UPCOMING EVENTS:

Thursdays, April 4 & 18, 2024

Pennsylvania Specialists in Group Work (PASGW) will host its monthly virtual graduate student support groups.  

All graduate students are welcome to join our student-run support group. This group is designed to provide a space for students to reflect on their educational journeys and everything that goes along with it. Please reach out to Rachel Rectenwald with any questions (hmbdc@iup.edu).

To sign up, complete this form.

Friday, April 19, 2024

The Pennsylvania Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values in Counseling (PASERVIC) is hosting its monthly, peer-to-peer, grounding support group for counselors and therapists. 

The support group occurs on the third Friday of each month (dates listed below). GSG is free for PASERVIC members, $10 to register for PCA members, and $15 for non-PCA clinicians.

Please email pca.paservic@gmail.com for more information, to register, or for payment instructions. An email with the Zoom link will be sent to registrants before each date.

• 2024 Dates: 4/19, and 5/17
• Will resume in the fall!

Saturday, April 20, 2024

Proposals for the 56th Annual PCA Conference

The Pennsylvania Counseling Association’s 56th Annual Conference will be held at the Hilton Harrisburg - October 25-27, 2024.  This year’s theme is "Meeting Pennsylvania's Need for Mental Health Services: The Role and Value of Professional Counseling". Proposals should be geared toward counselors, supervisors, graduate students, and educators.  The deadline to submit proposals is Wednesday May 15th, 2024 at 11:59PM.

All proposals should address this year’s theme as one of four (4) presentation types:

• 90 minute Education Session
• 1 hour Education Session
• 1 hour Roundtable Session
• 1 hour Poster Presentation

All proposals will be accepted via WHOVA. Additional details about the proposal requirements and process are available in the proposal form.

Proposal Submission Portal - PCA 56th Annual Conference

If you have any questions about proposals, please contact Joe Charette or Stephanie Onkst, Conference Programs Co-Chairs at pca.programs@gmail.com. We look forward to your submissions!

Sincerely,

Joe Charette, PhD and Stephanie Onkst, MEd
Conference Programs Co-Chairs

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Associate Licensure is in Pennsylvania!

In a landmark occasion, Governor Josh Shapiro has signed into law a first-tier license for use by what was formerly known as pre-licensed professional counselors. This is a striking win for mental healthcare in Pennsylvania! The PCA has been working tirelessly with members of the PA legislature to pass this legislation in order to allow pre-licensed counselors to have a license under which they will work while they earn their required hours for independent licensure as a LPC. This will also open doors for increased insurance billing opportunities, which will benefit counselors as well as clients.

The Licensed Associate Professional Counselor application will become available online through the Pennsylvania Department of State Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs to the public in the coming weeks.  Licensed Associate Professional Counselor status will be eligible to those who’ve completed their masters degree in a field that is also required for independent licensure (Counseling, Art Therapy, Marriage and Family Therapy, etc) with a one-time fee of $75 when applying.  Licensed Associate Professional Counselors will be eligible to apply for LPC status after completing 3000 supervision hours and passing the required exams (an example of this would be the National Counseling Exam/NCE).

Please note, as with information regarding licensing applications/management, PCA refers specific questions and application requirement inquires to the State Board of Social Workers, Marriage & Family Therapists and Professional Counselors (Phone: 7177831389), Pennsylvania Department of State Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs (BPOA).  More information regarding the Licensed Associate Professional Counselor will be released in the coming months.

PCA appreciates and values the voices of you, our members, as we continue to advocate for the advancement of our profession.  We thank everyone for their hard work and efforts in making this dream a reality!

Ashley Deurlein, NCC, LPC
(she/hers/her)
55th President

Madeleine Stevens, Ph.D., LPC (PA), LPCC (OH), NCC
(she/her/hers)
Government Relations Committee Chair

PCA has an official Discord server! 

The server is now live, and we will be rolling out links to the server via an email from our marketing and outreach committee to the registered email address of our members. If you are not familiar with Discord, it’s a service that allows anyone to create a unique server. This server is then filled with interest channels (in our case, channels that are specific to our divisions, interest networks, and of interest to counselors generally), and members who have access to the server can move within these text and audio/video channels to interact with other members. 

Here are some quick notes on how to make use of this new member benefit:

•       If you already have a Discord account but may not use it much, following this link will just add another server to your left navigation panel and you can switch back and forth by selecting which server you want to use at the time. 
•       If you're totally new to Discord, I'm providing a brief explanation video, through YouTube, that Discord has created about itself: https://youtu.be/TJ13BA3-NR4?si=usQRQKXDEIA6Rbe0 [youtu.be]

So, once you get the email from us with the link, here’s how to join:

•       To start, just click the provided link in your unique email, login or create an account if you don’t have one already (Discord accounts are free).
•       You may be asked if you’d like to download the Discord app on your PC or mobile device. It’s a slightly more user-friendly way of interacting with the server.
•       You should then be taken to our private server. You may have to click an entry notification again to gain access. There will be some onboarding questions to enhance safety and make all members aware of our moderation policies before entering.
•       The PCA server is locked down to provide a safe space for association members and to use this community as a membership benefit. Only active members can use it. Prospective members can see some channels and interact in them, but just within those specific channels initially. 
•       In order to gain full access to the server, just click on the the "Intro Messages" channel to enter it, and then post a brief message telling us who you are (name and PCA email address would be ideal). One of our moderators or admins will double check your membership status, and then give you member access, which will provide you with all of the appropriate channels. We will also delete your chat with your name and email address as soon as we grant access. You can then click on any channels under the various categories to gain access to them and interact with other members.
•       The channels and categories are ways to keep the constant live chat more organized so specific interest areas don’t get lost in one main chat room. As a result, you may be asked to move a chat to another room, if it fits better within a specific chat category. 
•       Participation in this server is completely voluntary, but we ask everyone in the server to behave as professionals. Anyone who uses the server inappropriately, engages in abrasive or toxic behaviors, etc. may be warned, timed out, or banned from the server. Server access is a member benefit, but it is not a right. Loss of server access will not necessarily result in a revocation of membership status. 
•       You may reach out to me, Dr. Steve Kuniak, with specific questions at pcamarketingdirector@gmail.com, but please understand that this is a volunteer role for me, and that I do check my email and Discord messages regularly, but am not available 24/7.

This Discord server is meant as an answer to a long standing request from members. It is the ability to interact with PCA members across the state, in real time, just like we do in the conference or in the conference app, but all year rather than just during major get togethers. Hoping to see you all in Discord, where we can benefit from one another’s professional expertise and collegiality.

Best,

Dr. Steve Kuniak
PCA Marketing and Outreach Chair
PCA Past President 2020-2021