Legislative Committee Seeking Member Involvement

The Legislative Committee of the Board is looking to grow itself by encouraging interested members to get involved and speak up about the policy and regulatory issues that are important to all CT practioners in one way or another. You will NOT be expected to attend regular meetings. Your name will be added to our list of engaged members so that we can keep you informed about the issue/s you are most concerned about and so that we will be able to call on you to use your voice when it can make the greatest difference in the coming months.

Please contact Susan Boritz at sboritz@aol.com with interest.

Be Informed – Get Involved

Dear CTAMFT Members,

AAMFT has asked the membership for feedback concerning the revision to our Code of Ethics. The revisions were assessed as to both the scope of change and the content of the changes. The approved draft of the revised Code of Ethics has generated a reaction piece from seven former Presidents of AAMFT who expressed concerns of replacing “Marriage and Family Therapists” with “AAMFT Members”.

As this is an issue of importance, we wanted to open a more “local” conversation about our professional ethics code with our Connecticut membership to discover what the consensus is regarding the proposed Code revisions.

Below is the response of former Presidents for your review and we encourage you to share your thoughts on via our Facebook page or Blog.

Also, we encourage you to respond directly by January 31, 2012 on the national level to AAMFT’s request for feedback to the proposed revised Code of Ethics. We have provided a draft of the proposed changes to the Code of Ethics in the Members Only section under “AAMFT Code of Ethics” on ctamft.org.

Best regards,
Dorothy

_________________________________________________________________________

Subject: In Protest of the Proposed AAMFT Ethics Code Revisions
Dear Division Presidents, Program Directors, and Officers of the Canadian Registry

The letter below is sent on behalf of seven former AAMFT Presidents to express their deepest concern regarding the proposed changes to the AAMFT Code of Ethics. We would appreciate your sharing it with all AAMFT members in your division, your students, colleagues, and all who care about Marriage and Family Therapy.

In Protest of the Proposed AAMFT Ethics Code Revisions

Dear MFT Family,

We are writing today with a grave concern for the profession of Marriage and Family Therapy that each of us values and has dedicated much or all of our careers to. If you have not seen the proposed revisions to the current AAMFT Ethics Code (Ethics Code), please do so immediately. Amazingly, the Ethics Code Task Force has totally excised the term “Marriage and Family Therapist” from the proposed Code of Ethics. This was done on the dubious grounds that the new AAMFT membership categories mean that not all our members are entitled to call themselves “Marriage and Family Therapists,” and therefore keeping the term “marriage and family therapist” in the Code means the Code would not apply to all our members. Here is an excerpt from the proposed revisions to the first three principles:

1. Responsibility to Clients

Marriage and family therapists AAMFT members advance the welfare of families and individuals. They respect the rights of those persons seeking their assistance, and make reasonable efforts to ensure that their services are used appropriately.

1.1. Non-Discrimination. Marriage and family therapists Members provide professional assistance to persons without discrimination on the basis of race, age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, disability, gender, health status, religion, national origin, orsexual orientation, gender identity or relationship status.

1.2 Informed Consent. Marriage and family therapists Members obtain appropriate informed consent to therapy or related procedures and use language that is reasonably understandable to clients.

But an ethical code is never meant to be directed at a single professional organization, but at the professional field as a whole.  Not one professional organization we have looked at, including the National Association of Social Workers, the American Psychological Association, the American Bar Association, the American Medical Association, the American Counseling Association, the American Nursing Association, and even the Association of Professional Wildlife Biologists directs its ethical code only at its organization’s members.   All direct their strictures at their entire field.

Thus the ABA Rules of Professional Conduct state “A lawyer shall provide competent representation to a client.”   The AMA Code states “A physician shall be dedicated to providing competent medical care, with compassion and respect for human dignity and rights.”   The ACA Code states “Counselors encourage client growth and development in ways that foster the interest and welfare of clients and promote formation of healthy relationships.”   The Ethical Code for Nurses states “The nurse’s primary commitment is to the patient, whether an individual, family, group, or community.”  The NASW Ethical Code states “Social workers’ primary goal is to help people in need and to address social problems.” The APA Code states, “Psychologists strive to benefit those with whom they work and take care to do no harm.”

