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Dr. Aaron Norton, executive director of NBFE, and Dr. Tony Tan, an educational psychologist at Xi’an Jiaotong University and the University of South Florida, conducted a study on how clinical mental health counselors (CMHCs) in the U.S. handled emotional support animals (ESA) letter requests and whether the assessments used by CMHCs for clinical decision making were related to whether they would decline or agree to write the ESA letter.  Overall, they found that (1) whether CMHCs assessed for disability, inquired as to how ESAs alleviated symptoms, and discussed alternatives to ESAs predicted the likelihood that a CMHC would approve or deny a client request for an ESA letter; and (2) most CMHCs lacked formal training in ESA assessment, and many relied on personal discretion rather than established guidelines in making clinical decisions.  This study draws attention to the importance of training clinicians on appropriate methods for assessing ESA letter requests.  The study was published in the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry.  

Dr. Aaron Norton, executive director of NBFE, chimes in on the use of artificial intelligence in counseling and psychotherapy as the cover story of the American Mental Health Counselors Association's "The Advocate Magazine."  Read the article here.

Equipping Counselors to Become Forensic Mental Health Evaluators.pdf

Parents Magazine.pdf

Laws related to emotional support animal (ESA) letters have evolved since NBFE published its first article published in December 2018.  Get updated by reading our article published in the Winter 2022 issue of the American Mental Health Counselors Association's The Advocate Magazine. 

Read the article online or download a PDF.

Please click here to access article. 

Dr. Norman Hoffman, President and Founder of NBFE, wrote an article entitled "First Person Singular: What Can We do to Stop the Growth of Mass Shootings?" published in AMHCA's The Advocate Magazine in August 2015.  Given recent events such as the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, we are reposting this article.  Click here to read it.    

Counseling Today, the official magazine of the American Counseling Association, published an article today authored by NBFE's Executive Director, Dr. Aaron Norton, providing mental health professionals with an update on changes in the newest edition of the American Psychiatric Association's DSM-5-TR.  Click here to read it.