ACCA Statement on Racial Violence

The American College Counseling Association (ACCA) strongly condemns and denounces racism, systemic oppression, injustice, police brutality, and hate in all of its forms.  ACCA mourns the tragic deaths of George Floyd, Tony McDade, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless others who have died as a result of state sanctioned race-based tragedies. Each and every one are real people who were loved by their families and whose lives mattered; lost forever to violence fueled by centuries of racism, anti-Blackness and white supremacy woven into the fabric of our country.  While we come together as a multicultural community, we center on the needs and experiences of the Black community.  As mental health professionals, we stand for giving voice to the under-represented and underserved, promoting social justice, and providing support in times of crisis.  There is no response that can remedy the immeasurable losses and violence that the Black community has endured for centuries, but we can renew our call to action as individuals and a community.

As is so painfully obvious, and only brought into sharper focus with these recent national events, systemic oppression and racism permeates our society and must be eradicated.  We know that a counselor’s role in dismantling oppressive systems is clearly stated throughout our code of ethics.  Counselors are also essential to helping communities navigate difficult conversations and serious challenges.  However, we must also be able to hold these conversations amongst ourselves.  Embracing multiculturalism is only a start.  We must stand up and speak out against the injuries and violence of institutional racism.  We also must adopt an anti-racist lens in our clinical work, as well as reviewing our policies and practices within our counseling centers to ensure that they increase diversity and inclusion in our staffing and implement on-going training and accountability for knowledge, understanding and skills for the work of anti-racism, and for diversity, inclusion and social justice.  It is our sincere expectation that this movement propels college counselors across the nation into reflective and deliberate action.

It is essential that individuals in positions of power, whether due to race, socioeconomic status, or position, take up this call to action.  There are many ways that we can challenge anti-Blackness in our own communities without shifting focus.  We can push past the fear of raising our voice, and we can work to amplify the voices of Black colleagues and students. We can capitalize on our social capital to challenge biased actions and unfair policies.  We can donate to causes supporting BIPOC communities. Most of all, we can listen and educate ourselves.  We can lean in and let go of the messages about race that we have internalized over a lifetime. As has been said by Maya Angelou, “When we know better, we can do better.”

To our Black colleagues:  We see your pain.  We believe you when you say you are being hurt and oppressed by systemic racism that exists throughout higher education and our nation. We recognize that minority stress and race-based trauma are real and you experience them daily.  We will amplify your voices and fight with you and for you, side by side.  Social distancing has further isolated you from connecting with other Black counselors, colleagues, and supports preventing many opportunities to draw from a collective strength and wisdom.  We realize that we haven’t listened to you in the past and have resisted change out of fear and ignorance.  Our Black students deserve access to culturally specific and affirming healing modalities and our Black colleagues deserve effective mentorship, leadership, and supervision that moves beyond cultural competence and is anti-racist. #Blacklivesmatter

ACCA is currently working on providing support and spaces to come together and provide a safe place for our membership to process, learn, empathize, and provide support to one another. In addition, ACCA has joined with many divisions of ACA to co-sponsor two important upcoming events (registration information is available on our website).

I Need A Minute: A Time for Collective Mourning – Monday, June 8th at 6:30pm EST.

Town Hall on Racial Trauma and the Violent and Negligent Policing of Black Americans – Friday, June 19th from 11am-1pm EST

In addition, if you are looking for other ways to take action, below are some suggestions, with a more comprehensive list available on our website.

• Grassroots efforts are taking place across the nation.  Reach out to the leaders of these organizations and ask if you can help with advertising or pulling together resources

• Donate:  blacklivesmatter.com, bailproject.org, knowyourrights.com/legal

• Contact your member of Congress and the Senate

• Sign a Petition: https://www.change.org/

• Educate yourself: Watch the film by Ava DuVerney, The 13^th (available on Netflix), watch Trevor Noah’s recent video, read Between

• the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Follow Black activists on social media.  Listen deeply with open hearts and minds.

