ACA News

Application Process Announced: New SUD Student-Loan-Forgiveness Program, Existing Student Loan-Forgiveness Program for Health-Care Workers

UPDATE: The deadline for applying to this program has been changed from February 21, 2019 to February 28, 2019. More information here . The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) is accepting applications through Feb. 21 for a new ...

Federal Report on School Safety Released

The Federal Commission on School Safety, established after the Feb. 14, 2018, shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., released a 180-page final report on Dec. 18 containing 93 recommendations for improving school safety nationwide, ...

ACA Takes Action Toward Interstate Licensure Portability

This fall, the American Counseling Association took a major step in the direction of interstate licensure portability.  On Oct. 17, the ACA Governing Council approved the initial endorsement and funding of a professional occupation ...

The Costs of Mental Illness In Treating Physical Illness

The effects of mental health on physical health are well known. An Oxford University review of the literature shows that the average reduction in life expectancy is between seven to eleven years for someone with recurrent depression, nine to twenty ...

Should We Have a Three Digit Suicide Prevention Hotline? Have Your Say.

The National Hotline Improvement Act was signed into law August 2018.  The law requires the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and the Federal Communications ...

No Threat of Government Shutdown for Agencies that Oversee Counseling Initiatives

Many agencies in the federal government will run out of money on Dec. 21 if Congress and the president can’t agree on a new budget—but the agencies that fund and oversee counseling initiatives are not among them. Earlier, in the fall, ...

Short Term Insurance Plans Morph Into Long Term Plans With Limited Mental Health Coverage

Short term insurance plans have been providing people with temporary insurance coverage for decades.  Historically, they have been transitional policies that are not required to provide mental health coverage or coverage for preexisting ...

How the Outcomes of the Midterm Elections Will Affect Professional Counselors

Healthcare was a prominent issue, probably the most prominent issue, for voters. A November 2 Gallup Poll found that 80 percent of respondents said healthcare would be extremely or very important in their vote for Congress this year, followed by the ...

Healthcare Is On The Ballot November 6. So Are Many Other Important Issues.

The November elections are just days away and mental healthcare for all Americans could hang in the balance. Healthcare has been one of the top issues during this campaign cycle across the country, particularly the provision that includes coverage for ...

School Counselors Use Technology to Help Make Schools Safer for Kids

Digital citizenship training, behavioral threat assessment programs and state tip lines are some of the technology-focused tools currently in use to help ensure safe and healthy learning environments in our nation’s schools, according to ...

President Signs Bill Offering Student-Loan Debt Forgiveness for Substance-Use-Treatment Staff

President Donald Trump signed a bill on October 24th that addresses the opioid crisis and provides forgiveness for student loans of up to $250,000 for substance-use-treatment professionals. The measure, H.R. 6, is titled the SUPPORT for Patients and ...

The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act: Ten Years Later

This October marks the tenth anniversary of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA), one of the signal achievements in the effort to expand access to mental health treatment.  While both counselors and patients have benefitted ...

Congress Sends Bill With New Programs and Funding to Fight Opioids to President

On October 3rd Congress sent legislation to the President that addresses the opioid epidemic in a number of important ways.  The SUPPORT For Patients and Communities Act, H.R. 6, includes many new programs and revises existing ones that ...

President Signs Law Funding Mental Health Programs for 2019

On Sept. 28, President Donald Trump signed into law H.R. 6157, a measure to fund the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Education and other federal agencies for fiscal year 2019. The bill includes funding for many important ...

House Introduces Improved School Counseling Bill

For more than 60 years, ACA has been at the forefront of supporting the establishment and enhancement of school counseling programs that provide students with the skills to face life’s challenges, deal with bullying, practice a respect for ...

SAMHSA Provides Child-Informed Trauma Resources

High-profile tragedies involving children and youth—such as natural disasters and mass shootings—happen far too frequently in contemporary America. In addition, less publicized and non-publicized traumatic events affect children in every ...

Help Wanted: HRSA Presents a Virtual Job Fair for Professional Counselors

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) is hosting a virtual job fair for behavioral health professionals on Oct. 17. The virtual job fair, an online event, enables mental health professionals located throughout the nation to interact ...

SAMHSA's Childhood Trauma Awareness Day

Coming soon

Expanded Tax Exemption for Higher Ed Expenses Stumbles in the Senate

A plan that would expand tax exemptions to include savings designated for the education needed to obtain a postsecondary credential or a professional license did not make it into the final version of the 2019 Defense, Labor, and Health and Human ...

One More State Bans Conversion Therapy, Another Runs Out Of Time

Delaware is the 15th state to ban the discredited method referred to as conversion or reparative therapy from being used on minors—and Massachusetts lost its bid to become the 16th state to do so, after a last-minute approval didn’t make ...