Meeting Minutes: Counseling Directors Association
Fall 2002 Meeting Report
The Fall meeting of the Counseling Directors Association was held October 4 at Clayton College and State University. Thanks were expressed to Bates Canon, Director of Counseling and Career Services, for hosting the visit. Nineteen directors were in attendance, including six who were new or had not met the group so introductions were made.
UPDATES/COMMITTEE REPORTS
Annual Survey
Bates Canon and Kimberly Pennamon distributed copies of the revised survey
for discussion. After reviewing several items, the group approved the revisions
and a copy of the survey will be mailed to directors for completion in November.
To ensure the comprehensiveness of the survey, the group will need to review
the item asking for questions to be included next year.
Emergency/Disaster Counselor Network
Tom Parker distributed a report from this committee. After much discussion
this report was sent back to committee for a few revisions and will be readied
to send to RACSA for review at their upcoming meeting. Some additional training
opportunities from Kennesaw State University and the University of Georgia
will be included in the proposal. An executive summary is also needed and
a debriefing session for Response Team Members was to be added to the proposal.
Other Issues:
Privileged Communication
Concerns about privileged communication surfaced in the RACSA group this summer
so this group was asked to look at the status of privilege for L.P.C.'s in
the state. Discussion on this topic included a rehash of the licensure law,
the Open Records Acts, of privilege belonging to our clients, how our records
are similar to other medical files, and similar issues. Information on the
Composite Board website does not lend enough clarity to this issue. Jerry
Hall referenced Section 50-18-72 of the code granting privilege to our clients.
This states that "Medical or veterinary records and *similar files*, the
disclosure of which would be an invasion of personal privacy... He also believes
an exemption exists in the Open Records Act. After considerable discussion,
it is believed our records are privileged and this has held in numerous situations
around the state.
HIPAA Compliance
Ivy provided the group with a summary of this Act and Marolyn had additional
information that will be distributed. Synopsis: HIPAA is a law that will
provides rules for TRANSACTIONS, SECURITY, and PRIVACY of patient/client
information. Counseling records are not part of the Open Records Act and
therefore will fall under HIPAA. Agencies were to comply with the Act by
April 14, 2003 or file an extension by October 15, 2002. These requirements
also impact other offices in colleges/universities including human resources
office, and affect those staff members in private practice.
Phyllis reported she had spoken with the Human Resources Director at her institution and this issue had been discussed at their September meeting. Most HR departments were to file an extension by the deadline and this would cover counseling departments.
(NOTE: More details on HIPAA at the end of this document)
Hot Topics
Prior to the meeting, directors were asked to submit the "Hot Topics" being
addressed by their departments/campuses. The following items were submitted:
- so many demands with short staff/resources
- severity of student concerns (getting worse as time goes by)
- increase in testing demands (e.g., individual testing for students with documented disabilities, proctoring for WebCT courses, correspondence courses, etc. that all demand individual proctoring)
- SACS accreditation, I want to make sure that I have all my ducks in a row. What specific do they look for from counseling?
- Number of personal counseling visits allowed
- Suicide prevention contracts
- Increasing number of students who identify as bi polar for academic accommodations based on medications and want additional therapy from our office
- Release of confidential information on students seen in Counseling and Career Centers
- the rumors about the death of college counseling centers (I'll bring the article from Counseling Today that they are talking about)
- counseling centers' role in academic retention (are people looking at this as part of program evaluation, as part of their mission?. If so, how are they addressing this issue?)
- The steadily increasing pathology on campus (and coming through our doors) for service in the face of budget cuts. Traditionally, budget cuts or job lay-offs tend to increase the stress on our students and yet that is a time it is hard to get more positions to serve the students and our campus
- Issues of confidentiality and when to call parents without a release (i.e., the Shin case at MIT) also come to mind. So a way to address the issues of parents while protecting our student's confidentiality is on the table
- I'm still quite concerned about our international students and fallout from 9/11 immigration changes. The feds will be more restrictive starting this January...and it will effect our students, faculty and staff on Visas.
Due to time constraints, the group spent a short time discussing the future of counseling centers. Changes at several institutions in this state and nationally has many counselors concerned. The GCCA website has at least three articles related to this issue posted. It is hoped that counseling services will cycle through this issue since it has surfaced periodically in other parts of the nation and is now hitting the south. The issue of staffing and severity were also visited, as was accreditation (especially related to distance learning). The group also talked about retention efforts and how efforts are measured.
Announcements
- GSW - SACS visit set for November.
- GT - IACS site visit set
- Movement for L.P.C.'s to sign 1013's being revisited (still being blocked by sheriff's association)
- Information about this group has been posted to the USG Student Services website at: www.usg.edu/student_affairs/. Tonya Lam dropped by before the meeting began today to introduce herself and to make sure we knew she was a resource for us.
- Status of Job Descriptions/B-Codes needed before next meeting.
| 2002-2003 Meeting Dates of Interest | |
|---|---|
| SCCCP | October 23-25 |
| RACSA | October 28-29 |
| AUCCCD | November 8-12 |
| GCCA | February 12 - 14 |
| GCPA | March 12-14 |
| ACA | March 23 - 25 |
| NASPA | March 22 - 26 |
| ACPA | March 29 - April 2 |
| LPCA | May 15-18 |
| FYE | February 21-25 |
| GASBE | March 11 |
The meeting adjourned at 3:30 p.m. The next meeting will be held Friday, January 31, 2003 at Macon State College.
Respectfully Submitted,
Phyllis N. Weatherly, Chair