Oakland Counseling Association

The Oakland Counseling Association is a not-for-profit, professional and educational organization that is dedicated to the growth and enhancement of the counseling profession.

Mission

The mission of the Oakland Counseling Association is to enhance the quality of life in Oakland County by promoting the development of professional counselors, advancing the counseling profession and

using the profession and practice of counseling to promote respect

for human dignity and diversity.

• Join OCA! 2024-2025 OCA Membership
• School Counseling Support Comparison in Oakland County: OCA vs. Oakland Schools
• 2024-2025 Mini-Grant Applications
• September 19th OCC Implicit Bias Training
• 2024-2025 OCA Professional Learning Events
• Professional Development Needs Survey
• Counselor of the Month Nominations
• Join the OCA Board

The Oakland Counseling Association is a membership-based, community organization. Memberships run from September 1st through August 31st each year. Heading into a new school year is the best time to renew your OCA membership to take advantage of all the discounted event registrations, free SCECH processing, and mini-grants available to members only.

2024-2025 OCA membership information is available on the OCA Membership page. Please share with any counselor colleagues who may not be an OCA member yet!

COST

• Individual counselor - $25
• Graduate school student - $10
• Retired counselor - $10

BENEFITS OF OCA MEMBERSHIP

• FREE or reduced price professional learning opportunities
• All online professional learning events are FREE for members
• FREE SCECH processing for all events
• Identify as a professional counselor (solidarity)
• Opportunities to network and connect with other mental health professionals
• Advocacy and support for counselors
• Eligible for mini-grant opportunities
• Eligible for end of year awards
• Eligible for membership and prize drawings
  

OTHER NOTES

• Membership is valid from September 1 through August 31 each school year
• Membership is open to all school and private practice counselors
• Membership is welcome for counselors outside of Oakland County

Graphic: School Counseling Support Comparison in Oakland County

This graphic was created in response to counselors frequently confusing the supports, events, and resources available through Oakland Schools vs. the Oakland Counseling Association. This is understandable given counselors often receive communications on behalf of both organizations.

These two organizations often live in the same spaces when it comes to supporting counselors. If you'd like to know more about the history of how the two are related, we would suggest reading the "History of School Counseling Support at Oakland Schools" section of the 2022 State of School Counseling Support in Oakland County report which was published a few years ago.

The OCA mini-grant program is back for 2024-2025 and the application is open for OCA members!

The Oakland Counseling Association (OCA) will offer a maximum of eight (8) grants of $250 to be used to support an initiative that directly advances career readiness, academic growth, and/or social/emotional development with students.

To be eligible to receive a mini-grant:

• Grant applicants must have current OCA membership for the 2024-2025 school year and provide a detailed application of how mini-grant funds will be used
• Preference will be given to applicants and organizations who have not previously been awarded an OCA mini-grant

All grant applications that are submitted before the deadline of October 13, 2024 will be reviewed by the OCA board on a rolling basis as applications are received. Applicants will be notified of application approval within 30 days of submitting the application.

Grant funds can be utilized anytime during the 2024-2025 school year. A final mini-grant outcome report is due by June 1, 2025.

If you're looking for inspiration, check out our June OCA Member Newsletter for highlights from the 2023-2024 mini-grant program to see how your colleagues made use of the grant dollars!

Title: Power Centered Implicit Bias Training presented by Oakland Community College

Date: September 19, 2024

Time: 9:00-10:00am

Location: Online (Zoom)

Cost:

• FREE for current 2024-2025 OCA members (renew your membership so you can benefit from the free registration and SCECHs for this event and others during the year!)
• FREE for OCC counselors (thank you to OCC for bringing us this content!)
• $10 for non-members (includes SCECH processing)

SCECHs: 1 General (also counts 1 hour toward require Implicit Bias training for LPC/LLC renewal every 3 years)

Description:

Presented by the Oakland Counseling Association and Oakland Community College: Participants will receive implicit bias training required by Michigan Public Health Code General Rules (R 338.7004) for licensed counselors (LPC or LLPC).

Change starts with understanding our own power at the individual, team, organizational, and system levels. Power is fluid because it is dependent on various factors, circumstances and context. Power can influence identities, relationships, connections, access to resources, job titles, influence in our networks, ability to be heard, and many other factors all shape how much power we have in a given situation. It can also influence our ability to make a difference. Through this session, participants will understand how individuals and systems with power can unknowingly perpetuate and reinforce implicit biases.

Objectives:

1. To understand power dynamics
2. To understand how power dynamics and implicit bias affect perceptions and decisions
3. To identify strategies to increase awareness of personal and positional power biases

Registration:

Further event details and online payment link for non-OCA members can be found on the OCA website: https://www.oaklandcounselors.org/events

These are the currently scheduled dates and tentative topics for many of OCA's professional learning events happening during the 2024-2025 school year:

• 9/19/2024 - OCC Implicit Bias Training (virtual)
• 12/6/2024 - Full Day College Event - HBCUs and Out-of-State Colleges (virtual)
  
• 3/7/2024 - K-8 School Counselor Resources (in-person, TBD)
• 4/25/2024 - Student Career Supports & End of Year Awards (in-person, Walled Lake)

Other experiences in the works:

• Date TBD: Selfridge Air National Guard Base (in-person, Selfridge Base)

OCA members enjoy free or minimal registration costs for all events and SCECH processing is included. You can find additional details and registration info as it becomes available on the OCA Events page.

OCA wants to hear from you! Your responses to the survey below will assist with prioritizing learning topics that are of most use to counselors.

Fill it out directly in the web version of the newsletter or use the button below to open it in a browser. Thank you for your input!

In an effort to highlight the remarkable work of OCA counselors, we will be requesting Counselor of the Month nominations each month. This recognition effort will highlight one outstanding counselor each month. Nominees must be a current OCA member to receive the recognition (and potentially a small prize 😊).

Thank you for your nominations!

The Oakland Counseling Association is only able to function and offer great benefits to our members as a result of our volunteer board members. We are always looking for new faces who would like to contribute to the leadership and continued service of this organization.

2024-2025 Open Board Positions Overview

• High School Counselor Representative
  
• Middle School Counselor Representative
  
• Private School Counselor Representative
  
• Member-at-Large

Please reach out to any of our current board members if you have questions.

Selina Abraham

Nicole Bell

Sean Dougherty

Elizabeth Germaine

Amanda Gohl

Albana Metaj

Kelly Messing-Mirabito

Ben Morin

Pamela Wesley

Email: oaklandcounselingassociation@gmail.com
Website: www.oaklandcounselors.org
Phone: ------------------------
Twitter: @OCACounseling