President's Message

President’s Report
  Presidential Review of WVCA 2006 - 2007

The following is an attempt to evaluate WVCA's change from 1 July 2006 til 30 June 2007, a period which marks our emergence into independence once again. 

In the period from 1 July 2006 til 30 June 2007, WVCA has experienced over a 300% increase in membership. 

WVCA also has experienced a financial growth. Within 12 months, our balance has grown more than 7 times our beginning balance.
 
Our membership is diverse, we are the ‘umbrella organization’ for counseling in the state of West Virginia.  Our membership consists of:

              LPC  57 %                         School Counselor 23% 

So that 83% of WVCA is composed of LPCs, School Counselors or some combination thereof. 

Social Workers 14 %     Psychologists 6 %       Students 16 %     Retired 6%

We, WVCA: 

• Have honored Virginia Robson for her many years of service by creating an online memorial which includes a slide presentation, with a musical tribute to her life. Several observations were written in her memory.  At our 2007 Fall conference, the WVCA Board of Directors and its membership were planning to recognize Virginia with a dinner to honor and award her for her lifetime of service to WVCA.  She was excited at hearing this news.  However, she passed away suddenly and the online memorial had to suffice.
  
  
• Have recognized and honored the hard work of Charles Kuhn, our Immediate Past President. He worked hard to maintain the integrity of the West Virginia Counseling Association through many difficult times.

• Following our Spring Conference 2006, WVCA purchased the figure of a 15 inch tall ‘coal man’ carved from coal.  This coal man was sent to Rob Gerst, the presenter at that Spring conference.  This was a gift to show our organizational appreciation for his service. 

• Have focused on retrieving our individual identity once again. Using phone calls, letters, and e-mails, we enlisted the help of national entities such as, ACA, NBCC, and our West Virginia BEC Board of Directors. 

• Have persisted until we regained possession of our former website, www.wvcounseling.org and in the process acquired www.wvcounseling.com.  Available on our website are individual Board member e-mail addresses for conducting WVCA business more professionally.  These sites lead to a wealth of updated information about counseling and counseling related activities throughout West Virginia, the United States, and the World.

• Jane Turner, past President of WVCA, voluntarily took on the responsibility of revising and updating our board of directors leadership manual.  WVCA board of directors and our membership thanks Jane for her diligence and hard work. 

• Have redesigned the WVCA membership application to collect as much pertinent data as possible.  This data is saved in our computer files.  We analyze and extrapolate this data to better serve our membership. 

• Have begun a new process which includes the design, purchase, printing, and mailing of membership certificates ( suitable for framing ) and laminated wallet size membership cards.

• WVCA has initiated and retained an identification card held only by Board of Directors members.  These cards distinguish current and previous positions held on the WVCA board of directors.

• Have purchased organizational ‘seals’ which reflect WVCA’s longevity of service.  This year marks 56 years of service by WVCA.

• Have designed, purchased, and had printed WVCA stationary and envelopes with professional letterhead. 

• Have designed, purchased, and had printed large white envelopes with professional letterhead which we use to mail calendar purchases and all membership certificates.

• Have spent thousands of hours receiving, modifying and computing a contact list of over 3,000 potential members throughout the state of WV and bordering states. 

• Have contacted a professional graphic artist who agreed to design, print, and deliver a West Virginia Counseling Association calendar featuring pictures, sentiments, and biographical sketches of counselors throughout the state of WV.  We are gratefully indebted to this graphic artist for sharing her talent and good wishes. 

• Have spent many hours planning a 2007 spring conference and a 2007 fall conference.

• Have created, designed, had printed, snail mailed, and electronically sent, where possible,  the following:
  
  
  • a brochure advertising our WVCA 2007 Spring Conference (Barbara Blackburn in her new capacity with the WV Dept of Education was kind enough to agree to send the Spring conference info to all WV school counselors by e-mail )
  • a WVCA membership recruiting brochure
    
  • a brochure advertising our October 2007 conference featuring Dr. William Glasser, psychiatrist.
  • an exhibitor’s letter inviting over 450 individuals and businesses to rent a booth for their advertising during our October conference.
• a letter inviting a call for programs
  
• a WVCA Fall conference registration form
  
 
• WVCA Spring Conference 2007 was held in Institute, WV at the West Virginia Rehabilitation Center.  Much planning and advertising went into this endeavor. As a result, our expected attendance of 30 was actually doubled.  Total attendance was 69. After deducting expenses, we experienced a comfortable profit. 
  
  
• For the business of WVCA, the rental of a Post Office box became necessary.

• In an effort to promote better communication between students and professors throughout the state of WV, involving counseling and counseling related issues, WVCA has established a state-wide student bulletin board. This allows college students to connect to other college students and faculty for questions and answers concerning counseling.  A calendar of WVCA counseling events are available via this bulletin board. 
  
  
• WVCA has purchased a credit card processing program which we hope will allow greater ease in membership payments and conference registrations. 
  
  
• Dr. Henderson, President of WVCA, was invited to Washington, DC by ACA lobbyists to meet with members of Senator Robert Byrd and Senator Rockefeller’s offices.  The agenda involved insurance companies’ current policies and our attempt to get them to recognize LPCs. 

As you can see WVCA remains active.  We would like you to join us as we move forward.   Our continual goal is still, ‘helping you help others.’