In this edition readers will find:
- ACA Liability Insurance Now Member Benefit to Master's Level ACA Student Members
- Layoffs, Furloughs, and Moratoriums Touch Counselors and Counseling Settings
- How Is the Economic Downturn Affecting You and Your Clients? Counseling Today Wants to Know
- ACA Special Report: 2008 Year-in-Review and New Member Benefits in 2009
- Third Edition of Popular Career Counseling Text Released
- Relevant Research: New SAMSHA Data on SPD and Mental Health Services
- Fast Fact: U.S. Unemployment to Approach 10 Percent in 2009
- In the News: ACA Speaks to the Media on Reparative Therapy
- Worth Reading: Family Dinners and Communication Skills
- Safe School/Healthy Students Grants Available; Application Deadline: March 4, 2009
- Advocacy Matters: Observances Call Attention to Varied Client Needs
- Asa G. Hillard Scholarship Award Announced by AMCD
- Grants: Open Meadows Supports Projects Benefiting Women and Girls
- College Board's Score Choice Policy Add Fuel to the Assessment Fire
- Calendar: Branch Conferences in ID, ND, and CA Launch New Year
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ACA Liability Insurance Now Member Benefit to Master's Level ACA Student Members
ACA will be providing student members enrolled in a master’s degree program with professional liability ("malpractice") insurance as part of their membership. Recognizing that all CACREP (Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs) and many non-CACREP programs require students to have professional liability insurance, ACA has successfully negotiated with the ACA-endorsed carrier-Healthcare Providers Service Organization (HPSO)-to provide eligible ACA student members with coverage for practicum and internships as a value-added benefit of membership. An announcement was sent to all ACA student members Tuesday.
Layoffs, Furloughs, and Moratoriums Touch Counselors and Counseling Settings
How much has the current economic crisis affected counseling services and counseling professionals? The news of the New Year is fraught with words like cutbacks, layoffs, furloughs, moratoriums, and other terms by reporters and others commenting on how the economic crisis is playing out in the real lives of people. ACAeNews offers the following stories that have already been reported this winter.
The Los Angeles Times reports that California schools are continuing to deal with the crisis by cutting positions. The Folsom Cordova Unified School District, for example, cut 57 positions from the current budget, including four high school and middle school counselors. The district's elementary school libraries have been closed and class size has been increased.
WTOP Radio in the Washington, DC metropolitan area reported that both state services and the university system in Maryland would employ a furlough approach to reduce spending. A proposal devised by the University System in Maryland calls for employees to take up to five unpaid days depending on their salary, with individuals earning less than $29,000 not being penalized.
Even some smaller states and institutions have had to take drastic measures. When word of state financial support reductions hit Winthrop University in South Carolina, the 6,000 student public-institution announced that staff members would be furloughed nine days without pay, instead of the six days previously announced. Dana College, a private liberal-arts institution of 550 students in Nebraska has placed a moratorium on institution contributions to faculty and staff retirement programs. This, after several years of budget pressures that resulted in elimination of academic programs and faculty layoffs.
Not all the stories, however, are doom and gloom. A study of college chief business officers conducted in December by The Chronicle of Higher Education and Moody's Investors Service found most colleges see layoffs, cutting staff benefits and across-the-board hiring freezes as a last resort. According to the Chronicle, "slightly more than one in 10 colleges had laid off employees, and another 26 percent were considering doing so."
How Is the Economic Downturn Affecting You and Your Clients? Counseling Today Wants to Know
Counseling Today is working on an article about how the economic climate is affecting counselors and their clients. In particular, CT wants to know how ACA members are helping their clients deal with stresses and hardships related to the economy, and what (if any) creative steps counselors are having to take to help ensure their own economic well-being. Email your thoughts by Jan. 20 on what role counselors can play in these economic times to Editor Jonathan Rollins at jrollins@counseling.org.
ACA Special Report: 2008 Year-in-Review and New Member Benefits in 2009
A special report highlighting the accomplishments of 2008 and a preview of new member benefits and services was sent to all ACA members last week. ACAeNews will cover the new programs and services as they are announced but members are encouraged to review the section now for important news on liability insurance, free CEs, and other offerings.
