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For those of you who were at the Open Business Meeting in I have to say that I’ve never seen the energy of the Commission as vital as it was at this year’s Open Business Meeting and at the Social a few hours later. It was truly inspiring to see the investment and involvement people felt toward CCAPS as they nominated their friends and colleagues to positions on the Directorate. I’ve been to many of these meetings where the nominations barely trickled in. Not this time! I think, and hope, this shows a renewed interest in who we are and the work we do. The turnout at the Social was equally inspiring. Shortly after it began, the hotel people needed to bring in a whole lot more chairs, and still many people ended up standing (and even in the hall). After the Social was over I had to kick people out, and they remained in the hall talking for at least another half-hour. I feel grateful to be taking over as Chair at such an opportune time. Many thanks go to Stacey Pearson and her work as Chair for the last two years to bring the Commission to this point. One of the main points of my platform when I ran for Chair was to involve more people in the work (and benefit) of the Commission. Whether they are new to CCAPS, hanging around the fringes, or past Directorate members, my desire is to help people find (or rediscover) their niche in the group. There are plenty of places in the Commission that can use good people for those interested in being involved. The CCAPS committees do a good deal of work during the year and at convention. Each of these subgroups can benefit from additional hands. While I prefer to keep the leadership of each subgroup on the Directorate, I invite all members to consider contributing to the committee work. If you are not sure how or where you can best get involved, please contact me (email) and we’ll find a spot for you. The second part of my platform was to involve CCAPS members, especially former Directorate members, in the leadership of ACPA. By getting our people in positions of influence within the larger organization, we can protect our Commission and strengthen our hand. The counseling perspective is one that is often forgotten, both in ACPA and on our campuses. We need to make sure that our voice is heard. One example of our being overlooked occurred in meetings talking about next year’s convention. We will have a Joint Meeting with NASPA next year, limiting our sponsored programs to three, when we usually have five to seven. Since NASPA doesn’t have a Knowledge Community devoted to counseling issues, the three programs are the only one’s guaranteed to be available for us (and for CE credits!), except for our CE program on Sunday. Most commissions in ACPA have counterparts (in some cases more than one) and will be having six or more sponsored programs for their area of interest. During the Commission Chairs meetings I brought up the inherent inequity of this situation. Laura Lyn also raised the issue in her Program Chairs meeting (thanks Laura!). By speaking directly and often, we’ve received assurances (though not guarantees) that our needs will be attended to. Although the energy for the Commission is high, there are
several challenges facing CCAPS in the near future, including maintaining and
increasing our membership, and our potential connections with the Jed
Foundation around the Despite these challenges, there are many opportunities for CCAPS to grow and flourish. During my comments at the Open Business Meeting I spoke of CCAPS being my, and others’, professional home. It is with all of you that I gain perspective on my work at my center, it’s where I commiserate about problems, it’s where I celebrate my successes, and it’s where I reconnect with my friends. In my next meeting (yes, I attended a lot of meetings!) David Gilles-Thomas brought up the idea of “Come Home to CCAPS” as a theme for our website, an extension of my comments. Thinking about this idea since the convention, I’ve decided that this theme does make sense, not just for the website, but as my mission for the next two years. At this point I’d like to acknowledge some people who have
recently made CCAPS at least one of their professional homes, our newest
Directorate members. Welcome to Jane
Bost, Grace Chen, Mark Fleming, On a personal note, I appreciated getting to meet many of
the new Commission members at the convention, and to reconnect with those I
already knew. I also appreciated the
time that several former Chairs of the Commission ( So, as we wind down from the convention and close out our semesters, I invite you to think about your place in CCAPS and how you can contribute to our success. Please contact me with any questions or concerns you have about the Commission or ACPA in general. Also, if you’re not a member of the CCAPS listserv, please join (you can do it yourself from the Membership part of the ACPA homepage – www.myacpa.org). It’s the best way to keep up on Commission activities, job openings, and issues that affect counseling centers. Come home to CCAPS! Jonathan Kandell
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I wanted to get in touch with the Commission as a whole now
that I’ve assumed the role of Chair.