Phone 1300 784 333
Phone 1300 784 333
ACA maintains a National Office staffed with full time professionals. ACA has a full time Chief Executive Officer, Membership Officer and Administrator. Most enquiries and membership applications are dealt with immediately; and important tasks such as political lobbying with government and stakeholders is maintained on an ongoing basis.
ACA is proactive. ACA's efforts are reflected in numerous achievements such as being the first counselling association to successfully negotiate Medibank Private provider numbers for members; recognition by WorkCover NSW; ACA was the only counselling association requested to comment at the 2011 Senate Enquiry into Mental Health; ACA meets regularly with government Ministers; ACA is working with Medicare Locals and Divisions of GPs; plus many other activities that raise the profile of counsellors and psychotherapists. ACA also works diligently to expand resources and opportunities to help generate employment for our members.
ACA has a solid international reputation, including formal affiliations with peak bodies in the UK, USA, Canada, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Malaysia. ACA is a founding member of the Asia Pacific Rim Confederation of Counsellors. Philip Armstrong, ACA CEO, is also the Chair of the steering committee for the Counselling and Psychotherapy Association of Commonwealth Nations. ACA participates in bi-annual conferences in Asia as part of its commitment to the Asia Pacific Rim region.
ACA maintains several specialist Professional Colleges to recognise therapists who work in specialist areas and provide them access to peers and ongoing information within their specialty area. ACA will also be working to develop national standards for these specialty areas. Membership to the Colleges is open to members that have graduate qualifications in specialty areas.
ACA has State Member Associations in Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, New South Wales/ACT and Western Australia. All individual members of ACA are invited to join their State Member Association (MA). The role of MAs is to provide members with local professional development, supervision and support functions. MA's also advise the national office of any relevant state issues, and may assist ACA with local lobbying.
ACA produces a free monthly Ezine that keeps members informed of happenings within the Association and industry The Ezine includes information on conferences, workshops, IT and business building hints.
ACA members are invited to subscribe to its peer reviewed quarterly journal 'Counselling Australia' (CA). CA is published by the Great Southern Press and edited by ACA. It's now in its 12th year of publication. CA is the only quarterly journal produced by a counselling Association in Australia. Members are encouraged to submit articles/papers for publication. CA is a refereed journal, lodged with the National Library of Australia. This means any articles/papers that are submitted by members and are printed can be claimed to be professionally published articles. The journal provides Australian counsellors a greater opportunity of having their articles/papers published. The journal contains informative articles on therapies, overseas news, IT page, business building hints, register of supervisors, fact pages, comments from members and also has a very competitive advertising scheme. The journal is available through subscription and is available to non-members and other interested Associations.
ACA holds conferences all over Australia. The conferences are attended by well-known speakers such as Ivey and Ivey in 2011 and other experts in their field. A National Conference is held. ACA also advertises workshops for its members as part of its contribution to helping members with their ongoing professional development. Advertising costs are advertised in the journal. ACA members are given substantial discounts to workshops and conferences.