Third Edition of Popular Career Counseling Text Released
Both counseling practitioners and counselor educators will be pleased to note that an extremely popular ACA textbook has been revised and released.
Career Counseling: Contexts, Processes, and Techniques, Third Edition
Norman C. Gysbers, Mary J. Heppner, and Joseph A. Johnston
This book presents a practice-focused approach to career counseling that will help readers enhance the skills and techniques in their career counseling repertoire. It incorporates the most widely used traditional career counseling practices with new and emerging career development concepts, making it an exceptional text for both counselors-in-training and seasoned practitioners.
Topics discussed include traditional and postmodern career theories and approaches; counseling an increasingly diverse workforce and addressing cultural context issues such as race, class, gender, and disability; forming a productive alliance with the client; gathering client information; using assessment inventories and instruments; developing client action plans; and navigating the termination process.
2009 | 325 pages
Order #72881
ISBN 978-1-55620-289-6
List Price: $64.95
ACA Member Price: $45.95
Relevant Research: New SAMSHA Data on SPD and Mental Health Services
New numbers just released by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration indicate that in 2007, 10.9 percent of American adults age 18 or older (an estimated 24.3 million persons) had experienced serious psychological distress (SPD) in the past year. The report further states that two-fifths of these (44.6 percent) individuals received mental health services (inpatient, outpatient, prescription medication or a combination of the three). In some subgroups, the SPD experience rate was dramatically higher.
Fast Fact: U.S. Unemployment to Approach 10 Percent in 2009
This will not be a surprise to counselors working with out-of-work individuals or those facing reductions-in-force or dismissals: economists and labor experts are predicting an unemployment rate of at least 8.5 percent and as high as 10 percent during 2009. That's the bad news.
The good news is that Manpower's Employment Outlook survey shows employers in eight of 13 industry sectors reporting they plan to increase staffing levels during the first quarter of 2009 while 67 percent expect to hold steady.
In the News: ACA Speaks to the Media on Reparative Therapy
David Kaplan, ACA Chief Professional Officer, is among the authorities cited in a recent Chattanooga Times Free Press story about the use of reparative therapy as a strategy in encouraging gay and lesbian individuals to abandon their sexual orientation. Kaplan is cited along with representatives of the American Psychological Association and the National Association of Social Workers in the story.
Safe School/Healthy Students Grants Available; Application Deadline: March 4, 2009
The 111th Congress has convened and is already hard at work developing an economic stimulus package, but existing federal programs are operating as usual. One program of importance to school counselors, the Safe Schools/Healthy Students program, recently issued grant applications for the current fiscal year. The Safe Schools/Healthy Students initiative provides competitive grants to school districts to collaborate with local mental health and law enforcement agencies to develop the best methods for preventing school violence.
In recognition of the fact that youth violence is caused by a variety of factors, the program is funded and administered jointly through the Department of Education's Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and the Center for Mental Health Services.
Award Information
Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: March 4, 2009
Eligible Applicants: Local educational agencies (LEAs)
Estimated Range of Awards: Up to $750,000 for an LEA with fewer than 5,000 students; up to $1,500,000 for an LEA with at least 5,000 students but fewer than 35,000 students; and up to $2,250,000 for an LEA with at least 35,000 students
Estimated Number of Awards: 28
Application Information
The FY2009 Safe School/Healthy Students (SS/HS) grant application is available as either a PDF or Word Document here.
Worth Reading: Family Dinners and Communication Skills
Diane E. Beals and Patton O. Tabors, researchers in the Home-School Study, have found evidence that the family-eating-together experience has a positive effect on children's communication and academic skills. Just what happens during dining and the findings of others doing similar research is the subject of an article by Lisa Rosenthal and posted on the GreatSchools website.
Advocacy Matters: Observances Call Attention to Varied Client Needs
As a part of our effort to promote public awareness of client issues, ACAeNews will present a list each quarter of relevant national observances and their sponsors. Contact the sponsors for information and resources.
January
National Birth Defects Prevention Month
March of Dimes
Details...
February 22-28
National Eating Disorder Awareness Week
National Eating Disorders Association
Details...
