Nominations are now open for our Executive Council. The ACCA is seeking nominations for the following positions:

President-Elect (3 year term):

Preferred Qualifications: Demonstrated leadership in ACCA including serving on the ACCA Executive Council, as an ACCA Committee Chair, or in significant and active state division leadership.

Secretary (2 year term):

Preferred Qualifications: Demonstrated leadership in ACCA including active involvement at the state or national levels.

Member-at-Large (3 year term): Graduate student and new professional focus.

Preferred Qualifications: Demonstrated leadership in ACCA including serving on the ACCA Executive Council, as an ACCA Committee Chair, or in significant and active leadership role.

Download the Nomination Form (Word DOCX format)

Please fill out your nominations and return the form no later than June 15th to:

ACCA Nominations & Elections Chair, Dr. MJ Raleigh, mj.raleigh@uncp.edu

ACCA OFFICER EXPECTATIONS IF ELECTED: During and throughout the elected term, each elected member of the ACCA Executive Council (EC) is expected to attend the annual ACA Conference (spring), the ACCA Executive Council Leadership Retreat (summer), the ACCA Conference (fall), and participate on scheduled EC conference calls. President-level positions are expected to participate in ACA COPARC duties, as assigned. Travel to these meetings is required and air travel is the expected norm unless alternative travel is deemed feasible (consult with the ACCA President in advance). Registration, travel, and lodging expenses are generally** reimbursed for required EC meetings and conferences (**costs saving practices limit some expenses). In addition to volunteering for projects as discussed by the EC, each elected position has assigned duties and it is expected these duties are carried out. Duties can be found in the ACCA Policies and Procedure Manual.

TIMELINES AND REPORTING RESULTS:

Each of the grant recipients are expected to keep the research committee informed if there is a delay in the proposed timeline and reporting of results.

A brief copy of the results is to be mailed to the research committee once the research is complete.  The researcher retains ownership of all data and results of their research.  The researcher is to state a willingness to include an acknowledgment of ACCA’s financial support in all reports, publications, and presentations related to the supported project.

A new requirement for ACCA research award recipients is to present the findings during an ACCA webinar. This requires the development of a 15-30 slide PowerPoint presentation and a 60 minute presentation and 30 minutes of Q&A. ACCA board members will be available to help design and assist with the webinar for our membership. Sample webinars are available in the members section of our website.

NOTIFICATION OF AWARDS:

All applicants will be notified of the selection committee’s funding decisions during the ACCA annual convention.

Proposals and requests for further information should be submitted electronically by email attachment to:

MJ Raleigh, PhD.
Phone: 910-521-6202
Email: mj.raleigh@uncp.edu

Co-hosted by PaperClip Communications, Inc. and the American College Counseling Association (ACCA)

Date: Thursday, January 24, 2013
Time: 2-3:30 PM ET

Summary

A student threatens to “get a gun and shut you up for good” on Facebook. Campus officials are concerned.

A student in class threatens a faculty member because he gave the student a ‘B’ rather than the expected ‘A’ on the class assignment. The student responds by stating, “I’ll give you until next week to change that grade or you and I are going to have some words.”

A few students share that they are worried about another student who people are frequently teasing and bullying. They worry that the student is going to “snap” one of these days.

Open a newspaper or turn on the TV and we are no longer surprised to see a story of a shooter going off on a rampage attack. College administrators, clinical counseling staff and student conduct officers are often placed in the difficult position of having to sort out what is truly dangerous and potentially violent versus what is merely a student acting out or in need of a more developmental and caring intervention to correct their inappropriate behavior?

Join our expert presenter as he provides some clear, research based questions that administrators, clinical staff and conduct officers should have in mind when assessing dangerousness in the student sitting across from them.

While there is no sure fire method of predicting future violence, an awareness of the common risk factors is essential to carry out a more complete and thorough campus threat assessment.

Learning Objectives

Participants will learn how to:

1. Develop an understanding of what questions to ask students to better assess the likelihood of them carrying out a direct threat
2. Understand the components of a threat assessment and learn the importance of developing information conduits with the referral source to improve the quality of the assessment.
3. Minimize the legal risk when working with these students.
4. The dangers of zero-tolerance policies and how these can make a situation a higher risk for all involved.

Panelist Bio

Dr. Brian Van Brunt currently serves as Director of Counseling and Testing Center at Western Kentucky University. Dr. Van Brunt has worked in the counseling field for over fifteen years. He served as Director of Counseling at New England College from 2001-2007 and currently serves as Director of Counseling and Testing at Western Kentucky University. He is a certified QPR suicide prevention trainer and trained in BASICS alcohol intervention. Brian is also a senior trainer in John Byrne’s Aggression Management program.

Brian was the president of the American College Counseling Association in 2010-2011. He has presented nationally on counseling ethics, mandated counseling, and testing and assessment for the American College Counseling Association (ACCA), Association of College and University Counseling Center Directors (AUCCCD), American College Personnel Association (ACPA), Association for Student Conduct Administration (ASCA) and the National Association of Forensic Counselors (NAFC). He serves on the advisory boards for the National Behavioral Intervention Team Association (NaBITA) and School and College Organization for Prevention Educators (SCOPE). He has taught graduate classes in counseling theory, ethics, testing and assessment and program evaluation. He has taught undergraduate classes in adjustment and personal growth, deviance and counseling theory.

