The ACCA is now accepting nominations for the following three positions:

President-Elect (3-year term)

Secretary

Member-at-Large

Members are encouraged to Download the PDF Form below and return it via email with your nominations to:

ACCA Nominations & Elections Chair, Greta A. Davis, Ph.D. at davis_greta@yahoo.com

ACCA EXECUTIVE COUNCIL NOMINATION FORM

ACCA President Brian Van Brunt Ed. D was quoted in an article on Ultrinsic, a website where students can wager on grades at Rutgers and Princeton Universities.

Dr. Van Brunt stated the following:

“A lot of companies see college students are potentially easy marks for this kind of thing,” Van Brunt said. “It seems to me this is some kind of gateway to other things, like a step or two away from sports books, that can get people potentially into trouble.”

Read the whole article here.

Introducing a New Webinar:
Suicide Attempts & Hospitalization:
7 Critical Issues for Higher Ed
Tuesday, September 14th – 2 pm (ET)

Some of the most difficult situations to deal with on today’s college campus are responding to suicide attempts and managing the process of hospitalizing a student for psychiatric reasons.

• Does your school have a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with our local in-patient hospital unit?
• How can you back up the idea behind: “I’m worried about this student and want them to get better before they come back to campus. I know they aren’t ready.”
• Do you know the most dangerous time for a student isn’t at admission—but two weeks after coming out of the hospital?
• Do you get mixed messages about whether you should call parents or not? As a parent, you bet they want to know—but as an administrator you feel torn under FERPA.

Residential life staff is often concerned about the impact on other students and their residential life community. Deans and Administrators are concerned about potential liability to the college making key decisions involving the student remaining on campus, interim suspension, ADA regulations and parental notifications. And, counselors are often concerned for the student’s welfare and returning them back to campus safely.

Join our expert panelists in this webinar cosponsored with PaperClip Communications and ACCA as they address the key elements of the process involved when a student attempts suicide; how the student should be evaluated and transported to the hospital; how information is shared with parents; the pros and cons on interim suspension versus a medical leave of absence and how to keep both the student and the greater community safe.

Learn More About This Webinar
Full Topic List and Discussion Points – Presenter Biographies

The following article was published at CommunityCollegeTimes.com:

Counselors see more severity, complexity among student cases

Nearly half of community college counselors participating in an informal survey say that their cases have increased in severity and complexity over the past few years.

Stress, depression, anxiety disorders, academic problems, relationship issues and test anxiety are among the most common reasons community colleges students seek counseling, according to a survey by the American College Counseling Association (ACCA) that included 67 community college counselors from 54 colleges.

Read the full article here…

Please enjoy the following video, provided by The Texas Counseling Association (TCA) and the Texas College Counseling Association (TCCA), entitled “Professional College Counselors: A Vital Campus Resource”:

For the full report, download the survey in PDF Format here!

Thank you to all of those who participated in this survey!

Purpose:
This survey was conducted by the American College Counseling Association’s (ACCA) Community College Task Force (CCTF) for the purpose of gathering benchmark data about common practices for Personal Counseling in our setting.

Method:
The survey was constructed using items from a previous year’s pilot survey and items generated from current members of the CCTF. The survey was created using SurveyMonkey.com and distributed to the ACCA’s listserv. Personal Counselors working in a Community College setting were invited to respond. There were sixty-seven respondents for this survey. Narrative responses were compiled and grouped into general categories for easy reference.

Limitations:
The survey was completed by a self-selected group of listserv participants. Participation was not limited to a single representative from each college, so multiple responses were received from some institutions. Therefore, please use caution when generalizing the results of this survey.

Highlights:
This survey reflects the experience and views of 67 Community College Counselors at 54 Community Colleges from 28 different states. Some interesting response highlights:

• 82% hold Master’s Degrees.
• 55% hold licensure as an LMHC/LPC or equivalent.
• 50% are National Certified Counselors.
• 52% are not required to hold independent state licensure.
• 67% believe that independent state licensure should be required.
• 95% have no on-site Psychiatry resource.
• 60% do not limit the number of Counseling sessions. Range of sessions is 3-8.
• 75% report having a Threat Assessment Team on campus.
• 49% describe the intensity/severity of clinical issues, relative to past years, as “Higher Severity”
• Most common responses regarding utilization of Counseling Services:
  • Ratio of Counselors to students = 1:2000-2500
  • Average number of sessions per academic year = 3 – 5
  • Average weekly caseload size = 6 – 10
  • Percentage of student body seen for Counseling = 1 – 5%

The Texas College Counseling Association would like to invite members of ACCA to our Summer 2010 College Counseling Conference in beautiful Fort Worth Texas.  Please consider sharing your experience and expertise with us by submitting a program proposal for the June 11-12, 2010 conference.

Fort Worth is an exciting city and the Sheraton Hotel is in a fabulous downtown location with restaurants, shops, and museums all within walking distance.  We would love to see you in Texas this summer!

Texas College Counseling Conference
Summer 2010 Call for Programs

The Texas College Counseling Association (TCCA) in conjunction with the Texas Counseling Association (TCA) and the Higher Education Coordinating Board will host the first annual College Counseling Conference in Fort Worth, Texas June 11-12, 2010. The conference will be held at the Fort Worth Sheraton. We will open the conference registration next week. The nominal registration fee of $50 will be waived for conference presenters.

We are excited to accept proposals for this conference beginning April 13, 2010 and extending through midnight on Wednesday, April 21, 2010. The time line for this opportunity will pass quickly so please prepare your proposal today.

We are interested in programs of interest to professional counselors working in institutions of higher education. In addition to programs that will promote student retention and achievement, program proposals that reflect the following content areas will be given high priority:

Therapy Skills:

Impact of Psychological Issues on Academic Performance, managing stress, resiliency and coping skills, non-traditional college student issues, anger management, student veteran issues, relationship issues, relationship issues, suicide prevention, addictive behaviors, effective groups, theory based presentations, wellness, GLBT issues.

Campus Issues:

Career exploration assessment, High School to college transitional concerns, violence and tragedy on college campuses, diversity issues, assessment, ADA and IDEA disability laws, outreach ideas, student affairs programming, working with student athletes, adult learner, interacting with high school counselors, financial aid, internship opportunities and issues. Proposals within these areas will be given greatest preference. Content areas were identified from the spring 2010 membership survey.

Please consider sharing your college counseling knowledge and experience with others. Higher education professionals and doctorate-level graduate students are encouraged to submit proposals. Submit your proposals as per the information below from TCA.

The votes are in and the 2010 ACCA Election Results are as follows:
President-Elect: MJ Raleigh
Governing Council Rep: Perry Francis
Member-at-Large (Community College): Amy Lenhart
Secretary: Janelle Johnson

Download the PDF here!

Click here to download the PDF!