NYRCA / NRCA State Chapter

2011 News and Activities

Licensure Efforts

NYRCA continues to focus its efforts on the Rehabilitation Counseling Licensure Bill in the New York State Legislature. Our licensure committee consists of Chairperson Dr. Patricia Livingston, whose remarkable work and decades of dedication are moving this effort closer to success, along with committee members Al Gaudioso, CRC, Gerald From, PhD, CRC and Wendy Hersh, CRC, LMHC. The committee visited and has established ongoing communication with a State legislator who is a primary supporter of the bill in the Assembly. Sadly, our State Senate supporter, Thomas P. Morahan, passed away last year. We lost a praiseworthy civil servant and friend. Challenges come and go but our determination to get this passed is unwavering. For reference, our Bill Numbers are A01011 and S03476 (NYS Legislature 2009 - 2010 Session). Please stay tuned. We welcome information, comments and above all, participation. Remember there’s strength in numbers! I encourage all interested NRCA members in the Empire State to contact Dr. Livingston (pl6@nyu.edu) or other NYRCA Board members and to volunteer to help with these efforts. Our contact information is listed on our website nyrca.org.

Rehabilitation Counseling Week in May

We celebrated Rehabilitation Counseling Week the first week of May, as suggested by our National offices. This year it fell on May 2 through May 8, 2011. Al Gaudioso coordinated efforts with me and other NYRCA Board Members to obtain proclamations from various government officials throughout New York. We are proud to report that we received proclamations from the following counties and cities: City of Buffalo, Mayor Byron Brown (see Buffalo proclamation); New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg (see NYC proclamation); City of Syracuse in a joint effort with the County of Onondaga, Mayor Stephanie A Miner and County Executive Joanne M. Mahoney (see Syracuse proclamation); Rockland County, C. Scott Vanderhoef County Executive; and Westchester County, Robert P. Astorino, County Executive. We are grateful to these officials.

We also want to thank members and friends of the Board who take time from their busy schedules to support our Rehabilitation Counseling Week in their regions. Special thanks to the main coordinator of this effort, our board member extraordinaire and Organizational Chair, Al Gaudioso, who has done this for three decades. Consistent efforts from Board members like Al and Pat have put our profession on the radar screen of New York State Legislators. Thanks to Al and Elle for trying to secure a Gubernatorial Proclamation. No doubt next year we will obtain one, as we did a few years ago. Thanks also to Board member Lise Mayo, CRC, (Central New York RCA representative) from the City of Syracuse. Special thanks to Arletta Holman, CRC (President of the Central New York RCA) from Syracuse and Mary Gangl, CRC, Supervising Counselor Chemical Dependency from the Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo for diligently writing and successfully securing proclamations.

New Board Members

Thanks to the persuasive skills of Dr. Patricia Livingston, we have new board members to welcome. Dr. Arnold Wolf from Hunter College joined the NYRCA Board as President Elect. Arnie is a remarkable and prolific academic in Rehabilitation Counseling with extensive works in the field. We look forward to working with a professional of his caliber. Michele Buoninfante-Blainey, CRC, joined us as AVRASA representative. She has impressed us with her admirable enthusiasm and professionalism. We are also delighted to have a new Student Representative, Jessica Battisti, from the Rehabilitation Counseling Program at Hunter, an exceptional student and great professional in the making. Welcome all! We look forward to seeing what the future brings for our Board with such a great and diverse group. The profession is stronger and richer because you have joined us.

Educational Activities

We had several well-timed educational activities over the months. On April 12, 2011 NRCA and NRA West/Rock cosponsored a training titled, “Job Placement Issues & Strategies for Individual with Disabilities Including Psychiatric, Intellectual and Physical Impairments” held at the Helen Hays Hospital in Westchester/Rockland. Dr. Bruce Lowenstein, Bob D’Enrico, Marlene Becker and Michael Miriello provided more than half a day of educational enrichment in the area of Behavioral Medicine, Psychiatry, Advocacy and Job Placement. Continuing Education was provided to CRCs and other Allied Health professionals. On June 16, we had a luncheon titled: “Todays Veteran: The Unique Concerns of Veterans with Disabilities Returning from Post War Experiences” presented by Jerry Donnellan, Commissioner of Rockland County, Veterans Service Agency at the Casa Mia Manor House in Blauvet, NY. Thanks to the West/Rock chapter for such great event and for their continued support. New educational events are coming up. Possible ethics training sessions are in the works, so please stay tuned. If you are interested in visiting New York or need CEUs for your re-certification, we encourage you to attend our events. You can also contact theses other regional rehabilitation organizations that support our mission: West/Rock NRA chapter, Metro New York Chapter of NRA at http://www.nymetronra.org and AVRASA at http://www.avrasa.org.

For more information visit our website at nyrca.org. To our colleagues in New York State, your emails and comments are always welcome. The website is a great place to connect with members of our profession statewide. Please take full advantage of it!