I am so grateful and excited to be serving as your FCA President during the 2022-2023 fiscal year. I am looking forward to collaborating with and advocating for our counseling profession in this role. My reason for becoming a counselor and being in this space is because I have a passion for helping others, want to create safe spaces for conversations about mental health and emotional needs, and become well-informed about the resources we have available in our community so that this information can be used to bridge community needs within our mental health system.  My passion for counseling also stems from my own lived experiences with depression and anxiety, and so I have felt, and continue to feel, stuck, often at a loss for words, and wonder what I can do differently because of what we are experiencing in our world today.

These past couple of years, and with recent events and social injustices, have been challenging to all of us, personally and professionally. We can feel the heaviness of it all. Our clients feel it. Everyone who is near and far can feel the shifts that are happening within our communities. Being a counselor is not easy. I want to uplift that each of you have worked so hard in being present for your clients, in providing emotional support for your own families and colleagues, and doing your best to take care of you, even when it seemed impossible to do so. This is a gentle reminder that we are human beings, too.

Another gentle reminder for all of us is to take it one day at a time. As we shift into this new fiscal year, I plan to focus on these areas during my presidency:

1) improve and grow our membership;

2) assess and support our counselors’ needs;

3) continue social justice and advocacy efforts within our counseling profession;

4) provide and enhance our delivery of professional development and trainings; and

5) promote creative ways for members to engage in self-care.

My overall goal is to further expand and maintain a community of counselors whom we can work with collectively to promote social change, obtain additional skills and resources to enhance client care, and strengthen our support system for one another.  As a counseling organization, FCA is committed to offering support, promoting advocacy awareness, and providing community resources and services to all our current and future counseling professionals.

Kindly,

Luisairis “Iris” Soto, LMHC, NCC

Florida Counseling Association, President 2022-2023

If you are interested in a leadership position, please contact the FCA Office at fcaoffice@flacounseling.org