March 2003 |
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Background Originally introduced at the 1997 ACPA Convention in Chicago by David L. Gilles-Thomas and Wendy Settle, the Counseling Center Village has become a very useful resource for counseling center professionals around the world. Colleagues separated by many miles are easily able to share their resources and expertise. Brochures, Policy and Procedure manuals, intake forms, workshop outlines, and more, no longer gather dust in our offices or need to be recreated again somewhere else.
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Mission The mission of the Counseling Center Village is to bring together in a single organized web site the expertise and resources of counseling center professionals so that we can all benefit from each others’ efforts. The majority of the content of the Village web pages is created by counseling centers professionals. Although links to non-counseling center sites are included, the emphasis is on gathering together resources, information, and services created by counseling center professionals.
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Counseling Center Village website usage
An ever-increasing number of College and University Counseling Centers are going on-line. Based on the entries in the Counseling Center Directory, the increase in this number has been dramatic: in 1996 there were only 37 Centers listed in the Directory; as of this writing there are over 300 Centers listed.
What follows, for those who like numbers, are some statistics about the usage of the Counseling Center Village.
As can be seen in the first graph, growth in the number of users has been
quite dramatic over the years. For the month of January 1998 (the first year of the Counseling Center Village) we saw 517 hits at the Village web site. For January 2003 we had
6970 hits at the Village.
Three years ago the Village web site received a little over 20,000 hits for the entire 12-month period (March - February); during the same period for this past year the Village has received over 76,333 hits.
Here are the same data broken down by month.
Consistent with previous years, the two most used sections of the Counseling Center Village are the Counseling Center Directory, and the Virtual Pamphlet Collection. Some of our numbers are slightly down compared to previous years, a result of several circumstances that were mostly out of our control (e.g., database corruption for the CC Directory, and the coordinator for At The Office moving and therefore switching all files to a new server).
Key: CCDIR = CC Directory / VPC = Virtual Pamphlet Collection / PR = Practice Resources / RN = Research network / SD = Staff Development / PT = Predoc Training / WC = Workshop Central / ATO = At The Office / TA = Technical Assistance |
Note: Hit statistics for the Village website are significant under-estimates, given the nature of web browser technology, the manner in which hit statistics are calculated, and the "framing" of other sites' webpages used in the Village. It is much more accurate to simply state that the Village received at least this many hits, and most certainly much much more.
How You Can Participate
There are many ways you can get involved with the Counseling Center Village, depending on the level of involvement you want.
1. Content submissions: The Village is only as successful as the quality and number of submissions. If you have a brochure, an article, some research data, sample forms, flyers, or any other counseling center material you would like to add to the Village, let the appropriate coordinator know, or contact any of the Board members
2. Section Coordinators: There are still several sections of the Village still in need of coordinators. If you would like to get involved in this exciting and ground-breaking project, don't hesitate to contact us.
3. CVILLAGE-L: Interested in the development of the Village? Join the Counseling Center Village listserv! For more information, and instructions on how to join, see:
http://ub-counseling.buffalo.edu/cv-list.html.
4. Assisting web coordinators: The coordinators of the different Village areas need assistance! Contact any of the coordinators and volunteer.
5. Layout & Graphic design: We are always in need of assistance in improving the basic layout and graphic design of the Village.
6. Publicity: To best achieve the mission of the Village web project, it will be important that we inform our colleagues about the project. If you have interest in publicity, we need you!
7. Coordination with other professional organizations: If the goal is to avoid duplicating efforts, it will be important to be informed about the efforts of other professional organizations (e.g., AUCCCD, APPIC) and when appropriate to collaborate with them. Let us know if you would like to assist in coordinating our efforts with other organizations.
8. General feedback, suggestions: However you deliver it (email, voice, letter, etc), we are always interested in any feedback you may have for us. Suggestions about the layout, content, a favorite site of yours that we should link to, what works and what doesn't… they are all wanted.
The Village Board
The Counseling Center Village is overseen by a group of counseling center professionals who have expressed a particular interest in guiding its development. Although not required for membership on the Board, Board members typically coordinate a particular section of the Village as well. If you think you might be interested in joining the Board, contact David L. Gilles-Thomas for more information.
Current Village Board Members
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· Jeff Brooks-Harris Univ. of Hawaii - Manoa Coordinator: Workshop Central · Patricia Doherty Univ. of Wisconsin - Stevens Point · David Gilles-Thomas SUNY Buffalo Coordinator: The Counseling Center Directory · Bob Hsiung Univ. of Chicago Coordinator: The Virtual Pamphlet Collection |
· Jonathan Kandell
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