American Mental Health Counselors Association (AMHCA)

Overview

The American Mental Health Counselors Association (AMHCA) is a national professional organization for clinical mental health counselors. Jim Messina and Nancy Spisso, counselors at a community mental health center in Escambia County, Florida, founded it in May 1976 after noticing that mental health counselors lacked a clear professional identity and an organization to represent them. In 1978, AMHCA became a division of what is now the American Counseling Association, and in 2019 it became fully independent again. Today, AMHCA sets standards for the education, licensing, and ethics of mental health counselors, publishes the Journal of Mental Health Counseling and a Code of Ethics, and connects counselors through state chapters and resources for students.

Why It Matters

AMHCA helps give mental health counselors a strong voice. Over the past several decades, counselor licensure spread state by state until California became the 50th state to license professional counselors in 2009. More recently, AMHCA joined a national coalition that pushed for Medicare to cover mental health counselors, and that coverage began on January 1, 2024. For young people considering a career in mental health counseling, AMHCA shows that the profession has an organized community working to build recognition, set high standards, and create career pathways for the next generation of counselors.