Message from the President

Hello Wisconsin Counselors,

Thank you for your role as persons devoted to improving the human condition and serving our profession as licensed counselors! I am excited, honored, and privileged to serve as WCA President for the 2017-18 year. WCA has represented the counseling profession at the state level for many years, and we are excited to be growing along with our profession. There are many areas in which we as counselors may feel called to serve and many areas in need of service across our state and beyond. This aligns with my personal motto, which is to lead is to serve. This does not mean serving oneself; rather, it means serving our clients and our profession. It may also mean serving something greater than ourselves, and this “something” could be different for each of us. How do you feel called to serve as a counselor? What is meaningful to you? These are questions we may need to reflect on from time to time in order to keep ourselves well and to remember our own personal mission as counselors.

Arguably, one of the best aspects of the counseling profession is discovering the amount of passionate, committed people who identify as counselors across our state. My hope as WCA President is for our organization to build strength and unity among counselors in Wisconsin; we can do this by working together to advocate for our clients and our profession, while continuing to work toward social change.  So much time and dedication has gone into building and growing our profession, and it is up to us to continue this momentum. A few basic principles that will help us along the way include respect for others, veracity, and beneficence. These align with our counseling code of ethics. We also must recognize our potential for advancing our profession in multiculturalism, evidence-based practice, and legislative advocacy, among other areas.

It is exciting for WCA to have a Board of committed and creative professionals who want to advance both the counseling profession and the human condition. We strive to be known as a trusted resource in the state for all counselors. We would not be here today without the dedication of previous WCA Presidents and members who have helped to grow this organization, and our Board is dedicated to furthering this growth in a variety of ways. To those who helped develop, sustain, and grow WCA, thank you!

Our members and past Board members have helped us to think longitudinally about the advancement of our profession. It’s exciting to see our Webinars developing this year and we will be offering our first webinar on February 28^th!

In addition, we want to make sure you are taking full advantage of all the membership benefits available, including:

• Subscription to the WCA Journal
• Networking opportunities
• Legislative updates pertinent to the counseling profession
• Professional development opportunities
• Access to members-only information
• Graduate student opportunities
• Volunteer and scholarship opportunities

Thank you for being a member of WCA and I look forward to serving you and our profession! Lastly, please email the executive board at wisconsincounseling@gmail.com if you have ideas or suggestions. We are here for you!

Warmest regards,

Victoria Sepulveda, Ph.D., LPC, CSAC, NCC  

WCA President