ACCT Autumn/Winter Newsletter 2022 
HOLIDAY EDITION
TAKING A MOMENT of GRATITUDe for 2022
♡ Here at ACCT, we are celebrating a good year completed, and looking forward to a fresh year ahead.
♡ We are grateful to the members for all of your support and well wishes this past year.
♡ May your entry into 2023 be safe, supportive, and well-celebrated!
♡ May the world reach greater depths of peace in the coming year.
♡ Thank you to everyone who help make the world a better place every day.
FACTBC UPDATE
REGARDING BILL-36
The Honourable Adrian Dix, Minister of Health, introduced Bill 36 the BC Government introduced Bill 36, titled the Health Professions and Occupations Act (HPOA) in the BC legislature on October 19. On October 27th a second reading was done and on November 24, the bill achieved Royal Assent and is now law but has yet to be enacted.
In an October press release by the BC government regarding the HPOA it was stated that they will begin the process of regulating counsellors. This process will take some time as they are currently completing the amalgamation of the remaining fifteen colleges.
With the new HPOA there are some notable provisions included in the legislation:
- A significant focus on discrimination and anti-racism
- Enabling colleges to create and update bylaws without requiring ministerial approval
- Eliminating the election of registrant board members in favour of fully appointed boards
- Setting out requirements for the creation of a new oversight body with responsibility for functions such as managing the board appointment process and running disciplinary hearings
- Requiring colleges to publish the outcome of all disciplinary actions
- Changing the terms "registration" to "license" and "registrants" to "licensees"
(Cited from the www.bccnm.ca )
FACTBC has been in contact with government and is speaking with officials to ensure the voice of counselling therapists will be heard as we move forward on this file.
In the future FACTBC envisions a single, united, licensed professional body, that provides the public with safe and reliable counselling services for all British Columbians.
Also, learn about this campaign, Tax Free Therapy, that supports the public’s access to mental health services without the additional burden of added tax. Visit: taxfreetherapy.ca to learn more and sign the petition today!
[This content was taken from the December FACTBC Newsletter]
If you have any questions, please contact FACTBC at [email protected]
UPCOMING LUNCH & LEARN EVENT
acct presents BCCA
ACCT has organized a Lunch and Learn event with a presentation by Madelyn Read from BCCA for our members to learn more about cooperatives in Canada.
Thursday January 12 @ 12pm (Pacific)
TOPIC: Co-ops 101. How co-ops work.
Madelyn is the Co-op Education Coordinator for the BC Co-operative Association. We have invited Madelyn to explain modern trends in co-ops. Here are some of the topics she will introduce:
- What distinguishes a co-op from other structures like corporations and non-profit societies.
- What are the key advantages of the co-op model?
- What are the important areas to focus on when building a healthy co-op.
- Some examples of problem solving using the co-op model.
- Questions and Answers
This event will take place on January 12, 2023 at 12:00 noon PST and will end at 1:00. Cost is FREE. Registration and attendance is required to qualify for Pro-D hours.
Please Register in Advance for this meeting. See you there!
ACCT CONNECTIONS & QUESTIONS
save the date: 2nd Thursday of every month!
Join Executive Director Byron Miki for an open forum event:
Connections & Questions
This lunch & learn-style zoom event will be held at 12pm pacific time on the second Thursday of each month.
Byron will be available to answer member's questions and queries about our Association.
Please use the following Zoom link to login directly into the meeting:
Thursday January 12th at 12pm PT TOPIC: BCCA's Madelyn Read
Thursday February 9th at 12pm PT TOPIC: Open Forum
We look forward to seeing you at one or more events!
ACCT Survey
Please take a moment to voice your choice
The Board and Executive Director would like to conduct a member poll, for topics that will be scheduled as the center of discussion for upcoming Town Hall events for 2023.
Please see the following link:
Town Hall Topics Survey (click here to access)
Please rank the order of the following directed topics. We count on member contribution to build and develop our community and take into account your opinions in our decisions.
