AMHCA President-Elect is announced – and Iowa represents!

Congratulations to IMHCA Executive Director, Courtney Ackerson as the recently elected American Mental Health Counselors Association (AMHCA) President-Elect! We are excited to have this connection to the national-level organization. IMHCA has a long history of our state chapter members serving on the AMHCA board of directors.

In this role with AMHCA, she will be planning the 2025 AMHCA Annual Conference, chairing the conference planning committee, serving as an executive committee member, and participating in the finance committee. This elected role is a three-year commitment moving to the President in FY26 and past president in FY27. Get to know her a little more in the following interview.

How long have you been a member of the organization, and what prompted you to pursue the leadership position?

I have been an engaged member of my state chapter since 2015 and joined AMHCA in 2016. Serving as treasurer for three years and president for a 5-year tenure in IMHCA, I’ve dedicated eight years to volunteer service. I have volunteered on AMHCA committees including the State Chapter Relations Committee (2019 – 2020), Conference Committee (2021 – 2024), Membership Committee (2020 – 2024), Awards committee (2023 and 2024), and Nominations Committee (2022 and 2023). I have attended the AMHCA conference since 2016 which grately sparked my interest in the organization. IMHCA makes a point to send leaders to State Chapter Leadership prior to the conference. This is a wealth of knowledge for our state chapters and got me hooked. I have regular attendance at AMHCA board meetings as a member for just over a year and sporadically throughout my membership which has helped me to understand AMHCA’s current strategic movement and operations. This year I wanted to jump in a little deeper water!

What is one of your top priorities as the newly selected leader of the AMHCA?

Membership. I want people to flock to AMHCA and use all the benefits afforded to us. Or I want AMHCA to listen to members and adjust benefits as needed for those in practice. I want to increase recruitment efforts by  targeting student membership for lifetime involvement, target messaging to unified dues states and get them involved with AMHCA, targeting large state chapter memberships, and targeting states where we can access licensure lists for contact information that can lead to increased recruitment efforts. I think it is important for AMHCA to hold their conference in strategic locations to draw members. And I would like to increase membership benefits adding two service-focused benefits.