About Me

Hello! I’m Benjamin Clover (formerly Saubolle-Camacho), an Associate Professional Clinical Counselor (APCC #14202) in the state of California. I made this blog after deleting (most of) my social media accounts.

Professionally, I was trained as a school counselor & specialize in working with children and adolescents. Currently, I work with high school students in special education through Sierra Child and Family Services in El Dorado county. I am also a clinician & program administrator for our county’s First Episode Psychosis program. You can see more about my professional background in my CV.

Advocacy

I focus on protecting professional counselor identity in California. In 2022, I wrote a first-place essay for a CSI & CACREP sponsored contest, focusing on utilizing the Counseling Compact to bolster counselor identity in California. As of 2025 our state has yet to adopt this bill, and I’d love to explore the possibilities and implications of our state joining.

In 2023, through the leadership of our Legislative Advocacy Chair, our chapter of Chi Sigma Sigma helped pass legislation in California which will enable CSUs to host doctoral programs―such as a doctorate in Counselor Education and Supervision.

CSI has been an excellent venue for advocacy, and I have recently completed a fellowship that allowed me to sit on their Leadership & Professional Advocacy committee.

2021 Chi Sigma Sigma Executive Board Meeting: The leadership responsible for reactivating Sacramento State’s chapter of Chi Sigma Iota

Research

I love research, and I’m eclectic/interdisciplinary in my approach. This is informed by my previous M.A. in Humanities, where I specialized (as much as one can in two years) in Buddhist modernism. Since then, I’ve bridged my counseling and humanities worlds with research on contemplative pedagogy: I presented on the topic in the Netherlands in 2023, and the manuscript is currently in the process toward publication.

As of 2025, I’m actively involved in professional advocacy research. I am working on two qualitative research projects focused on 1) counseling leaders’ perspectives on the legislative and regulatory future of counseling, and 2) educators’ perspectives on problems of professional competence among counseling educators.

2023 EB-ACA Conference: My first education session with Dr. Amanda DeDiego (right) and Dr. Rachael Marshall (left).

Leadership

My leadership experiences in the counseling field began with joining in the reactivation of Chi Sigma Sigma at Sacramento State from 2021-2023. 

In 2022, I was selected as an Emerging Leader by the Western Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (WACES; pictured below). This experience enabled me to travel to Portland for my first professional counseling conference (WACES) in 2022.

Upon graduating from Sacramento State in 2023, I was awarded Outstanding School Counseling Student by faculty, and Outstanding Mentor by my classmates. I loved my time in the program, and am also glad that my time there is concluded. Finally, I have recently completed Chi Sigma Iota’s 2024-2025 Leadership Fellows and Intern program.

2022 WACES Conference: Emerging Leaders program cohort meeting, with leadership from ACES and WACES.