AMERICAN COUNSELING ASSOCIATION

Conference & meetings:description: held annually, the american counseling association conference & expo is aca's flagship educational and networking event focusing on the professional development of counselors in various practice settings. The event attracts nearly 3,000 mental health professionals who come to develop their careers, advance the counseling field and promote human dignity. We offer a safe and supportive gathering space for counselors to connect and reenergize while accessing the most diverse lineup of educational topics in the field.

Membership:description: more than 60,000 professional counselors and counselors in training call american counseling association (aca) their professional home. Our efforts focus on recruitment, retention and provision of benefits to counseling professionals and counselors in training who are required to abide by the aca code of ethics. Benefits of membership include free or discounted continuing education offerings; discounted liability insurance; complimentary ethical and career consultations; access to exclusive resources such as state licensure information; and other professional support.in addition to our general membership offerings, aca members can affiliate with several specialty interest divisions and/or regional components within american counseling association such as counselors for social justice, the association for creativity in counseling, the american college counseling association and the association for child and adolescent counseling.in addition to directly supporting membership-related activities, revenue from membership dues also supports a wide range of aca activities that directly serve our members. This includes areas such as advocacy, component relations, education, ethics, the annual conference, and operational support, among others.

Advocacy:description: american counseling association (aca) staff provides opportunities and training to prepare counselors to advocate on behalf of the counseling profession. In recent years, we've worked with members to expand medicare reimbursement to cover counselors; increase opportunities for counselors to practice across state lines through the counseling compact; and increase mental health parity and access among other advocacy initiatives. Aca has made a significant financial investment in the success of interstate licensure through support of the counseling compact, which now includes 37 states and the district of columbia.