In recognition of the strong ties between the United States with its Latin American neighbors, the National Board for Certified Counselors and Affiliates (NBCC) will recognize Latin American Counseling Day on April 27.

The date was chosen by the Latin American Network of Counseling Professionals in commemoration of a key regional counseling conference. That conference, the First Latin American Conference of Counseling Professionals, was held on April 27, 1986, in the Mexican city of Cholula.

As part of the activities honoring the date, Dr. Linda Foster, chair of the NBCC Board of Directors, and Dr. Thomas Clawson, NBCC president and CEO, wrote a letter of acknowledgement to top leaders of various counseling associations throughout Latin America.

“The celebration of this day across the entire Western Hemisphere is a mark of our solidarity as a profession, despite the differences that have shaped the practice of counseling in our respective countries,” Dr. Foster and Dr. Clawson said.

They noted NBCC’s consistent participation in, and support of, the Latin American conferences as part of NBCC’s efforts to help develop counseling in the region. Those efforts include collaboration with counseling organizations in several countries to develop counselor certification programs that recognize professional competence as defined by practitioners familiar with the needs and circumstances of their home countries.