{"id":718,"date":"2015-04-01T14:36:16","date_gmt":"2015-04-01T18:36:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/perceptatherapeutic.com\/?p=718"},"modified":"2015-04-01T14:36:16","modified_gmt":"2015-04-01T18:36:16","slug":"april-is-counseling-awareness-month-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/perceptatherapeutic.com\/?p=718","title":{"rendered":"April is Counseling Awareness Month 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">20\/20 Definition of Counseling<\/span>&#8211; <em>&#8220;<strong>Counseling<\/strong> is a professional relationship that empowers diverse individuals, families and groups to accomplish mental health, wellness, education and career goals.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-735\" src=\"http:\/\/perceptatherapeutic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/10408707_869539096418565_3936420799672721937_n-300x123.jpg\" alt=\"April is Counseling Awareness Month 2015\" width=\"300\" height=\"123\" srcset=\"http:\/\/perceptatherapeutic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/10408707_869539096418565_3936420799672721937_n-300x123.jpg 300w, http:\/\/perceptatherapeutic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/10408707_869539096418565_3936420799672721937_n.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>April is Counseling Awareness Month-\u00a0an opportunity to educate the public about the counseling profession, as well as its positive impact on society, both locally and globally.<\/p>\n<p>Just last month, I had the opportunity to attend the ACA 2015 Conference &amp; Expo in Orlando, Florida; a transformative experience, with many new lessons learned, and old ones reaffirmed.<\/p>\n<p>Counselors are incredible individuals who; hold and honor the stories of their clients in an empathic and respectful way. They help prompt\/promote change and healing for their clients\u00a0that lasts a lifetime (<strong>Kottler &amp; Balkin<\/strong> -Keynote Speakers- ACA 2015 Conference &amp; Expo). Counselors do good and very important work every day, and contribute to communities nationwide. <strong>Mariel Hemingway<\/strong> (Keynote Speaker @ACAOrlando2015) said it best, when she said, &#8220;What you do, is so important.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Mariel Hemingway@ACA2015Orlando-&quot;What you do is so important.&quot;\" width=\"525\" height=\"295\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-qFYfbT1IgQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>To kick start this month properly, here are 12 Things that you should know about Professional Counselors- by <strong>Morgan Spurlock-<\/strong> Keynote Speaker, 2014 ACA Conference &amp; Expo:<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_355\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-355\" style=\"width: 92px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-355\" src=\"http:\/\/perceptatherapeutic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/12-things-about-counselors_infographic-92x300.jpg\" alt=\"12 Things About Professional Counselors\" width=\"92\" height=\"300\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-355\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">12 Things About Professional Counselors<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ol>\n<li>\u00a0Counselors have a graduate degree or higher in counseling.<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0Counselors emphasize multicultural competence and respect for diverse worldviews.<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0Counselors focus on wellness, career development, and client empowerment as opposed to psychopathology- a proactive approach to mental health.<\/li>\n<li>Counselors encourage people to be genuine and to work to find their own authentic self, even if the authentic self is somewhat different from dominant culture norms.<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0Counselors assist issues caused by typical life stressors, such as grief and loss, relationship problems, and developmental challenges throughout the lifespan.<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0Counselors diagnose\/or treat mental disorders.<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0Counselors are often trained in reacting to disasters- those created by individuals and nature.<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0Counselors serve as a front line resource in schools, as the eyes and ears for early signs of emotional distress caused by bullying, harassment, and other forms of abuse and trauma.<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0Counselors play an important role on college campuses, as the number of students visiting counseling centers is steadily increasing.<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0Counselors work with military veterans to help them with depression, PTSD, the transition back into civilian life, and more.<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0Counselors abide by ACA&#8217;s Code of Ethics. <a href=\"http:\/\/perceptatherapeutic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/aca-code-of-ethics.pdf\">aca-code-of-ethics<\/a>&#8211; The 2014 ACA Code of Ethics replaces the 2005 edition. It&#8217;s the First code that speaks to the ethics of using social media with clients.<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0Counselors are passionate, diverse, and committed to helping people from all walks of life and all depts. of despair to survive as thrive in today&#8217;s world.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>I have also shared a copy of the <strong>Professional Counseling Fact Sheet<\/strong>&#8211; in an effort to educate the public about the differences between health care professionals &#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.counseling.org\/docs\/default-source\/counseling-awareness-month\/2015cam-counseling-factsheet.pdf?sfvrsn=2\">http:\/\/www.counseling.org\/docs\/default-source\/counseling-awareness-month\/2015cam-counseling-factsheet.pdf?sfvrsn=2<\/a><\/p>\n<p>I have been a professional counselor for 15 years, and remain very committed to spreading the word about professional counseling, and the awesome work\u00a0counselors around the nation\u00a0do every day.<\/p>\n<p>Keep an eye on this\u00a0site throughout the month of April, as I share with you all, the extraordinary work counselors have done, and continue to do, today.<\/p>\n<p>Also, please feel free to share with us some of the wonderful work you are doing as professional counselors.<\/p>\n<p>Counselors ROCK!!<\/p>\n<p>All the best,<\/p>\n<p>Chioma Anah, EdD, ATR, LCPC, NCC, ACS<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>20\/20 Definition of Counseling&#8211; &#8220;Counseling is a professional relationship that empowers diverse individuals, families and groups to accomplish mental health, wellness, education and career goals.&#8221; April is Counseling Awareness Month-\u00a0an opportunity to educate the public about the counseling profession, as well as its positive impact on society, both locally and globally. Just last month, I &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"http:\/\/perceptatherapeutic.com\/?p=718\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;April is Counseling Awareness Month 2015&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[30,9,29],"tags":[3,44],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/perceptatherapeutic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/perceptatherapeutic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/perceptatherapeutic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/perceptatherapeutic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/perceptatherapeutic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=718"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"http:\/\/perceptatherapeutic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":738,"href":"http:\/\/perceptatherapeutic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718\/revisions\/738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/perceptatherapeutic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/perceptatherapeutic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/perceptatherapeutic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}