Brandi L Montreal 2I had a life changing and rewarding opportunity to attend the American Counseling Association’s Annual Conference as a 2016 Council Scholar!

The American Counselor Association (ACA) holds conferences around the world through its many partnerships with counselor associations. This year’s annual conference was held in partnership with the Canadian Counseling and Psychotherapy Association (CCPA) on March 31–April 3, 2016, in the beautiful city of Montréal, QC, Canada, at the Palais des congrès de Montréal/Montreal Convention Center. The American-Canadian conference has been meeting as a tradition once every ten years. I am beyond grateful for the opportunity to visit our northern neighbor for the first time!

I am a professional school counselor in Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools. As a first year counselor, I wanted to learn as much as I could about meaningful ways to assist my students. My team and I seek to help our students not only academically, but also emotionally and socially. I was able to attend several workshops at the conference on various topics including: Solution-Focused Counseling, Counseling Immigrants and Migrant Children, The Creative Arts in Counseling, and Resources and Interventions for Counseling Children and Adolescents.

Along with my time in workshops I explored the beautiful city. Although it was March and spring break here in North Carolina, it was very, very cold there. Many days, it was no warmer than 20 degrees! I gladly exchanged my swimsuit and sun dresses for hats and a heavy coat! I found the people to be very friendly and the city to be very accessible. My favorite stops were the Underground City, Chinatown, and Saint Patrick’s Basilica.

One thing that was interesting to me was language. I became very nervous on my first few days there because I do not speak French. I only had Google Translate and Google Maps to guide me. I was very worried that I would not be able to communicate effectively. I walked into book stores and boutiques and got very scared because people were speaking to me in French and nearly everything was written in French. Finally I was exhausted, lost, and hungry from waling one day, so I decided to stop to get dinner on my way back to my hotel room. I was strangely nervous and lonely so I decided to eat the most comforting and safe thing: American food—a hamburger! As I was attempting to read the French signs and point at pictures, the cashier laughed at me. She began speaking in English! Montreal is very much a multilingual city. Outside of the airport and my hotel, most people spoke to me in French, but on average, many people speak several languages including English. Most students learn three languages before graduating from high school: French, English, and one language of their choice.

I felt as if I lost weight just by the shear amount of walking I did while in Montreal. I was also impressed by the level of diversity in the city as well. Although our northern neighbors are so similar to us here in the U.S., I still expected for Canada to be a lot more different than it was. In my ignorance, I was shocked to see so many separate communities like the Latin Quarter, Chinatown, and Afro-Canadian communities. I learned quickly that in many ways, were are more similar than not.

This experience has helped me tremendously in my work with immigrant and refugee students. Our school is home to students from at least twenty-seven countries. Often students will come to me very scared when enrolling school. I can now say that I understand some of what they may feel. I am always impressed to hear stories about some of my students who travel from overseas alone to reunite with family here in the U.S. Their bravery inspires me. I relied on that inspiration when I felt scared—even in a country so close to home. I will forever be grateful for this experience as it allowed me to gain valuable professional development, but it also allowed me to step out of my comfort zone. My first international trip was a blast and I look forward to traveling more internationally in the future!

The WACC Council Scholar Award Program is supported by Wells Fargo, Carolinas HealthCare System, Bank of America and UNC Charlotte.