Report on
Cumberland Counseling Association
For
Tennessee Counseling Association
November 2007
The Cumberland Counseling Association (CCA) is looking forward to a continued exciting and eventful 2007-08 year. There are several excited new members, officers, and committee chairs. The hope of the leadership of this chapter is to stay on this excitement and boost our membership and participation.
To recap our Spring 2007 meeting…CCA presented Francis A. Martin, Ph.D. Dr. Martin is with Argosy University in Nashville, Tennessee. He spoke to CCA members about writing in process of therapy. He gave an exciting presentation with many hands-on case studies that were dealt with during the meeting. There was also a meal partially funded by CCA along with this meeting. At the end of this CCA event, there was a business meeting. During the business meeting, officers for 2007-08 were elected. Those officers follow:
Larra Bush, President
Abby Eibel, President-Elect
Kathy Buck, President-Elect-Elect
Dr. Donald Loskot, Secretary
Robert Ridley, Treasurer
Dr. Donald Loskot is also serving as chair of the membership committee. Dr. Janet Turner and Dr. Donald Loskot are also advising as a past president.
The most recent CCA event was on November 9, 2007. This is the first event for the first half of the year. This was held at the Putnam County Library in Cookeville. The guest speakers were Jessica Tucker and Kim Knotts. They are both Resource Linkage Coordinators for the Department of Children’s Services in our area. They discussed this relatively new program and how it related to counselors. They invited those present to participate in the Community Advisory Boards (CABs). Each county has one, and its purpose is to serve the people of that community in whatever they might need. Donuts and coffee were served. We also had two door prizes given out. After the presentation, CCA had a business meeting. The next CCA events were discussed and decided upon. Also…discussion was brought up about having a mini-conference in the spring of 2009.
GOALS UPDATE…
GOAL ONE AS OF JULY 2007:
One of the goals that CCA has for this year is to expand our professional membership and participation. Since we are located in a “University Town,” there is a very large graduate student participation, which is definitely an asset. In the process, however, some professionals may be “scared” away by this. In the course of this year, we will target this professional population by hosting at least one event off-site of Tennessee Tech. Also, CCA will follow-up on last years plans to hold an appreciation day or event for counseling professionals in the area.
GOAL ONE UPDATE AS OF NOVEMBER 2007:
The event in November 2007 was held at the Putnam County Public Library with no mention of Tennessee Tech. This really did not seem to help our attendance or meeting. We will still try to have another meeting in February (planned for meeting at Shoney’s) off campus. Also, we have plans in the work for a conference that will appeal to counseling professionals in our area. This may not be able to be carried out until spring of 2009. CCA has, however, already established a committee chair for this event. President-Elect Abby Eibel will be chairing this committee.
GOAL TWO AS OF JULY 2007:
A second goal for CCA is to become more community-focused. CCA does not have a lot of community recognition in our area. Some ways to do this would be to participate in community events (Christmas parades, festivals, etc). This will help to boost participation because it will make CCA a group that professionals will want to be a part of.
GOAL TWO AS OF NOVEMBER 2007:
CCA has started out the 07-08 year by having a guest speaker from DCS as described above. This was to attempt to help the members attending to attend and be part of Community Advisory Boards. The results of this will not be seen for awhile…because the CABs are just getting started in most counties. We will continue to work on this goal.
GOAL THREE AS OF JULY 2007:
The third goal that CCA has for this year is to boost participation of people who are already members. One way that CCA can do this is by getting people involved in events and in committees. The leadership of CCA will discuss this in the next officers’ meeting, hopefully in August.
GOAL THREE AS OF NOVEMBER 2007:
This goal still needs more work. One way that was decided was to start an actual archives committee. The mini-conference/workshop committee will also draw some current members to be more active.
UPCOMING EVENTS…
The next scheduled events include the following…
December ’07 – Dinner at TTU with a speaker about nutrition and behavior
February ’08 – Breakfast at Shoney’s with speaker TBA
April ’08 – Dinner at TTU with speaker TBA
Sincerely,
Larra D. Bush, B.S.
CCA 07-08 President