Kentucky Counseling Association features Industry Leaders

WHAT: Kentucky Counseling Association (KCA) hosts annual conference to train much-needed mental health professionals in the state.

WHERE: Crown Plaza Hotels and Resorts, 830 Phillips Lane, Louisville, KY

WHEN: Wednesday, Nov. 8thru Friday, Nov. 10Keynote Speakers available, Thursday, Nov. 9, Noon to 2 p.m. EST

ABOUT: Dr. LaTonya Summers is a mental health counselor and author of “Black Again: Losing and Reclaiming My Racial Identity.” She is an assistant professor in mental health counseling at Jacksonville University, Florida, and the founder of the Black Mental Health Symposium, which equips mental health professionals with culturally relevant skills to improve wellness in Black communities. Her current research interests focus on multicultural issues in counseling and supervision, and social justice and advocacy. In her TedX talk, she argued that acknowledging pain is not only necessary, but is also the conduit to greatness.

Dr. Gary Patton is a professor at the University of the Cumberlands. He has written extensively around ethics and the law in mental health counseling, including “Legal and ethical issues in online education” and “Lessons From A Hospital Ethics Committee: A Counselors Reflections.”Other topics featured at this year’s conference will include:

• Disordered Eating in Asian Americans: Clinically Significant or Product of Culture?
• Male Suicide: Trends, Causes, Assessment, and Interventions
• Counseling Orphaned Adults
• Jesus, Prayer, & Therapy: Treatment Implications of Religious Trauma

This year’s president of KCA is Dale Hamilton, with Family Life Counseling Services at Christian Appalachian Project. KCA is the state branch of the American Counseling Association and is an organization of counseling professionals who work in educational, health care, residential, private practice, community agency, government, business,and industry settings.

The Southeast Kentucky Chamber of Commerce is located at 178 College Street in Pikeville and serves more than 500 businesses in eight Eastern Kentucky Counties: Floyd, Johnson, Knott, Lawrence, Letcher, Magoffin, Martin, and Pike. The Chamber’s mission is to serve the businesses of Southeastern Kentucky through a commitment to networking, advocacy, education, and collaboration as we partner together to enhance the business climate in our region.