More than 100 professional counselors visited Capitol Hill on July 23 as part of the American Counseling Association’s Institute for Leadership Training (ILT) to advocate for the profession on a range of issues, from federal funding for school counselors to hiring more counselors at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
Month: July 2015
Clients or patients facing chronic pain require a special counseling approach that can be applied universally, no matter their source of pain or the number of months or years they have tried to deal with the pain. We have honed and practiced these techniques at the Betty Ford Center in
I was half a world away, literally, when nine innocent people were gunned down and killed during their Bible study in Charleston, South Carolina. As part of the planning team for the ACA-Asia Pacific Counseling Conference, I was in Singapore on that dark day in June. But, with the Internet and social
Greetings, fellow counselors. I am on an airplane returning from Singapore as I write this column, inspired by the experience and mindful of the great energy around me. A small group of us from the United States participated in the first American Counseling Association-Asia Pacific Counseling Conference and met with
Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), developed by Marsha Linehan, is one of the few evidence-based treatments for borderline personality disorder. However, since its origination 20 years ago, DBT has been implemented with populations in various settings with positive results. DBT is intensive and involves many techniques, including cognitive behavioral skills training,
Aurora, Colorado. Fort Hood, Texas. Virginia Tech. The Washington Navy Yard. And, most recently, Charleston, South Carolina. Each of these places transitioned from being a name on a map to an instant reminder of the devastating aftermath of mass violence. Another is Sandy Hook, the Newtown, Connecticut, elementary school where shooter
According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), approximately 25 percent of U.S. adults struggle with depression, anxiety or some combination of both. In any given year, approximately 6.9 percent of American adults — about 16 million people — live with depression. Approximately 18.1 percent — about 42 million —
This summer, state licensing boards across the United States are being asked to accept both a uniform scope of practice and a common licensure title for professional counselors as part of an effort to improve license portability for counselors. Letters, cowritten and signed by the leadership of the American Counseling
The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that the nation’s multiracial population will triple by 2060. That prognostication only heightens the long-standing need for counselors to better understand this population, say Kelley and Mark Kenney. The husband-and-wife counselor educators spearheaded development of the Competencies for Counseling the Multiracial Population, which were endorsed
Professional counselors must consider the entirety of the human experience with clients, an experience that includes spirituality. Leaving spirituality out of the counseling process does a disservice to the client, say Tracey Robert and Virginia Kelly, licensed professional counselors (LPCs) and co-editors of Critical Incidents in I ntegrating Spirituality into