IMHCA Board Welcomes New Board Members

The IMHCA Board of Directors held a retreat over the past weekend (August 23-24) to plan for the next year. This weekend was successful! There was planning, connection, and relaxation. Our board members work hard throughout the year to ensure your programming is valuable, utilized and well developed. Programming includes the annual conference, job board, member directory, IMHCA store, communications (emails, IMHCA Talks, and newsletters), Day on the Hill, and networking events.

Our strategic goals were identified in January and now the board has action plans to accompany a three-year plan. We will be sharing more about this in upcoming news.

We would like to welcome Rachel Buddin-Young to the board of directors. She is filling the legislative and public policy co-chair position (alongside Allison Levine) while we have a board member out on maternity leave and will likely move into another open board position in the future as she learns about various roles and the best fit for her skills.

Rachel Buddin-Young is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in Iowa and Florida, and a Licensed Professional Counselor in Alaska and Texas. She is also certified by the State of Alaska as a Chemical Dependency Counselor II, is EMDR Certified and a Nationally Certified Counselor through NBCC. Additionally she serves as the Vice President of the Alaska EMDR Network and has for the past four years and recently completed her service term on the Alaska State Board of Licensed Professional Counselors that is appointed by the governor. She earned her bachelors of science from Hardin Simmons University in Texas and her Masters in Mental Health Counseling from Capella University. Outside of the field, Rachel served for two years on the board of the Miss Alaska Volunteer Scholarship System and has been a military spouse for over twenty years. Rachel recently relocated back to her home state of Iowa as her husband retired from the military, where she intends to reside indefinitely. Her strong believe in making a difference in her community has brought her to now serve on the board for the Iowa Mental Health Counselors Association.

We would also like to welcome Anna Alonso as the new Student-at-Large board member. Ana has been a part of the mental health field for several years. She has been working with adults with complex mental illnesses meanwhile she attends Buena Vista University to obtain a master’s in clinical mental health counseling. She has an interest in addictions, trauma, and neurological and developmental disorders and is planning on furthering her education in these topics. Ana also has an interest in working with individuals in the Hispanic community.

Here are some photos of the recent board retreat!