Professional Practice Orientation for CMHC- This Saturday Oct 25^th!

Hello Current Second Year CMHC Counseling Students,

We are a few weeks away from our Professional Practice Orientation in October! We have confirmed the room for the Professional Practice Orientation- please see details below:

There will be a mandatory, in-person 2^nd Year Professional Practice Orientation on Saturday, October 25^th from 10:00 am – 12:30 pm. This meeting is mandatory for all CMHC students completing Practicum and Internship in 2026-2027. It is required even if you have already attended this meeting in the past because there are changes and updates on key information year to year. This meeting will take place in person on Lincoln Park Campus. We will be discussing all things related to Practicum and Internship that you will encounter during your Professional Practice experience in 2026 – 2027. Look for additional future communications on CSL News and via email and please plan accordingly.

Please reach out to Jay Lesenko jlesenko@depaul.edu if you will not be completing Practicum and Internship in 2026 – 2027 so you can be removed from the email list. Please reach out to Jay Lesenko jlesenko@depaul.edu or Dr. Hamm jhamm@depaul.edu if you have any questions.

Saturday October 25^th

CMHC Professional Practice Orientation

10am – 12:30pm

SAC Rm#161

Schmitt Academic Center (SAC)

2320 N Kenmore Ave

Chicago, IL 60614

View in web browser

Federal Updates

Update on Conversion Therapy Case Before the Supreme Court

988 Day & the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline

Thank you for joining us in celebrating 988 Day to raise awareness about the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Thanks to you, 988 resources were shared over 1,000 times, and we sent over 250 letters to Congress in support of 988.

988 continues to offer free compassionate support for people in crisis 365 days a year — let’s continue to raise awareness and advocate for funding the Lifeline!

Medicare Providers – Counselors are Eligible!

Counselors can now apply to be a Medicare provider. Learn more.

State Updates

The Counseling Compact Is Now Live!

The Counseling Compact launched today, Tuesday, Sept. 30, with Arizona and Minnesota being the first of 38 states and Washington, D.C., prepared to start granting privileges to practice. Several additional states are expected to be online in the coming weeks and months.

Learn more about the application process.

Thank you for all your hard work to make this a reality!

Events

Advocates in Action Month

October is Advocates in Action Month! It’ll be a jam-packed month with lots of advocacy opportunities leading up to our two flagship events: Hill Day and Spotlight on States. Share your advocacy stories throughout the month with #CounselorsAdvocate.

Stay tuned for more details about Advocates in Action Month.

ACA actively works on legislative and public policy issues that matter to our members. Priorities include Medicare reimbursement for counselors, the Counseling Compact and increased funding for mental health care.

American Counseling Association

2461 Eisenhower Ave.
Suite 300

Alexandria, VA 22314

(p) 800-298-2276 | (f) 800-473-2329

Lubavitch Girls High School (LGHS) in Chicago is currently seeking a part-time History teacher to join their faculty for the upcoming academic year.

They are looking for a candidate to teach a section of 10th Grade U.S. History twice a week. The class is scheduled to meet Wednesday 3:50-4:30, and Thursday 110:05-11:45. There are additional opportunities for more hours through substitution throughout the year if candidates are interested.

The ideal candidate will:

·  Have strong background knowledge in US History.

·  Be working toward or have completed a degree in education.

·  Bring prior classroom experience, including classroom management and unit planning

·  Commit to teaching with us for the full academic year.

·  Be comfortable working in a religious school setting.

A teaching license is not required for this role, but candidates should be comfortable taking on all tasks related to teaching (planning, grading, parent conferences and more).  There is plenty of room for flexibility and creativity in this role, but there is also collaboration, support and guidance from the team.

Interested candidates can contact Megan Burke directly at mburke@lghschicago.org for further information.

WHAT HB1085 WOULD DO:

• Permit supervised therapists-in-training to be billed towards insurance, billed under the supervisor—so training clinics can bill commercial insurance.

• Set a statewide reimbursement floor for in-network mental health & SUD services, helping stabilize rates across commercial plans. (Some bill summaries currently describe this as ~141% of Medicare for common psychotherapy codes like 90837.)

• Reduce administrative burdens by limiting extra documentation/audits singled out for common psychotherapy codes (e.g., 90837).

• Allow same-day coverage for multiple clinically necessary mental-health services.