• Read the latest articles in the Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development and on the impact of racial trauma on mental health: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/21611912/2020/48/2 

• Seek out your campus resources:  Look for opportunities to collaborate with offices that focus on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts on campus.  Ask how you could partner or get more involved.  

• Look within your own counseling centers:  Ensure that you have resources that are visible and available to the Black students on your own campus.  For this current moment, offset some of the workload for your Black clinicians.  Have other colleagues take an intake, cover a workshop,

• and/or be on-call.  Allow your Black clinicians time to heal and lend their efforts where they are most needed.

• Donate to increase access to mental health services for African American women and girls https://thelovelandfoundation.org/loveland-therapy-fund/ 

•  Vote: Both nationally and locally.  https://www.rockthevote.org/

Additional suggested resources are available on our website:  collegecounseling.org 

In Solidarity,

Brittany L. Collins, co-chair diversity and inclusion committee

Sandy Davis, Member at Large

Jessenia Garcia, co-chair diversity and inclusion committee

Steffanie Grossman, Member at Large

Janelle C. Johnson, Past-President

Andrew J. Lee, President-Elect

Monica Osburn, Governing Council Representative

Rebecca Smith, Secretary

Richard Tyler-Walker, President

Yulanda Tyre, Treasurer

Elena Yee, Member at Large

ACCA Statement on COVID-19

As we navigate these challenging times, know that ACCA is here to support you.  We understand that the impact of COVID-19 has been both personal and professional, and is shifting the way that we navigate our work, home, and relationships with clients, colleagues, and loved ones.  We realize that, many times, as helpers, while we help hold the emotions and experiences of those around us, it can be challenging to hold our own emotions and experiences as well.  Know that, as members of ACCA as well as the broader university and college counseling community, we stand with you and will do our best to provide resources to help.  In times such as these, it is vital to remember that self-compassion and gentleness is as necessary for ourselves as it is for our clients.  You are not alone, and we appreciate the work that you are continuing to do and the impact you are making as part of our university and college counseling community and in your other identities.    

COVID-19 Resources

The Higher Education Mental Health Alliance (HEMHA) has release a guid for COVID 19 Resources, you can access it below:

COVID 19 Resources

Additional Related Resources (Note that ACCA does not endorse a particular site or provider, and this list is meant to provide links to various services and resources.):

The Jed Foundation's COVID-19 Resource Guide: https://www.jedfoundation.org/jeds-covid-19-resource-guide/ 

Free Corona Anxiety Workbook: https://thewellnesssociety.org/free-coronavirus-anxiety-workbook/

List of federal, state, and private grants that exist for Higher Ed. institutions to apply for in order to roll out telehealth: https://mantrahealth.com/post/telehealth-grant-opportunities-for-higher-education 

American College Health Association (ACHA) Considerations for Reopening Institutions of Higher Education in the COVID-19 Era: The ACHA guidelines, Considerations for Reopening Institutions of Higher Education in the COVID-19 Era, address the administrative, medical, mental health, health promotion/well-being, and campus-wide considerations in reopening college campuses as the COVID-19 pandemic abates. These guidelines are intentionally broad for universal use, and written with the understanding that IHEs should evaluate the feasibility of these recommendations in light of their own campus environment.

Who We Are

The American College Counseling Association is made up of diverse mental health professionals from the fields of counseling, psychology, and social work. Our common theme is working within higher education settings.

ACCA membership includes professionals and student members who work largely in college counseling settings. There are a growing number of community college counseling professionals who comprise the second largest group within ACCA. Members hold primarily a master’s or doctoral degree with the largest group being master’s level professionals. Counselor educators and Supervisors are also part of ACCA membership.

HEMHA Distance Counseling Guide

The Higher Education Mental Health Alliance (HEMHA) is proud to release our most recent guide,  College Counseling from a Distance: Deciding Whether and When to Engage in Telemental Health Services.  

HEMHA Distance Counseling Guide 

This guide, along with all other HEMHA resources, are free!  Please share this with others whom you think would be interested.

This guide focuses on all of the content areas needing consideration to determine if your center wants to participate in Telemental Health Services using an interdisciplinary approach.