Associations

AACC is committed to assisting Christian counselors, the entire “community of care,” licensed professionals, pastors, and lay church members with little or no formal training. It is our intention to equip clinical, pastoral, and lay care-givers with biblical truth and psychosocial insights that minister to hurting persons and helps them move to personal wholeness, interpersonal competence, mental stability, and spiritual maturity.

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.

American Mental Health Counselors Association (AMHCA) is now a separate organization from the American Counseling Association although some ties still exist. The mission of AMHCA is “to enhance the profession of mental health counseling through licensing, advocacy, education and professional development.”  The web site contains links to state chapters, client information and related mental health areas. AMHCA holds an annual convention and publishes The Journal of Mental Health Counseling quarterly.

ARCA is an organization of rehabilitation counseling practitioners, educators, and students who are concerned with enhancing the development of people with disabilities throughout their life span and in promoting excellence in the rehabilitation counseling profession’s practice, research, consultation, and professional development.

Chartered in 1986, AADA serves as a focal point for information sharing, professional development, and advocacy related to adult development and aging issues; addresses counseling concerns across the lifespan.

Originally the Military Educators and Counselors Association, ACEG was chartered in 1984. ACEG is dedicated to counseling clients and their families in local, state, and federal government or in military-related agencies.

AHC, formerly C-AHEAD, a founding association of ACA in 1952, provides a forum for the exchange of information about humanistically-oriented counseling practices and promotes changes that reflect the growing body of knowledge about humanistic principles applied to human development and potential.

The Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development seeks to develop programs specifically to improve ethnic and racial empathy and understanding. Its activities are designed to advance and sustain personal growth and improve educational opportunities for members from diverse cultural backgrounds.

AMCD is charged with the responsibility of defending human and civil rights as prescribed by law. It encourages changing attitude and enhancing understanding of cultural diversity. Provisions are made for in-service and pre-service training for members and for others in the profession. Efforts are made to strengthen members professionally and enhance their ability to serve as behavioral change agents. Operationalization of Multicultural Counseling Competencies by AMCD represents a benchmark for the counseling profession and the American Counseling Association.

The Association for Specialists in Group Work is a division of the American Counseling Association. As Counseling Professionals who are interested in and specialize in group work, we value the creation of community; service to our members, their clients, and the profession; and leadership as a process to facilitate the growth and development of individuals and groups.