Western Region Director

Shannon Thompson MA, LMHC, CMHS, NCC

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

I am currently self-employed as a licensed as a mental health counselor, contracted as the executive director of WMHCA, and employed as an adjunct at University of Puget Sound. I have been in the field nearly 18 years. I spent 6 years working in community mental health prior to opening a private practice. I am still passionate about helping our nation’s most vulnerable and am supportive of legislation which improves access and addresses pay inequity. Being able to be involved in legislation and advocacy is what I enjoy most about my executive director role. I get to see real change and see how combined voices can make a difference.



ASSOCIATION EXPERIENCE

I started volunteering for Washington Mental Health Counselors Association in 2016. I quickly became the chair of workshops and helped grow the program. It is now one of WMHCA’s main revenue streams. In 2018 I transitioned to paid staff and became the Education and Advocacy Director. I spent four years in that role and in July of 2022 transitioned to the Executive Director of the Washington Mental Health Counseling Association. I have helped WMCHA grow from membership of around 350 to having nearly 1400 members currently.



GOALS

One of my strengths is growing membership. I believe as Western Regional Director I can help other associations outside of Washington grow membership. I also believe I can help AMHCA grow membership through member engagement, association benefits, and educational offerings. I want to find ways to bring the chapters together to support each other. This work is hard and having other chapters to lean on for resources is instrumental to becoming a thriving association. I want to help facilitate those relationships.



AWARDS AND HONORS

WMHCA was awarded Outstanding Chapter of the Year for 2021/2022 from AMHCA. I was pivotal in helping the organization achieve its goals and in doing so our hard work was recognized by AMHCA. WMHCA has been working diligently the past few years and it was great to see our hard work pay off.



COMMUNITY SERVICE

I currently serve as a volunteer on three AMHCA committees. It is my second year being on the conference planning committee, and my first year being on the multicultural and social justice committee as well as the compact committee. I also do guest speaking for graduate student course work. I believe it’s important as a mental health counselor to advocate and to find ways to give back to our community. I believe serving as the Western Regional Director will also be a way to give back and promote quality mental health care.



PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS

Currently I write several articles for WMHCA’s quarterly newsletter. I also presented at the leadership portion of the AMCHA conference in 2022.

CANDIDATE VIDEO