A Message from the President...

Welcome to 2020! There are some exciting events on the horizon that I want you to apart of.

Day on the Hill February 7th in Pierre. Please join us. We need legislators to hear what we do and how we serve needed groups in South Dakota. In addition, at its most recent board meeting, the Board of Counselors and Marriage and Family Therapy Examiners decided to proceed with proposed legislation for 2020.  The legislation has been approved by the Governor’s Office and the Department of Social Services. Please see this link  to our webpage for more details. The drafts attached represent the proposal in a style and form very close to what will be used for the legislative process. We do not anticipate any other substantive changes, but the Board is amenable to suggestions to clarify any of the language. 

Conference April 23-25 in Spearfish. The counseling conference is always a great to time to learn something new and get reacquainted with colleagues. In addition, to many great presentations we are very excited to have Dr. Michele Kerulis & Dr. Kathryn Seifert joining us in Spearfish! Dr. Seifert is one of the leading experts in the fields of multi-victim violence, bullying, trauma and mental health related violence in the United States. Dr. Seifert specializes in the assessment and treatment of individuals, who are at risk for violence and those who are emotionally disturbed, behaviorally disordered, victimized, delinquent, and/or are suffering from attachment disorders.

In 2019 I shared that the SDCA leadership set forth an aggressive agenda to make significant stride with the degree to which our profession can lead the state in mental health related endeavors. We have begun efforts to strengthening social presence, offered professional development opportunities, been involved with legislation influence, and continuously looking for ways to grow our membership. With all this, we can still do more. We are encouraging counselors to reach out to SDCA leadership with ideas for how SDCA can support your local missions. SDCA will listen to your needs and help in any way we can.

The more people who understand who we are and what we do, the stronger our voice and the better chances we have to bring about changes in our state. 2020 is the new beginning of new ventures and new projects. Let’s continue to see success as we did in 2019. Wishing all counselors a very happy and prosperous 2020. Please reach out to us by emailing [email protected]. Also, connect with us on Twitter @SD_counseling, Instagram @sdca.counseling, and Facebook @SDCounseling.

Seth Olson, PhD, LPC, NCC

SDCA President