2012 Awards Ceremony

Each year, the Connecticut Counseling Association Awards Program recognizes and honors CCA members who have made outstanding contributions to the counseling profession. The CCA awards celebrate notable achievements by counselors in a number of categories.

Counselor of the Year Award – Honors a CCA member who gives to others without expectations, other than personal satisfaction from helping others.

PASQUALE GIORDANO

Distinguished Professional Award – Honors a local, state, or national level CCA member who promotes progress in the counseling field.

DEBORAH DEL VECCHIO-SCULLY

Immediate Past President Award – Recognizes the Immediate Past President for his or his commitment and work during his three-year term with CCA.

MICHAEL GILLES

Joanne Stein Leadership Award – Recognizes the individual leader of CCA or of a CCA division who best exemplifies quality leadership as demonstrated by Joanne Stein, CCA president 1997-1998.

ROBERT SCHMIDT

New Member Award – Honors a new CCA member who, during the first year of membership, has made significant contributions to CCA, a division, or to the counseling profession.

JESSICA YOUNG

Nina R. Malinak Service Award – Recognizes a CCA member who has provided long-standing service to CCA and its divisions as demonstrated by Nina R. Malinak, Executive Director of CCA 2000-2009.

JENNA HARMA

Lastly, CCA would like to honor DON W. LOCKE, ACA President 2011-2012, for his service to the American Counseling Association, as well as his commitment to branch development.

Annual Award Recipients -
Robert Schmidt (Joanne Stein Leadership Award); Don Locke; Pat Giordano (Counselor of the Year Award); Jessica Young (New Member Award); Michael Gilles (Immediate Past President Award); Deb Del Vecchio-Scully (Distinguished Professional Award); Jenna Harma (Nina R Malinak Service Award); and Karla Troesser

Connecticut Counseling Association’s

2012 Awards Ceremony

Counselor of the Year

This counselor has played a critical role in the history of CCA and continues to do so. He is a Past President of the Association and Past President of CMHCA. He has been supportive to the Southern Chapter in serving as their Faculty Advisor. Not only is he dedicated to the goals and efforts of CCA, he is also very invested in the profession nationally through his service and commitment to ACA and the North Atlantic region. This year, he is ending his term as Past Chair of NAR and is looking for new and different opportunities to make a difference in the field of counseling. Whether on the national, regional or local level, he has served as a motivator and mentor. His coaching has influenced many prospective leaders to step up and serve in a professional capacity. It is with ease and much sacrifice of time that he has given himself to not only the associations, but to his clients. His counseling work and supervision in an agency setting, as well as his dedication to private practice clients and his enthusiasm toward graduate instruction, is indicative of his professional integrity and dedication to moving the profession forward and motivating others to become skilled helpers. I would like to present Pat Giordano with the Counselor of the Year Award.

Distinguished Professional Award

This counselor first joined CCA in 1998 as a graduate student. She eventually became involved with production and editing of the CCA newsletter, followed by being hired as CCA Executive Director in 2009. During her three years in this position, she used her role to promote the development of the organization and the counseling profession. She was instrumental in the development and launching of CCA’s new professional website and online membership database. She has supported the development of the regional chapters, attending as a participant and a welcomed speaker. She has shared her knowledge and experience from her work with her own clients on important topics such as mindfulness, trauma, and post traumatic stress disorder. In 2010, this CCA leader played an integral part in CCA’s efforts to support legislation that guaranteed counselors scope of practice to include diagnosing our clients, an effort that led to CCA being recognized for an American Counseling Association Branch Innovative Practice Award last year. Her work as a counselor in southwestern CT led her to identify the need for a specialized trauma workshop in anticipation of the 10^th anniversary of 9/11.

This leader has represented CCA at national annual conferences and leadership and legislative institutes, forming important connections with counselors and leaders from other states. She has been and continues to be an invaluable mentor to other counselors and leaders in CCA. As she has recently accepted a fitting nomination as CCA Public Awareness Chair, she effectively brings her personal and professional experience into her leadership roles with CCA.

I would like to present the Distinguished Professional Award to Deb Del Vecchio-Scully.

Immediate Past President Award

As CCA’s Acting President, I would like to express appreciation to Immediate Past President, Dr. Michael Gilles. This year was his final year during his term on the Executive Board. CCA’s Governing Council and Executive Boards have relied on Mike for guidance during the past several years. He has always been a counselor who has led by example. He always steps in to help where needed. During the recent years, he has served on a variety of committees with CCA. He has been instrumental in bringing the conference to Westconn and expanding the conference to a two-day event. His devotion to developing geographical chapters has been a success as demonstrated by the Western and Southern chapters who have continued to grow and offer monthly gatherings. He continues to be committed to CACES and was most recently recognized as the Outstanding Counselor Educator of the Year by NARACES, the North Atlantic Region Association for Counselor Education and Supervision. Again, I would like to thank Mike for his continued contributions to the Association and to the profession. Let’s give him a round of applause.

