Volume 38
Spring 2017
From the President’s Desk...
Wow. I don’t know about you,
but sometimes I feel like all
I can do is just stand back
and say wow. We have just
witnessed several very surprising turns in the history of
the United Stated of America.
None are sure how the next
4 years will affect us, but we
Sarah Radulescu
all know there is going to be
change to deal with. Friday January 20, our 45th
President was sworn in, celebrating the American
constitutional peaceful and respectful transition of
power. However, violent protests were going on
several blocks away. On Saturday, January 21,
many women of many colors, and men that support
them, peacefully demonstrated in Washington DC,
major cities in the US and across the world to voice
their concern for possible negative changes. They
gathered and marched to let all know that they are
ready to continue the fight for women’s rights, for
children’s rights, and for the rights of families to
remain together no matter their, race, their religion, or their origin. They encouraged all that were
listening to participate to local, state and national
government to make sure that our hard-earned civil
rights are not diminished in any way. They call for
all to contact our currently elected representatives
to let them know what is important to us. No matter
which way you voted, all should be impressed by
the commitment and participation of so many individuals to our democratic process!
Just as importantly, we as counselors need
to participate in the regulation of the counseling
profession. Being a member of Texas Counseling
Association provides us with notification of possible
legislative actions in both the Senate and House of
Issue 3
the State of Texas. Reading proposed bills and providing our personal feedback to our representatives
is our responsibility to our future and the ability to
continue to earn a living while helping others.
As we approach the final meeting of PWCA
for the 2016-2017 year, I would like to thank all of
you for your participation, feedback, encouragement, and support. At the first of our year I asked
you several questions and you have spoken! One
of the questions I asked was, “How can we make
our meetings more convenient to you?” Based on
a presenter’s request, and then your feedback we
changed the meeting schedule to training in the
morning and lunch with our business meeting in
the afternoon. Our attendance has improved! And
have you noticed how many graduate students we
have participating as student members? This is
growth that PWCA needs!
Speaking of students, I’m looking forward to the
poster-presentation competition at our February 22
meeting. This is the future for our profession. These
are the counselors of tomorrow. It will be interesting to see what issues they are thinking about and
what concerns them as students looking toward
their own professional careers.
During this Spring meeting, we will also be
electing our officers for the 2017-2018 year and
celebrating members that have been nominated for
special recognition. Due to the early date of this
Spring meeting, our incoming officers will have time
to make plans to attend the TCA Summer Leadership Conference. The Leadership Conference
is paid for by TCA for our new President, any new
Treasurer, and our Senator to attend each year. If
you have not considered serving as an officer in the
past, think about serving on a committee during the
.....continued on page 2
Election of PWCA Officers
(b) All officers of the Association, with the
exception of the President and the Parliamentarian
shall be elected as follows:
(1) The President shall appoint a nominating
committee to submit a slate of officers at the
last meeting of the year.
(2) Nominations may be made from the floor.
(3) Officers shall be elected at the last meeting
of the year.
(4) Officers shall assume their duties for a
period of one year following their election,
beginning July 1 and ending June 30 of the
year.
(5) The President shall be the President-Elect of
the preceding year.
(6) The Parliamentarian shall be the Immediate
Past President.
(7) The Immediate Past President shall be the
Alternate Senator.
Article III, Section 1 - PWCA By-Laws
In accordance with the PWCA By-Laws, at our
Spring meeting we will have the customary election
of officers for the 2017-2018 year. As noted above,
the Nominations Committee will propose a slate of
officers and additional nominations from the floor
are welcome. Chairs for each of the standing committees are not elected but will be appointed prior
to July 1 by incoming President Jennifer Quine.
In addition to the officers and committee chairs,
who together form the Executive Committee, the
work of the Association is accomplished through
the efforts of members on our various committees.
We encourage members to become a team member on one of the committees that appeals to you.
The standing committees include:
Awards: Solicits and evaluates nominations for
the various PWCA awards, including Counselor of
the Year.
Hospitality: Plans activities to encourage attendance at meetings and to welcome new members.
Membership: Promotes membership in the
Association, maintains a record of information and
attendance for current members
Nominations: Solicits nominations for officer
positions and proposes a slate of officers for the
next year. Helps President-elect solicit volunteers
for the committee chairs.