By doing away with the term “Marriage and Family Therapist” in the Code, the task force has in essence done away with any ethical code for our field.  Should the proposed code go into effect and a member of the public ask, “what is the ethical code for marriage and family therapists?” The only truthful answer would have to be “there is a code for AAMFT members but not for marriage and family therapy.”  This must not happen.

Licensing boards, courts, third party and practitioner liability insurers, employers, the developers of the MFT National Examination, and others that heretofore have adopted the AAMFT Ethics Code as the standard of ethical practice for licensed marriage and family therapists will be utterly unable to use the proposed standards, since they never mention marriage and family therapists.  The proposed standards thus do severe damage to one of the longstanding goals of AAMFT: to increase professional recognition of and respect for our field.  And they directly undermine licensure, reimbursement, liability protection, and new practitioner evaluation, which are all dependent on a profession-wide code of ethics.

The terrible irony is that a professional organization such as our own has an ethical duty to create an ethics code for the entire profession - not simply for its own members. The ultimate purpose of a code, after all, is to protect the public from unethical practice in the profession as a whole. No other entity is capable of fulfilling this obligation.

The National Association of Social Workers’ Code makes this obligation of a professional association explicit in its preamble:

Professional ethics are at the core of social work. The profession has an obligation to articulate its basic values, ethical principles, and ethical standards. The NASW Code of Ethics sets forth these values, principles, and standards to guide social workers’ conduct.The Code is relevant to all social workers and social work students, regardless of their professional functions, the settings in which they work, or the populations they serve. (our emphasis)

The American Medical Association has a similar statement in its code’s preamble:

The medical profession has long subscribed to a body of ethical statements developed primarily for the benefit of the patient. As a member of this profession, a physician must recognize responsibility to patients first and foremost, as well as to society, to other health professionals, and to self.  The following Principles adopted by the American Medical Association are not laws, but standards of conduct which define the essentials of honorable behavior for the physician. (our emphasis)

Yet the proposed revisions to the AAMFT Code strip away the idea that our profession even is marriage and family therapy, as if all we do is some ill-defined mental health activity and not what the U.S. Public Health Service designated many years ago as one of only five “Core Mental Health Disciplines,” and Newsweek recently labeled one of the “Top 50 Occupations of the Decade.”  Here is an excerpt from the new version of our Preamble:

Both law and ethics govern the practice of professionals. Wmarriage and family therapy.

Are we afraid to even name our own field?

Each of us whose name appears below remembers a time when all of us fought for the right to call Marriage and Family Therapy a licensable field, and to place that title after our names. We appeared before state or provincial legislators who routinely asked if what we did was really a profession — did it have a scholarly literature? Did it have standards for training?  Did it have, they all asked, a code of ethics?  If all we had been able to say was that AAMFT had one, but not the field, we would not have anything like 50 states, the District, and two provinces licensed today.

The proposed changes represent a threat to the core of marriage and family therapy, to our right to practice with our clients, to train and supervise our students, to conduct research with members of the public, and to be a recognized and valued mental health discipline. They threaten the right of the public to be protected from unethical practice by any marriage and family therapist. There can be no compromise on this issue.

AAMFT must either speak for our profession as a whole or our profession will die. We urge every AAMFT member, every person who cares about our practice, everyone who cares about the welfare of our clients, and everyone who calls her or himself a marriage and family therapist to contact the AAMFT Board of Directors immediately and protest these changes (coderevisions@aamft.org). Demand that our organization speak clearly and firmly on what ethical practice means in our profession. Demand that AAMFT speak once again not for ourselves, but for our field.