Joanne Stein Leadership Award

This individual started in the counseling field as a school counselor in 1989. This was his second career after being an Industrial Arts teacher for about 22 years. He decided to go into the counseling field because he felt that he would have a better impact on children in this position. When he started as a school counselor, he felt that he connected more with children in this position than he did when he was a teacher. This is most likely due to his sense of humor, kind manner, and his ability to be “real” with his students.

This person has held multiple leadership positions and has received multiple awards within counseling associations and divisions since starting in the field. He has been the president of the Connecticut School Counselors Association (CSCA), the Connecticut Counseling Association (CCA) (twice) as well as Chair of the American Counseling Association North Atlantic Region. Within these roles, his strong leadership skills and calm demeanor led to many positive outcomes. He is known for getting people involved in their counseling associations both locally and nationally. His sense of humor and kind demeanor makes him approachable to many students, new professionals as well as emerging leaders. Many people attribute their involvement within CCA and ACA to this leader.

While this person retired in 2006, he continued to give unselfishly in the field demonstrated by taking a role as Clinical Coordinator and Adjunct Professor for Fairfield University in their Counselor Education Department. He stopped the position last year but continues to teach as an adjunct professor and supervisor. He has recently taken a position within the Connecticut Counseling Association as a Graduate Student Liaison to act as a liaison between the Connecticut Counseling Association and universities that have counselor education programs.

He continues to be a member of the Connecticut Counseling Association, the Connecticut Association for Counselor Education and Supervision, the Connecticut Mental Health Counseling Association, the American Counseling Association and Association for Specialists in Group Work.

This counselor’s efforts have had widespread effects in the counseling field. He has given workshops both on the local and national level within many divisions and counseling associations and continues to do this even though he is retired. He has given workshops on bullying prevention, sexual harassment prevention, clinical supervision, group process, and leadership. His unique style adds music to his presentations. He has composed many comical songs that are related to the field. People have come to enjoy when songs are performed at a state or national conference.

Finally, this person has contributed to the field in many ways both advocating for the school counselor, mental health counselor, and counseling supervisor.

I am honored to present Bob Schmidt with the Joanne Stein Leadership Award.

New Member Award

This person has demonstrated an eager commitment to the Connecticut Counseling Association through her interest in a variety of CCA events, roles and increased responsibilities. She first joined CCA in December 2011 and reached her one year anniversary during this CCA term. She has been interested in becoming involved and has looked for much guidance and support from past and present CCA leaders. She attended the last two CCA Leadership Development Institutes. During the 2011 annual conference, she eagerly volunteered to assist with the raffle table for the Carol Jodaitis Scholarship Fund. For the 2012 conference, she jumped into the role of Exhibitor Chair and has attended the conference planning meetings. This individual has a great deal of ideas to offer that will enhance future conferences. Lastly, and most recently, this person was hired as CCA’s Membership Chair. She is invested in improving the association and making a contribution to profession. She has energy and enthusiasm that will help CCA grow. It is with great pleasure that I present the New Member Award to Jessica Young.

Nina R. Malinak Service Award

Since becoming a member in 2004, this counselor has been an exemplary member and leader. She served as CMHCA president on two occasions and is currently serving as CMHCA past-president; she has consistently taken on other roles with the division. She is committed to making CMHCA stronger and is very much devoted to CCA’s future goals. This individual is a team player and has always done above and beyond her job duties.

This counselor has served as a co-chair of the Membership Task Force. She continues to coordinate membership efforts and offers suggestions and creative strategies as to how CCA can enhance services and provide meaningful benefits to its members. She has mentored new and aspiring leaders and is focused on bridging the gap between members and leadership. She is always open to hearing suggestions from the members.

She prides herself on encouraging open lines of communication between divisions, as well as offers support and collaboration to anyone in need. She is an absolute professional and is an asset to CCA.

This leader is greatly appreciated by CCA and her continued dedication to making the association successful. I am honored to present Jenna Harma with the Nina R. Malinak Service Award.

ACA President, DR. DON W. LOCKE

CCA would like to recognize Dr. Don Locke, ACA President, for his service and support to the mission of the American Counseling Association. His commitment and support to state branches of ACA has been tremendous and inspiring. Through him, branches are more connected with ACA and have grown to partner on particular events, such as the recent workshop focused on the tenth anniversary of 9/11. He has a great deal of energy for the profession and will continue to be a great resource for aspiring counselors and leaders in the field.

I am honored to present this award of recognition to our new friend, Don Locke.