ACA represents counseling at special NIMH meeting

On January 22, ACA represented the counseling profession at a special National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) small group discussion. Called for by the NIMH Director, Dr. Thomas Insel, the focus of the meeting was on innovative ways for NIMH to disseminate information on mental illness.  In his introduction, Dr. Insel stressed that he was aware that NIMH needs to improve the quality of communications with both mental health professionals and the public. ACA provided feedback to NIMH on the type of information that is most useful to our members and their clients and possible ways that NIMH might develop and disseminate this information. ACA stressed the need to focus on wellness, psychosocial aspects of mental illness, and multicultural applications. 

A follow-up is anticipated, so please e-mail any thoughts you have about NIMH and how it can better help professional counselors and those we serve to David Kaplan, ACA Chief Professional Officer, at dkaplan@counseling.org. Your ideas will be brought to the next meeting.