Respectfully,

William C. Nichols,  AAMFT President, 1981-1982
Thomas E. Clark, AAMFT President, 1983-1984
Anna Beth Benningfield, AAMFT President, 1993-1994, 1999-2000
Marcia Lasswell, AAMFT President, 1995-1996
James Morris, AAMFT President, 2001-2002
Scott Johnson, AAMFT President, 2007-2008
Linda Schwallie, AAMFT President, 2009-2010

Open Comment: Code of Ethics

The AAMFT Board of Directors has approved a draft of the revised Code of Ethics and is making available this version for open comment. CTAMFT has posted the draft under the Members-Only section – “AAMFT Code of Ethics” – on ctamft.org. 

Background
In 2009 the AAMFT Board of Directors appointed the Ethics Code Revision Task Force that was to provide recommendations regarding the scope of revisions. The Task Force recommended that incremental changes were necessary but not a complete reorganization or restructuring of the Code.

In 2010, members were surveyed about potential changes needed to the Code. Information was forwarded to the Task Force.

In 2011, the Ethics Code Task Force was appointed and began implementing changes that incorporated member feedback while being mindful of the Revision Task Force recommendations. The Task Force concluded their work and forwarded a draft the AAMFT Board.

The AAMFT Board directed staff to compile a final draft based on the Ethics Code Task Force draft, members input, known changes resulting from bylaws and membership category changes, tempering aspirational with enforceable principles and sub principles, ethics case history and known state and federal regulations.

Next Steps
The AAMFT Board believes this draft encompasses and fulfills the Ethics Revision Task Force recommendation that incremental changes were necessary without a complete rewrite of the Code. Until January 31, 2012, the AAMFT Board would like to collect member feedback recognizing that all feedback is invaluable in contributing either to the Code or the forthcoming Guidebook that will be created following a final approval of the Code. All feedback will be forwarded to the AAMFT Board of Directors.

During the March Board meeting the AAMFT Board of Directors will either accept this draft or direct a Task Force to make additional changes based on member feedback that may identify substantial gaps in the current draft. We sincerely appreciate any and all feedback you can provide to coderevisions@aamft.org.

Letter from the President

Exciting Annual Conference News

Dorothy Timmermann, LMFT, CTAMFT Board President

2012 CTAMFT Annual Conference

Registration is now open for the CTAMFT Annual Conference planned for April 19-20, 2012 at the Mystic Marriott. We have expanded the conference and are excited to share with you the details including the addition of a NEW Career Fair, and a Regional Networking Event for Clinical Members called “Innovations that Work” to be held on Thursday evening. Our venue this year is a beautiful destination and we hope that attendees will consider spending a night or two to enjoy time together, special spa offerings, well deserved personal time or even some family time following the conference. Discounted rooms are available for both Thursday and Friday evenings, details can be found with registration information on our website.

Friday’s Conference features our Second Annual Poster Session, the NEW Career Fair, and a wonderful line-up of Speakers Presentations offering up to 7 Continuing Education Credits to Full-Day Attendees. We are also offering a Half-Day Ticket to those who wish to attend only an Afternoon Workshop, Poster Session and Career Fair.

Speaker presentations for the day include: “It Takes One To Tango: Doing Couples Therapy with Individuals” by Michele Wiener-Davis who is our keynote presenter. Dr. Krista Wells will provide a “Therapist Self-Care” presentation following our Luncheon. Afternoon Workshop offerings include: Dr. Tammy Nelson presenting: “Sex & Intimacy; Treating Couples with Desire Discrepancy and Sexual Dysfunction,” Dr. Rosalyn Dischiavo presenting: “From Work to Play: Reinforcing the Partner Bond by Re-Framing Pleasure,” and Michele Weiner-Davis presenting: “Affairs: A Step by Step Approach for Healing from Infidelity.” Poster presentations will cover a wide array of exciting and innovative topics to be determined.

We hope that you will join us this year for what is sure to be a pleasurable and engaging time!

The Role of Desire and Intimacy in Couples Therapy

Tammy Nelson, PhD

holding-hands

Couples who are satisfied with their sex lives are happier than those who aren’t and are more likely to stay together. Sexually satisfied couples report that they feel more connected and have a more intimate relationship in all areas. Married couples who aren’t having good sex tend to express more frustration with their partner and are more discouraged about the future.

