Soledad O'Brien Delivers Conference Keynote Address

Soledad O'Brien, a news anchor and special correspondent who heads up CNN's "In America" unit, helped to officially kick off the ACA 2011 Conference & Exhibition in New Orleans with a keynote address that encouraged counselors to "stand with people and refuse to go."

In covering news stories, O'Brien says that she aspires to many of the goals that counselors work toward: trying to capture and restore humanity to people's lives, working to increase understanding and valuing diversity.

Like counselors, O'Brien places great value in helping people deal with loss, disaster and other hardships through storytelling. "By focusing on diversity [in CNN's In America unit], I get to tell everyone's story. … To me, the best stories dig into identity."

Again drawing parallels to the work that counselors do, O'Brien says that she often focuses on what it means to be "other" in today's society. One of the most valuable things that counselors can do for clients, she said, is to help them envision a life that they want to live and then help them to minimize the barriers to attaining it. "No one is better positioned in the world than you are to move people to a better life," she told the attendees.

More than 4,300 counselors are gathered in New Orleans for the ACA Conference and Expo. It is the fifth time that ACA has held its conference in New Orleans, but the first time since 2002. This year's conference is expected to generate $4 million in economic impact for the city. As ACA Executive Director Richard Yep noted before the keynote address, "The pulse of New Orleans still beats strong. … It's a city that won't give up."