• Require insurers to complete contracting within 60 days for new in-network clinicians (and pay contracted rates from completed application until the contract’s effective date).

Why this matters for students and their future clients:

• More training sites can bill insurance, which expands in-network access for clients and helps students meet program hour requirements in a timely way.

• LPCs gain a clearer path to paneling, improving early-career employment and helping them reach the 1,680 direct client contact hours required for independent licensure without pushing clients to out-of-network care.

• Earlier, fairer reimbursement helps graduates shoulder supervision rates, student loans, and basic living costs in the two-year supervised period after graduation – and all the years after.

Timing: The bill is expected to be considered during the October veto sessions (currently scheduled for Oct 14–16 and Oct 28–30). 

HOW STUDENTS, ALUMNI, FACULTY, AND SUPERVISORS CAN GET INVOLVED: 

If you are interested, you can write a letter to your State Representative and State Senator. A short, self-authored email during this window can genuinely help. (See the attached student letter as an example). Or you can also contact your State Representative and State Senator and ask them to support HB1085 in the upcoming veto sessions. You can find their contact information HERE.

REGISTER FOR THE FALL 2025 COE FORUM

MEETING STUDENTS’ MENTAL HEALTH CHALLENGES: CLASSROOM, SCHOOL, POLICY INTERVENTIONS

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 5:30 PM – 7 PM (CST)

Register here.

Recent research studies and reports have documented increased mental health concerns for our children and teens. Major administration and legislative cuts to school mental health funding, Medicaid, CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program), and SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) portend a growing crisis.

The fall forum will discuss recent studies that indicate growing mental health issues for our students, look at multiple causes, and explain how recent administration and congressional actions will exacerbate the problem. What are teachers and school counselors observing? What is the way forward? What strategies, plans, and ideas for both classroom and school interventions can address these challenges?

The panel includes:

• Dr. Micere Keels, Associate Professor at the Department of Comparative Human Development at the University of Chicago, will be our keynote speaker. She is also the founding director of the Trauma Responsive Educational Practices Project (TREP Project) https://voices.uchicago.edu/coed/micere-keels/
• Michelle Hughes, Michelle Clark High School, Chicago. English teacher.
• Lissette Flores, Grissom Elementary School, Chicago. School counselor.
• Darrick Tovar-Murray, Moderator

This is an issue that will impact all our students, whether studying to be school counselors, teachers, or administrators. Please consider bringing your class if you teach on Tuesday evenings, and please encourage students in your courses to attend.

The forum is virtual, livestreamed on YouTube. Registration is required.

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/coe-fall-forum-meeting-students-mental-health-challenges-tickets-1681317890069?aff=oddtdtcreator

For some additional reading, see:

“Cuts to School Mental Health Funding and Threats to Medicaid/CHIP: A Growing Crisis for Children” by First Focus on Children.

“In Their Own Words: Young Voices on Mental Health and the Future” by Hopelab

“Chicago students feeling fear, frustration amid ICE raids and threats of National Guard deployment” by Chicago Sun-Times

For more information, contact Diane Horwitz, Coordinator, Education Issues Forums at dhorwit1@depaul.edu

As we begin the autumn quarter, we would like to congratulate one of our very own alumnus, Dr. Timothy Franklin, on successfully defending his dissertation yesterday! Dr. Franklin completed both the Clinical Mental Health and School Counseling programs and serves as an adjunct faculty member here at DePaul. Congratulations, Dr. Franklin!

Dr. Sean Newhart, an Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins University, is conducting a research study alongside two master’s students, Julia Kokatakis and Saloni Karwa. They invite you to participate in the study examining the factors influencing well-being and persistence among counselors-in-training (HIRB00021323). Your participation will contribute to understanding of how program belonging impacts mental health, burnout, flourishing, and institutional commitment.

The survey is estimated to take between 10-15 minutes to complete. As a token of appreciation for your participation, they will be offering the chance to win one of 100 $5 Amazon gift cards or one of 150 $2 Amazon gift cards to the first 250 respondents.

Follow this link to the Survey:
Take the survey

This survey is confidential, and your participation is completely voluntary. You may choose to exit the survey at any time. Importantly, there will be no penalties for not participating or for not completing the survey. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact Dr. Newhart directly at snewhar1@jhu.edu.