And yet most therapists don’t focus on intimacy and increasing the erotic connection in couples work. Clinicians assume that if they work on the day to day frustrations and increase communication skills that this will lead naturally to a more rewarding sexual life. But good companionship doesn’t necessarily lead to good sex. In fact, it works the other way around.

For more information on helping couples to increase their erotic connection and improve their overall intimacy and well being, go to my website or buy my book Getting the Sex You Want, and learn practical ways to increase desire and intimacy in any relationship.

Dr. Tammy Nelson is a sex and relationship expert and the author of What’s Eating You?, Getting the Sex You Want and the upcoming The New Monogamy due out in 2012. She will be speaking at the CTAMFT Annual Conference on April 20, 2012, on “Intimacy & Desire.”

Marriage Rates at All-Time Low

Macdara MacColl, CTAMFT Editor

Fewer Americans are married today than at any other time in our nation’s history. If the current trajectory continues, married adults will be a minority in a few years, according to a new study released last month by the Pew Research Center.

Pew Research - Marriage

The causes for the decline are not entirely clear. A significant 5% drop in marriage rates in 2010 over 2009 may have to do with the economy. But many of the trends clearly started before the country’s current economic woes. In the 1960s, 72% of all adults were married; today only 51% of adults are. The age of first marriage has been creeping upwards for decades. The median age for first marriage in 1960 was 20.3 for women and 22.8 for men. The current median age for first marriage is now 26.5 for women and 28.7 for men. This means that over the past 50 years, Americans have added almost a decade of single living to their developmental cycle. In addition to young Americans, marriage rates also have heavily declined among less educated, less wealthy Americans. Possibly marriage is not being abandoned, just delayed.

Attitudes toward marriage are also shifting. The Pew Research Center has been asking Americans about marriage attitudes and finds mixed results. Almost 40% of Americans said marriage is becoming obsolete, according to a Pew Research survey in 2010. But in the same survey, most people who had never married said they would like to tie the knot someday. And the divorce rate, which climbed in the 1960s and 1970s, has now leveled off.

As marriage and family therapists, the current conjugal trends underscore the need for conversation among us. Do we consider ourselves therapists for marriage or, more generally, relationship? Does our profession’s very name become antiquated in a country in which less than half of the adults are married? And what are our examined and unexamined assumptions about the meaning of marriage and its role in family? If your clinical clientele is drawn from younger, less affluent Americans, have you noticed the shift away from marriage?

We invite CTAMFT members to join the conversation on our Facebook page and share your insights about the state of marriage in America today and how it affects your practice.

LMFTs to be Reimbursed for More Medicaid Clients

In the last week of 2011, Connecticut’s Behavioral Health Partnership (CTBHP) notified participating clinicians of changes to reimbursement guidelines for licensed masters level clinicians, which includes LMFTs being able to receive payments for more Medicaid clients. Here is the notice from CTBHP:

Independent Practice: Licensed Masters Level Clinicians

Effective January 1, 2012, independent licensed master’s level clinicians (LCSW, LMFT, LPC, LADC) will now be eligible for reimbursement for covered behavioral health services to Medicaid FFS (fee for service) members that are under 21 years of age. Prior to January 1, 2012, master’s level clinicians were only able to be reimbursed for HUSKY and Charter Oak members. Beginning January 1, 2012, master’s level clinicians will be able to be reimbursed for HUSKY A, B, C, D and Charter Oak members under 21 years of age.

See the full report PA 2011-24 – Changes to Business eff 1-1-12 – 12 28 11.

DSM-5 Discussion

As the 2013 anticipated release of the DSM-5 approaches, we find information coming to us that reflects the multiple dialogues that are occurring among the various mental health disciples. As your professional organization, we are sharing these views on our blog forum in order to expand this discussion with our membership. We hope that by doing so, we serve as a venue to “grow” our understanding of the complexity and concerns of this important professional issue.

Please watch this video and start the discussion here! What is the consensus of Connecticut MFTs regarding some of the DSM-5 philosophies?

We eagerly await the discussion.

