A Message From NBCC Board Chair Monalisa McGee-Baratta

Greetings and a happy new year to all NCCs! The start of a new year represents an opportunity to reflect on the past 12 months and to look forward to the coming year. Each new year brings new gifts and new challenges.  

2023 was the year we celebrated the addition of counselors to Medicare. Throughout the year, NBCC worked with the other members of the Medicare Mental Health Workforce Coalition and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to offer a series of webinars to prepare counselors for enrollment. This work continues in 2024, as we have additional webinars planned to assist counselors as they begin offering services to Medicare beneficiaries.   

And now, after decades of advocacy and a year of preparation, counselors can finally provide services under Medicare. This is a momentous achievement for the profession! As the population of older adults continues to grow, our services are needed more than ever. This success shows what we can accomplish together. Through unified voices, we can advocate for everyone across the life span.    

Another great success for counselors was the continued growth of the Counseling Compact. In 2023, 14 states joined the Compact, bringing the total to 31. Like the Medicare achievement at the federal level, these state legislative successes happen thanks to the work of counselors advocating together. Looking ahead, I ask how we can continue to foster that unity in securing additional states in the Compact. I believe the answer is by working in partnership with the state boards and other counseling organizations, including AMHCA, CACREP, ACES, CSI, ACA, and AASCB.

These accomplishments are so important because they make mental health care more accessible for more people. Now more than ever, it is so important for NCCs to be at the table to help support national and international initiatives to help serve people with behavioral health and substance use needs throughout the world.   

2024 is filled with opportunities for us to serve all populations as National Certified Counselors. Whether that means advocacy, education, providing services, or coming together as professionals, our joy as counselors is in how we're helping those most in need.  

One way we recognize and celebrate that joy is with the NBCC Awards. The inaugural awards will be bestowed this March during the NBCC Foundation Bridging the Gap Symposium. I am delighted with the many, many deserving candidates nominated for these awards, and I’m so excited to celebrate the recipients at this wonderful annual gathering. Looking ahead in 2024, I would ask all NCCs to help promote mental health initiatives through state, national, and international advocacy efforts. Counselors must be at the table in their states, because important regulatory and legislative actions, including joining the Counseling Compact and setting Medicaid rates, happen at the state level. Making our voices heard as counselors is critical, and this is where staying active with state counseling organizations is so important.  

As part of this, I ask all NCCs to watch for email advocacy alerts and other calls to action from NBCC and other counseling organizations. Take the time to understand the issue and take action to make your voice heard. Progress can be slow, even frustrating, but what keeps us going is hope.   

At the heart of everything, as counselors, we must help people foster that sense of hope. There are atrocities happening all over the world, inflicted on people who are impoverished and oppressed. As counselors, we must walk alongside the communities, the people we serve, to help foster hope. My wish is that 2024 is the year of hope. For us as counselors, the word must be hope.    

Everything is possible. Ten years ago, nobody would have thought Medicare inclusion was possible. Ten years ago, we wouldn’t have seen so many states joining the Compact. Look where we are now. That is thanks to hope and partnership. That’s why I love being in the role I am with NBCC. I’m humbled and honored to be a part of this work.  

This year, my goal is to foster hope and cooperation in all my actions as a counselor. I hope you’ll join me.