Publications: Publishes the Pine Needle
newsletter, emails, and the membership directory.
Technology: Manages technology issues such
as the website and email service.
Voices of the Future
As I reflect back upon our last Piney Woods
meeting, I have truly been enriched with more
knowledge on resiliency. Ms. Tina Rushing did a
fantastic job presenting the lesson on resiliency in
the helping professional. With the many handouts,
activities, group engagement, and videos I was
truly helped as a future professional. Ms. Rushing
shared with us the works of Rita Pierson and Brene
Brown of which in my opinion are two powerful
public speakers to learn from in the field of counseling. It was beneficial completing the stress survey, the puzzles within our group, and sharing our
responses based upon given scenarios. Again this
was truly a blessing to hear and receive from Ms.
Rushing as I was truly helped in multiple areas of
my life. Special thanks to the committee and to the
officers for a job well done during our November
meeting of 2016.
Donald Brown, Jr., Graduate Student
East Texas Baptist University
Student Poster Session Competition
PWCA will host a student poster session competion at the February 22 meeting. The topic/subject of the competition is mental health issues concerning poverty–children, families, sleep, nutrition,
medication, learning disabilities, career/job options,
brain development, addiction, etc. Students should
have poster set-up in time for the 10 a.m. break in
the PWCA seminar. Then, again during the 1 p.m.
to 3 p.m. luncheon/business meeting time at the
end of the seminar. Judges will be observing and
talking with students during these times. All winners will be awarded a free one year membership
to PWCA. Cash awards of $75.00 for 1st place,
$50.00 for 2nd place, and $25.00 for 3rd place will
be awarded based upon judging criteria published
in the Winter 2016 issue of this newsletter.
From the Desk of the President
continued...
next year and try-out the idea of being an officer in
the future.
It has been my honor and pleasure to serve you
all this year as President of Piney Woods Counseling Association. I will continue in this roll through
June 30, 2017. I will oversee the final executive
planning meeting and file my final report to TCA
in May. I look forward to seeing each of you at our
February 22 meeting and at each of our meetings
during the 2017-18 year.
Peace and blessings! Sarah
Training Agenda:
1. Global trafficking
2. What is domestic minor sex
trafficking: national, state,
local
3. Scope of DMST
4. Where does the state stand:
laws and history
5. Who are the victims
6. Identification and professional
intervention
7. Recruitment and control
8. Demand drives the machine
9. Unique needs
10. Societal influence
Traffick911, which prevents, identifies and empowers victims
and survivors of domestic minor sex trafficking, was recognized
by Dallas Homeland Security Investigations as a most-valued
partner in this battle to save our American children.
Learning Objectives:
1. Define the scope.
Introduce attendees to the scope of domestic minor sex
trafficking in the United States, the state and the local area,
as well as the laws and work to combat this crime.
2. Uncover the vulnerabilities.
Build knowledge of the key vulnerabilities of at-risk groups, such as runaways, youth with truancy
violations, homeless children, etc., while realizing any child can become a victim.
3. Recognize the dynamics.
Understand the drivers, including buyer demand, pimp manipulation and control, abuse within the
home, and cultural facilitators.
4. Rescue victims.
Know the red flags to look for in a victim, including physical and psychological signs of involvement,
and learn strength-based and trauma-informed methods of asking questions to identify victims.
5. Pinpoint needed changes and strategies.
Begin the discussion of needed changes to current policies and procedures.
Learn more at www.traffick911.com
Calendar 2017 - 2018
2017 Professional School Counselor Conference
February 12-14, 2017
Arlington, TX
2017 TACES Mid-Winter Conference
March 2-3, 2017
Austin, TX
2017 Professional Growth Conference
November 15 - 18, 2017
Galveston, TX
Early-Bird Registration Open
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Piney Woods’ Spring 2017 Meeting
February 22nd at UT Tyler in the UC Ballroom
8:00 – 9:00
8:00 – 9:00
9:00 – 1:00
1:00 – 3:00
Agenda
Executive Committee Meeting
Registration
Program
Lunch, Business Meeting,
and Student Poster Session
Competition
Members receive 4 hrs CEU for attending
all day
LPC, LMSW/LCSW, SBEC, LMFT,
LCDC, NBCC, Psychologist