Introducing TnSCA: Tennessee School Counseling Association
Tennessee Counseling Association Members,
The TCA Presidential Board, along with the Executive Director, were notified on 11/12/19 that "on Oct. 29, 2019, the TSCA Executive Board voted to no longer be a division of TCA and instead become an independent organization effective Dec.1, 2019."
The TCA Leadership stands hurt, saddened, and blindsided by this decision from TSCA leadership to disaffiliate from the state branch. We have always believed in the importance of the unity of the counseling profession.
Regrettably, the TSCA Executive Board did not have a dialogue with the TCA Leadership before they made their decision on October 29th. It was not a collaborative decision. In other states where disaffiliation has occurred, they have put the question out to their membership to vote. In this case, there was no vote, no open forum for membership, and no collaboration with TCA Leadership.
As it has become clear that the TSCA Executive Board was willing to disregard the policies and rules we have all agreed to abide by, our Governing Council realized that this group is better off being independent and we wish them well. However, we also want to reiterate TCA’s decades-long commitment to our state’s professional school counselors.
We bring all of this to you to state that we are and will remain what we always have been – the home for all counselors. Our services will not change. Your membership will remain with the Tennessee Counseling Association unless you decide to not renew.
We look forward to continuing to serve our school counselor members, as we always have, in the same fashion as before. Therefore, nothing will change on our end except that we will change the name of our current school counselor division:
New Name: Tennessee School Counseling Association (TnSCA)
Our mission remains the same:
The mission of the Tennessee Counseling Association is to promote the development of all counseling professionals, advance the counseling profession under a unified association, and to use the profession of counseling to promote the well-being, respect for diversity, and human dignity of all Tennesseans.
Our TCA goals and division goals remain unchanged. Our focus will be on looking forward to the future and leverage the best of TCA and Tennessee School Counseling Association to meet and exceed the needs of our members. The leadership of TCA is in the process of structuring our new division and we welcome your input in this process. We will focus on developing a set of goals for the renamed Tennessee School Counseling Association Division, objectives, and commitments to strengthen our Association as we continue in our commitment to serving school counselors.
We believe that we are better and stronger as a unified voice and have no plans for school counselors to lose that opportunity within our organization. If a member’s needs are not being met, we have numerous avenues and opportunities for changes to be made. We remain dedicated to all counselors who serve in any setting, especially as the value of partnerships across divisions increases often. LPCs and School Counselors can certainly work collaboratively to serve the needs of the whole child. TCA will continue to focus on this goal in the future.
We welcome your thoughts, comments, and/or questions as a comment below. Your feedback is important to us!
Dr. Steve Zanskas - TCA President
Dr. Janet Hicks - TCA President-Elect
Dr. Nicole Cobb- TCA President Elect-Elect
Dr. Eva Gibson - TCA Past-President