- Regulation - FactBC - Bill-36
- Third Party Billing
- Equity Diversity and Inclusion
There is also an area for new ideas to be discussed at future Town Hall events in 2023. Please feel free to complete the survey between now and Dec 31, 2022. Thank you for taking a moment to complete this simple survey!
ACCT DIRECTORY
Your PUBLIC DIRECTORY PROFILE
Create your Listing in the Counsellor Directory today!
ACCT's Public-facing Counsellor Directory is a great way to allow your private counselling practice to become more visible online!
The site has over 100 members on it currently, helping the public find access to qualified and capable counsellors.
If you are new to designing your profile, contact [email protected] with any questions you have.
We are offering a few Lunch & Learn Sessions to help members get their profiles up on the ACCT Counsellor Directory. If you would like to begin the process of creating your profile, please let us know, we are here to help!
You can register for the 1-hour Lunch & Learn events by clicking on the date you wish to attend:
Dates in January:
To begin the process of being listed in the new directory, please review the Member Area webpage: Directory Instructions, which offers step by step instruction on setting up your profile.
Please be sure to review the ACCT Standards of Practice with regards to representing yourself with transparency and please always stay within areas of competency when creating your public counselling profile.
Did you know, having a listing...
- helps you to be more searchable online as a counsellor
- gives you 100% creative control over your design and content
- is not automatically created upon membership - you have to set it up!
Take a look at your community of members who have already created their Professional Profiles on the ACCT Counsellor Directory!
VOLUNTEER UPDATE
Join us!
As a Cooperative Association, we are member-based operation, so find your place among our amazing current volunteers. We would love to share the growth and development of the organization with you! We have a number of recent updates to our Volunteer Opportunities webpage under the Member Area of our website.
If you wish to step into a volunteer position with ACCT, it can be as little as an hour a month. Please send in your application, and we will reply to you within 2-5 business days. Please note that there are a few steps and processes to adhere to before you are officially placed on the team or committee and fully stepping into your volunteering role with ACCT.
If you have any questions please email [email protected]
We are actively seeking volunteers for these committees at the moment:
- Supervision Committee
- Contemplation Committee
- Insurance Committee
- Social Media or PR/Marketing Committee
- AGM 2023 Committee (in person and zoom mixed meeting)
- Writers for Blog and/or Articles, Social Media
Please be in touch if you are interested or have any questions.
ACCT OFFICE HOURS
holiday closure
ACCT office staff will be taking a holiday break in December. The office will be closed:
Friday December 23 2022 until Monday January 2 2023.
We will re-open on Tuesday January 3rd at 8am. Please note that we will do our best to reply to your email messages and voicemails in the order in which they were received. Please be patient with staff in the new year as we will follow up with you as soon as we can.
Thank you!
ACCT PHILOSOPHY
MISSION STATEMENT:
To cooperatively support excellence in competency-based counselling.
VISION STATEMENT:
We are a community of registered and regulated therapeutic counsellors who, working together, support each other to enhance the quality of life in society by nourishing respect for human dignity and diversity, advancing the practice of competency-based counselling and promoting deliberate practice and the continuous competency development of counsellors. We recognize the Association of Cooperative Counselling Therapists of Canada (ACCT) as the premier community of counselling professionals. ACCT is synonymous with excellence in counselling.
ACCT VALUES:
- We believe, as our name implies, in moving and working within an atmosphere of collaboration and respect for diversity in both thought and expression.
- We believe in working internally and with other organizations and government in the spirit of responsiveness and teamwork.
- We believe in a cooperative model, based on equality and sharing.
- We believe in competency-based criteria for counselling regulation.
- We believe the combination of knowledge, experience, skill and compassion are keys to the counselling process.
- We believe that the competency-based model recognizes real-life experience and enriches the standard of counselling.
- We believe in life-long learning and professional development.
- We believe in transparency and financial accountability to our members.