CEUs

**** 1.5 CEUs will be available to participants from ACCA. All participants who wish to receive CEUs will be asked to “sign-in” during the webinar (a sign-in sheet will be provided) and each institution will need to fax the sign-in sheet to ACCA following the conference.

**** CEUs can be requested for DVD/CD recording orders. A quiz will be provided that must be completed and returned to ACCA for CEUs to be granted to those participants who reviewed the webinar via a recording.

Registration

For more information and to register please visit www.paper-clip.com/assessingdanger.

The American College Counseling Association (ACCA) is once again offering an opportunity for master’s and doctoral level graduate students and new professionals to be recognized for outstanding leadership in the profession of college counseling!

ACCA invites applications for four ACCA Emerging Leader Grants for the 2013 ACA Convention in Cincinnati, OH. The ACCA Graduate Student Committee oversees the selection process for graduate students and new professionals to encourage attendance and participation in the 2013 ACA Convention.

Graduate students and/or new professionals will receive grants to cover the cost of the Advanced  Registration fee to the ACA conference. They will be acknowledged and given a certificate at the ACCA reception. Additionally, ACCA Emerging Leaders will:

• Serve as a member on one of the ACCA committees for at least one year beginning no later than July 1, 2013;
• Write an article for VISIONS for publication in the Graduate Student Column; submitted by May 1, 2013; and
• Volunteer at the ACCA booth at the 2013 ACA Convention for a minimum of 5 hours

You may download the Application here. For more information, or to submit an application, you may contact Hannah Bayne, PhD, NCC, ACCA Member at Large, at hannah.b.bayne@gmail.com.

Applications are due by Friday, December 14, 2012.

Emerging Leader grants are a unique opportunity to both demonstrate your leadership activities through scholarship and service, as well as initiate future leadership opportunities within ACCA.

To submit your proposal(s) for a conference breakout session please click here.  All proposals must be submitted by March 1, 2013.  Program submitters will be notified via email by May 3, 2013 as to whether they have been accepted by the 2013 Program Committee.

The 2012 National Survey of College Counseling, compiled by Robert P. Gallagher at the University of Pittsburgh, is now available for download. Click here to download the survey in PDF format.

As campus teams that identify and monitor students whose behaviors may be troubling have become more widespread, the Higher Education Mental Health Alliance (HEMHA) recognized the need for a resource that would help both existing and new teams make informed decisions about their structure, scope, functions, and day-to-day operations. Therefore, HEMHA has produced Balancing Safety and Support on Campus: A Guide for Campus Teams to meet these needs.

This guide summarizes the existing literature on campus teams and suggests some of the key issues that should be considered when creating or managing a campus team. The guide may be particularly useful to new teams considering various options for how they should be organized and led; it should also be helpful to existing teams interested in assessing their current functions, operations, or emphases.

ACCA is a charter member of HEMHA, a partnership of organizations dedicated to advancing college mental health envisioned and formed in September 2008, under the leadership of the American College Health Association (ACHA). The alliance affirms that the issue of college mental health is central to student success, and therefore is the responsibility of higher education. The production of this valuable and relevant resource demonstrates the true value of such an alliance.

Four-year college and university counselors for years now have watched their budgets shrink even as their workloads increase in quantity and difficulty. The same is true for community college counselors – but, as shown by the second edition of an annual survey of those in the profession, they’ve also got a whole barrage of other circumstances that make their work even more complicated.

ACCA President Monica Osburn, PhD

The ACCA is developing in leaps and bounds. 2012-2013 will be an exciting year indeed! This year will mark our organization moving to an annual conference with its kick off in Orlando, Florida on October 3^rd!

It is hard to discuss vision and goals without taking a moment to reflect on past accomplishments and how it shapes our future as an organization.  A milestone this year for the ACCA has been approval from the membership to support an executive director. This association has blossomed with the addition of our community college counselors and opening the doors to be inclusive of all clinical disciplines represented in a college counseling centers. With this infusion of new membership, we have recognized the need to purposefully address our organizational change and embrace our breadth of service. An executive director position will allow us to continue the growth of the membership while also assuring member services are increased.

This brings me to another phenomenal accomplishment of the ACCA in the realm of professional development. We have consistently provided a variety of educational opportunities in the form of webinars, Orientation to College Counseling series and our own annual conference as well as a multitude of resources on our website. These are the types of initiatives that benefit our membership and we will continue into the future.

Finally, a major highlight is the completion of our community college survey and partnership with the Gallagher survey. ACCA has prided itself on being research driven assuring we are on the cutting edge of best practice. These two surveys have not only given our organization national attention, but also allowed us to make decisions based on the needs of clinicians doing the work.  

The success of college counseling is often times built on knowledge and relationships, having the skills to help our clients while developing the nurturing relationship to allow that to happen. As your incoming ACCA president, I plan to use that same philosophy for the organization. It is our commitment to you to provide the educational opportunities you want while building bridges of connection for us all to grow and thrive. The ACCA values your strengths and differences. Together we are the premier association for college counseling.

Monica Osburn

Suicide and depression affect many people, through personal experiences or through the experiences of friends and family. This video, made by the students of St. Mary’s College of Maryland, attempts to break through the taboo surrounding the topic and give hope to all those who are suffering.

National Hopeline Network: 1-800-SUICIDE (784-2433)
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-TALK (8255)
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline for the hearing and speech impaired: 1-800-799-4TTY (4889)
Trevor Lifeline for LGBTQ youth: 1-855-488-7386