ACA publications, research, professional development activities and member
According to Military Officer magazine, there are 2 million children in military families in the United States. Studies conducted by the National Military Family Association, and various articles, have illuminated the many challenges that students from military households encounter as well as the exceptional strengths and methods of coping that these
Delivering bad news to clients is one of the most difficult tasks that any counselor faces, says Kathleen Keefe-Cooperman, a professor of counseling at Long Island University. Unfortunately, she knows the truth of that statement personally. Keefe-Cooperman clearly recalls the time she had to tell a set of parents that
Poor mental health is linked to reduced life expectancy. A study found that adolescent girls between the ages of 12 and 15 are more likely to be depressed than boys. Medical staff and clinicians tend to overlook alcohol problems in patients unless they arrive intoxicated. A researcher believes that eating
Bradley T. Erford has never considered himself a leader, at least not in the traditional sense. This despite becoming the 61st president of the American Counseling Association on July 1 and previously having held almost every other leadership position the association has to offer. “Rather, I am a doer,” says
This month’s Counseling Today cover story is focused on working with female clients. Susan Lester, a doctoral student in the Department of Counseling and Human Services at Old Dominion University, presented on the topic of “Women’s Issues at Midlife and Beyond: Spirituality, Sexuality and Retirement,” at the 2012 ACA Annual Conference,