The American Association of Christian Counselors, Inc. (AACC) is the largest organization of Christian counselors in the world.Brian Lang, Bill Wilson, ''A christian parents' guide to making the internet family friendly'',

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

: Thomas Nelson, 199

/ref>

Overview

It is a

corporation A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and r ...

headquartered in

Forest, Virginia Forest is a census-designated place (CDP) in eastern Bedford County, Virginia, United States. The population was 11,709 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Lynchburg Metropolitan Statistical Area. Geography Forest is located at (37.370723 ...

, United States. AACC, as it is often called, creates the largest gathering of Christian counselors once per year in North America with annual conferences that often exceed 5,000 attendees. Speakers for these events include, Dr. Henry Cloud, Dr. John Townsend, Gary Smalley,

Larry Crabb Lawrence J. Crabb, Jr. (July 13, 1944 – February 28, 2021) was an American Christian counselor, author, Bible teacher, spiritual director, and seminar speaker. Crabb wrote several best-selling books and was the founder and director oNewWay Mini ...

, T.D. Jakes, Ron Hawkins, John Trent, Emmerson Eggrich, Joni Tada, Arch Harte, John Eldredge, and a host of other popular Christian writers. AACC is under the direction o
Dr. Tim Clinton
and celebrates their 25th anniversary as a professional trade association in 2011. They were previously headquartered in

Fairfax, Virginia The City of Fairfax ( ), colloquially known as Fairfax City, Downtown Fairfax, Old Town Fairfax, Fairfax Courthouse, FFX, or simply Fairfax, is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth ...

. It has about nearly 50,000 members.Timothy Clinton, Archibald D. Harte, ''Caring for People God's Way: Personal and Emotional Issues, Addictions, Grief, and Trauma'', Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, 2006 p. 50

/ref> It publishes two Magazine, journals: ''Christian Counseling Today'' and ''Marriage and Family: A Christian Journal''.Harold George Koenig, ''Handbook of religion and mental health'',

Amsterdam, Netherlands Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban are ...

Elsevier Elsevier () is a Dutch academic publishing company specializing in scientific, technical, and medical content. Its products include journals such as ''The Lancet'', ''Cell'', the ScienceDirect collection of electronic journals, '' Trends'', th ...

, 1998, p. 34

/ref> It has adopted a

code of ethics Ethical codes are adopted by organizations to assist members in understanding the difference between right and wrong and in applying that understanding to their decisions. An ethical code generally implies documents at three levels: codes of bus ...

used for Christian counseling.Lori Ann Russell-Chapin, Ted Chapin, ''Clinical Supervision: Theory and Practice'',

Stamford, Connecticut Stamford () is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut, outside of Manhattan. It is Connecticut's second-most populous city, behind Bridgeport. With a population of 135,470, Stamford passed Hartford and New Haven in population as of the 2020 ...

Cengage Learning Cengage Group is an American educational content, technology, and services company for the higher education, K-12, professional, and library markets. It operates in more than 20 countries around the world.(Jun 27, 2014Global Publishing Leaders ...

, 2011, p. 19

/ref>Siang-Yang Tan, ''Counseling and Psychotherapy: A Christian Perspective'',

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the List of municipalities in Mi ...

Baker Academic Baker Publishing Group is a Christian book publisher that discusses historic Christian happenings for its evangelical readers. It is based in Ada, Michigan and has six subdivisions: namely Bethany House, Revell, Baker Books, Baker Academic, Chos ...

, 2011, p. 37

/ref>Tim Clinton, Ron Hawkins, ''The Popular Encyclopedia of Christian Counseling: An Indispensable Tool for Helping People with Their Problems'',

Irvine, California Irvine () is a Planned community, master-planned city in South Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the 1960s and the city was formally incorporated on ...

Harvest House Publishers Harvest House Publishers is a Christian publishing company founded in 1974 in Irvine, California, United States, and is now located in Eugene, Oregon. It publishes Christian fiction and non-fiction books, coming out with over 160 new books a y ...

, 2011, p. 7

/ref> In 2014 AACC amended its code of ethics to eliminate the promotion of

conversion therapy Conversion therapy is the pseudoscientific practice of attempting to change an individual's sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to align with heterosexual and cisgender norms. In contrast to evidence-based medicine and cli ...

for same-sex attracted individuals, encouraging those individuals to practice a celibate sexual life instead.

References

{Reflist Psychology organizations based in the United States Bedford County, Virginia Counseling