 

Letter from the President

Building Community
Dorothy Timmermann, LMFT, CTAMFT Board President

Last month, the Board of Directors was welcomed at Central Connecticut State University for a Networking Breakfast followed by our November Meeting. We were so pleased at the warm hospitality and the nice turnout from CCSU students and faculty, as well as others in our community that found the location convenient and were motivated to join the conversation and make connections. This has been the essential goal of ”The Board on the Road” and we plan to continue this next spring, hoping to reach many of you from all areas of our state. In the meantime, we hope that members will reach out to us with ideas, needs, hopes and wishes. We have a number of committees that would benefit tremendously from your involvement as well.

So how do we stay in touch?

connect

We are continuously exploring ways to refine our communications platform and the latest exploration prompted us to revitalize our CTAMFT Blog which you will easily see by clicking here and reading more!

This space will complement our other communication vehicles by providing more space for dialogue and a nice format for our E-News; along with offering opportunities for members to share articles, book reviews, and other interesting information. We welcome submissions to the Blog at ctamft@snet.net and you can follow the Blog by email or RSS feed for your convenience.

In addition to our Blog, CTAMFT has several other communication platforms and each has an intended purpose in serving our membership.

Our website, ctamft.org, has many resources and functions including linking all of our communication vehicles together in one place. It is also the place to see a complete list of CEU Opportunities (under Professional Development) and register for our own events including the Annual Conference which is scheduled for April 20, 2012 (registration will open shortly for that).

The Connecticut Connections Newsletter, published twice annually, is our organization’s way of communicating in a more formal fashion what we hope is most relevant and useful to our membership.

Our Facebook page provides a quick and timely way of communicating to and among each other especially with content regarding events and happenings.

Our Listserv continues to be a fantastic avenue for sharing career opportunities, referrals, available office space, new groups forming, and so forth.

We also have the Connecticut Forum on the AAMFT Community which is a place for discussion to and from your Board of Directors in a members-only space.

social network

Finally, our Marketing and Communications Committee tell me something about the future developments with the use of LinkedIn specifically for networking purposes and even the possibility of Twitter on the horizon. Oh my!

So thank you all for taking the time to connect in one way or another with CTAMFT. The season is getting busy but I hope you join my sentiments in feeling great about being part of our community that shares the common ground of enhancing our lives as MFTs, both personally and professionally.

All my best,
Dorothy

“Pleasure: The Secret Ingredient in Happiness”

CTAMFT is pleased to present another wonderful resource for our membership. Please enjoy this review for a new book, “Pleasure: The Secret Ingredient in Happiness”.

_________________________________________________________

Research States That Pleasure Is Crucial To Happiness: New Book

Do you want to be happier? This book documents 3 years of research on the subject of happiness. The results show that pleasure is the secret ingredient in happiness.

Pleasure is not bad but good for us. Pleasure has been found to be therapeutic in treating stress, anxiety and depression. Pleasure is in fact a crucial component of happiness. Attending to pleasure can change our lives and provide us with a new more balanced life.

Drawing from years of personal and professional experience in social behavior, Marisol Garcia, Ph.D. packs the book with simple and practical guidelines, exercises, and inspiring personal narratives. In this provocative book, you will be inspired to transform your life. In Garcia’s words,“I had to give up the notion that I shouldn’t have pleasure and be pleasured. I didn’t feel I deserved to or should indulge in pleasure. I was scared that if I did, I wouldn’t go to work the next day. But in the end, incorporating pleasure into my life was effortless and made me feel happier. Feeling more happiness gave me more energy and enthusiasm to live my life.”

You can find “Pleasure: The Secret Ingredient in Happiness” in print and ebook format on Amazon and Smashwords.

 

Marisol Garcia is a therapist, social researcher, writer, and lecturer. She received her doctorate from the University of Connecticut. Her private practice is located in Orange, Connecticut and New York City. Marisol is Assistant Director for Partners in Social Research. To learn more about her work, you can visit her website at http://www.garciawestberg.com or http://www.thepleasurecure.com.