What do we offer other associations don't?

We have a full time professional manager and an administrator whose jobs are to be available 5 days a week 8 hours a day to our members. The manager is a qualified counsellor who has years of experience in the corporate and private sector. The association is run from a national office, not a mobile phone or a volunteers house. Due to having a full time manager and a fully maintained office we have the resources to produce up to date quality information for our members and the public. We can lobby the government and meet with other professionals during normal work hours. Membership applications are processed generally within three working days of receipt. We have a current national register and course recognition scheme. We are not talking about it, we are doing it.

The association has successfully negotiated several corporate contracts for our members by lobbying local businesses. How many associations actually get their members work? The association receives phone calls from the public asking for counselling on a regular basis, we refer these enquires to our registered members. The association has also approved several courses both in the private provider sector and at university level.

International Affiliations

To enable to keep members informed about world movements in the counselling industry ACA has joined the following associations; British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, Canadian Counselling Association and the International Association for Counselling. Membership to these associations also reflects an international recognition of the ACA as a counselling body and an association that meets international standards. Membership from these associations is not transferable for individual members as the laws in each of these countries has different requirements. Members from these associations will not be given automatic membership to ACA and will be required to apply for membership in the normal way.

Chapters

ACA has established State Chapters in Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia. All members of ACA are invited to join their State Chapter. Chapter meet monthly and have annual elections for the management committee. The role of Chapters is to provide members with a venue to meet discuss industry and local issues. Chapters also advise the national office of any relevant state issues that need addressing. Chapters also give ACA a local power base from which to approach state governments and organisations in relation to counselling industry issues. All members are asked to support their Chapters by joining and becoming pro-active to ensure ACA members are recognised at the highest levels of private and government organisations.

Email of the Month Club

ACA sends out a monthly email to keep members informed of happenings within the association and industry in-between mailings of the journal "Counselling Australia". The email carries information on conferences, workshops, IT and business building hints. The email of the month club is free to all members who supply us with an email address.

Counselling Australia

All ACA members will receive a quarterly copy of the journal 'Counselling Australia', this is the only journal produces by a counselling association in Australia. Members are encouraged to submit articles/papers for publication. This journal is refereed journal and is 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 now gives Australian counsellors a greater chance of having their articles/papers published. The journal contains informative articles on therapies, overseas new, 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 for non-members and other interested associations. The journals current readership base is 2500, which is comparable to any similar commercial products.

Conferences/Workshops

ACA holds conferences in Qld, NSW, Vic, SA and WA annually. These conferences are attended by well known speakers and experts in their field. A National Conference is held once a year where possible. 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.