Unfortunately, it sometimes takes tragedy to bring an issue to the fore. Such is the case with the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn.—and other recent killing sprees—which has prioritized mental health services in the collective conscience of Americans.
Besides attending to the typical duties of an association—holding annual meetings, developing educational curriculum, collecting dues, etc.—the Alexandria, Va.-based American Counseling Association (ACA) often dispatches mental health professionals with a masters or doctors degree in counseling to disaster sites to help victims deal with stress.
ACA Executive Director and CEO Richard Yep, CAE, FASAE, entered the association management world after working on Capitol Hill as an education and human services lobbyist. He got a call from the ACA while working for another association, and was appointed executive director in 1998.
Holding the top staff position within the 52,000-member association, Yep still wields influence in Washington, D.C., as the ACA has a public policy and legislation team, three in-house lobbyists and a national network of volunteers. But what really makes the ACA stand out is its dedication to humanitarian efforts.
“When Red Cross gets deployed there’s a huge need for people who will provide mental health services, and when there’s a disaster our members will be asked to provide services,” he says.
ACA members provided on-site services following 9/11, in Haiti after the massive earthquake and in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. ACA volunteers did not deploy to Newtown, primarily because they did not want to overwhelm the small community, but instead partnered with the Connecticut Counseling Association.
In addition to helping with major disasters, the association also conducts community service projects benefitting its conference cities.
“The difference is it isn’t an add-on,” Yep says. “It’s something our members expect us to do.”
One such program is the Empty Setting Project, which the ACA has been doing for decades and entails an empty plate representing someone who needs counseling. Members come by and place money on the plate.
The annual conference typically draws between 4,000 and 5,000 delegates and requires about 100,000 square feet of meeting space and an equal amount of exhibit space—“We’re really kind of ‘space hogs,’” Yep jokes. Content includes keynote sessions, celebrity speakers such as Ashley Judd, Soledad O’Brien and NPR’s Craig Windham; about 450 educational sessions (members earn CEUs for annual license renewal) and another 50 to 70 preconference sessions; plus meetings held by its 20 specialty divisions.
According to Yep, the adoption rate of social media within the group has been relatively slow, so don’t expect the hybrid meeting phenomenon to sweep the ACA just yet.
“It doesn’t fit our model right now,” Yep explains. “It’s hard to give each other a hug over a computer.”
Somehow, that just seems to fit.
