As I sit here writing what will be my last submission for a newsletter as President, I want to start by saying what an honor it has been to work with and for all of you over the past three years.   The first year in the position was somewhat tumultuous as we were just coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the demands of the position and the field of mental health had changed.  We were all feeling tired, burnt out, and exhausted – as evidenced by the fact that 81 directors left the profession – just shy of 10% of our organization - more than half going into private practice.  With new telehealth rules, it was understandable. 

But our organization showed resilience and has bounced back over the past 2+ years.  We have all worked tirelessly for our students, our administration, and (most importantly) for AUCCCD.  Eleanor Roosevelt said “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along. And that is exactly what we did as an organization.  Non-board members formed a Director Retention Group focused on addressing themes as to why people were leaving, we have standing Director Development group actively working on modules to onboard directors entering the profession, we have updated the bylaws to update them to the 21st century (really – who still uses telegrams to communicate – I wish I was lying when I say that was in our bylaws), and we will be actively working on the Strategic Plan set to launch this year.  

The Strategic Plan is something that anyone can be involved with – and I want to encourage you to think about volunteering for this or another committee.  Our organization is made stronger by the voices and involvement of our members.  Most other organizations are “the association of…,” we are the Association FOR University and College Counseling Center Directors – please think about how you can get involved – as we are the only organization that works FOR (and with) each other!

I look forward to seeing many of you in Arizona in October for our Annual Conference.  Please make sure to look at the schedule, as we have shifted the official start of the Conference to Sunday to avoid conflicts with Yom Kippur (there will still be pre-conferences on Saturday).  And I hope you have all done your homework from last year’s conference and watched Ted Lasso:)