National Brain Injury Awareness Month
Brain Injury Association of America
Details...
National Nutrition Month
American Dietetic Association
Details...
March 1-7
National Problem Gambling Awareness Week
National Council on Problem Gambling
Details...
March 15-21
National Inhalants and Poisons Awareness Week
National Inhalant Prevention Coalition
Details...
And don't forget ACA's salute to counselors and counseling. Celebrate Counseling Awareness Month throughout April. Members can access the free Counseling Awareness Month Celebration Guide to aid them in structuring programs and events that improve public and client awareness of counseling and counselors.
Asa Hilliard III Scholarship Award Deadline: January 31
ACA and AMCD member graduate students (master's and doctoral level) in counselor education and counseling psychology programs who are committed to Black education and development are eligible for the first annual Asa Hilliard III scholarship award. The award was named for the late educator, historian, psychologist, and social advocate. Applicants must demonstrate their commitment via an application essay, community experiences, and current scholarship.
Scholarship recipients will receive a non-renewable $350 award. The application deadline is January 31, 2009. Visit http://www.amcdaca.org or contact Cirecie A. West-Olatunji at cwestolatunji@coe.ufl.edu or 352-392-0731, x 359.
Grants: Open Meadows Supports Projects Benefiting Women and Girls
The Open Meadows Foundation, operating with a general fund and six specifically focused program areas, supports projects nationwide that are led by and will benefit women and girls, particularly those in vulnerable communities. Grants of as much as $2,000 can be acquired for project start-up costs or to support ongoing initiatives. The first 2009 deadline for applications: February 15, 2009.
College Board's Score Choice Policy Add Fuel to the Fire
Score Choice, a policy announced last summer by College Board, was supposed to allow students to determine which test scores would go to the institutions where they were applying for admission. The message to students, according to Inside Higher Education, is not exactly in line with the options the testing magnate is offering to colleges. The controversy has added fuel to the ongoing debate regarding disadvantaged students not being able to afford test prep services or pay for multiple test administrations.
Calendar: Branch Conferences in ID, ND, and CA Launch New Year
Note: Remember to vote in the 2009 ACA Elections by January 31, 2009. Ballots were mailed to all members at the end of November. Candidate profiles appeared in the December issue of Counseling Today and are available here.
January 29-31, 2009
Idaho Counseling Association
Coeur d'Alene Resort, Coeur d'Alene, ID
Information...
February 1-3, 2009
North Dakota Counseling Association
Best Western Ramkota, Bismarck, ND
Information...
February 13-15, 2009
California Counseling Association
Santa Clara Marriott, Santa Clara, CA
Information...
ACA divisions, branches, and regions are valuable sources of learning and professional development. Information on events will be posted approximately 8-10 weeks prior. This information is made available to ACAeNews via the ACA master calendar and the various organization web sites. Send calendar items to dwilliams@counseling.org. Please provide the sponsor, dates, site, and contact person information. Information posted here is restricted to that sponsored by ACA divisions, branches, regions and related organizations.
ABOUT ACAeNews
ACAeNews is published bimonthly by the American Counseling Association for the benefit of members across the counseling profession. Any reference to a product, service, activity, or listing of a website in ACAeNews does not imply endorsement by ACA. Any views and opinions are those of the sponsoring organization and may or may not be shared by ACA.
Direct comments, questions, and submissions to fburtnett@counseling.org. All submissions will be subject to review by ACA for accuracy, timeliness, and relevance to the readership and may be edited.
Colleen Logan, President
clogan@argosy.edu
Richard Yep, CAE, Executive Director
ryep@counseling.org
Debra Bass, Director of Marketing and Communications
dbass@counseling.org
Frank Burtnett, NCC, NCCC, ACAeNews Editor
fburtnett@counseling.org
Don Kenneally, Internet Development / Production
dkenneally@counseling.org
ACA Website: www.counseling.org
Copyright 2009, American Counseling Association, 5999 Stevenson Avenue, Alexandria, VA 22304. Telephone: 703-823-9800. Email: fburtnett@counseling.org. Permission is hereby granted to reproduce anything contained in this newsletter as long as the American Counseling Association is identified as the original source of the information.
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