Letter from the President – Facing Organization Changes in the New Year

by Denise Parent, LMFT, President of CTAMFT (president@ctamft.org)

You may have seen, or will begin to see, a number of communications from AAMFT regarding its potential restructuring process, which will be raised for a membership vote in summer 2015. As the Board President, I am committed to sharing what we in Connecticut know, how we understand it, as well as share our opinions.

First, I’d like to thank everyone who took the time to respond to our Connecticut Division Survey this fall regarding your thoughts about a potential restructure. Your input was helpful and has been shared not only with our Board of Directors, but also with the national organization. I am pleased to confirm that the majority of our Connecticut members truly value this division and what we offer our members.

This October, our President-Elect, Heather Ehinger, as well as our Student Directors, Jessica Floyd and Michelle Triompo, attended AAMFT’s Annual Conference and Division Leaders meeting in Wisconsin, where a potential reorganization of AAMFT was discussed.

In short, AAMFT’s Board of Directors voted on the task force recommendation to eliminate the mandatory two-tier dues structure that requires members to pay state division dues in addition to AAMFT national dues. In the proposed restructure, members will pay national dues and then have the option to pay to join an array of special interest groups, which may include regional areas or states, a la carte. It is not clear how many geographic regions will (or won’t) be defined, but AAMFT has said that joining legislative special interest group(s) will be free.

As a Board, we continue to be concerned about what seems to be a lack of an operational plan. We have not received information about how transitions are envisioned, what a new national organization would look like, what special interest groups would be offered, and where and what criteria would be used to define special interest groups or geographic regions.

Most importantly, we don’t know what the strategies are for strong local and national advocacy for the MFT profession throughout the US and Canada – even as AAMFT adds goals for transnational and global outreach. There doesn’t appear to be any collection of data on the professional assets of each unique local division, or consideration of how those assets will be rolled into the larger picture.

One major gap I’d like to share is that a vote to change bylaws under the current regulations excludes student members who represent the millennial demographic (birth year from early 1980s to early 2000s) that AAMFT hopes to engage.

Because of these concerns, we have concluded as a Board that if a bylaw change vote is raised, we will all vote “no.”  This is not because we are against a progressive change that is essential for our professional organization to be innovative, competitive and relevant to the future of mental health services.   Rather, we cannot support change that lacks a plan that is able to provide explicit strategies as to how AAMFT will resource and sustain local attention to the inevitable opportunities and threats that arise and impact Connecticut MFTs.

We believe that all division leaders should be meaningfully utilized in building the future vision. We also believe that the whole membership, including students, should have the opportunity to dialogue and vote on the shape of an organization that has the power to impact their professional lives. As members and funders of the association, we have yet to see information concerning the actual budgeted cost of the proposed transition and how funds in the new organizational structure will be distributed. As such, we feel a lack of essential information in order to exercise our ability to vote on the new bylaws as informed members of our professional organization.

The CTAMFT Board believes strongly that our main focus must still remain on our profession, and we have continued to operate CTAMFT in its full capacity. We will continue to do so, while committing to helping AAMFT to fulfill their responsibilities to our profession, as our national organization.

We hope that the discussion thread taking place in the AAMFT Community will soon be available for all members, so that you may read a variety of Division Leaders perspectives about the restructure in addition to AAMFT’s communications. In the meantime, we will continue to keep our Connecticut members updated. And as always, please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions/comments.

Enjoy the holiday season and I appreciate your time and attention always.

Conference News

Thank you to all who attended this year’s Annual Spring Conference: “The New Brain Science of Connection.”  We are thrilled to have shared this experience with over 300 practitioners.  Across the board, feedback to all of the keynotes and presentations was outstanding!  We do take all input into consideration when planning for future conferences; so thank you to those of you who gave us your input.

Business Update

In addition to what’s covered in relation to the conference theme, CTAMFT also takes the opportunity, while we have so many members in attendance, to bring members up to speed on the state of CTAMFT.  If you missed the conference, please link here for a copy of the 2013 Business Report (which includes financials).

Poster Session Awards

This year CTAMFT’s Poster Committee received a record-breaking number of poster submissions.  We are also pleased to share we received submissions from all five MFT programs throughout the State.  There were 12 posters on display at this year’s conference, which were voted on by CTAMFT’s Board of Directors.  Congratulations to the following Poster Award Recipients, who each received $100.

 

Allison Collins:  Therapist Attachment and the Therapy Relationship (Collins, A. M. & Parker, M. L.)

The existing research supports the role of clients’ attachment style as an influence on the therapeutic relationship, which affects clinical outcomes. However, therapists’ attachment style has been relatively unexplored in the development of the therapeutic relationship. The goal of this study was to explore attachment style differences in the development of the therapy relationship. Findings have implication for clinical education and supervision.

Selena Gürman:  Partner/Parental Acceptance and Psychological Adjustment of Asian Adults (Gürmen, M.S., Ki, P., Rigazio-DiGilio, S. A., & Rohner, R. P.)

Parental acceptance-rejection theory predicts psychological adjustment tends to be affected by perceived partner acceptance and remembered parental acceptance. This study explored three questions with Asian adults in US: (1) Is partner acceptance correlated with psychological adjustment associated with parental acceptance? (2) Do remembrances of parental acceptance predict the association between partner acceptance and psychological adjustment? (3) Are there gender differences in these relationships? This study provides information to clinicians about Asian adult clients who deal with parental and partner acceptance and rejection.

Hyeseong Kang:  Clinical Use of the Story Stem Method in Marriage and Family Therapy: Theory, Research and Practice (Kang, H., Yoo, Y., & Robinson, J.)

Young children are known to have a limited capacity in describing their inner experience. The MacArthur Story Stem Battery (MSSB) is a standardized doll-play story-completion technique that can explore young children’s internal representations of family relationships. We provide the overview of theories and research of the method.Further, we discuss potential clinical usefulness of MSSB in marriage and family therapy, along with comparing story responses of a typical child with those of a child whose family is presented with specific problems.

Service Awards

Service to the Organization: Dorothy Timmermann is this year’s recipient of CTAMFT’s “Service to the Organization” Award.  Dorothy has been a Clinical Member of AAMFT since 1992.  She has been an Executive team Officer on the CTAMFT Board since 2008, when she began as Secretary through her Presidency, from 2010-2013.

Dorothy applied the same grace to taking minutes as she did to running the annual conference.  During her tenure, she reorganized staffing structure, gently moved the CTAMFT Board to create and hold to a strategic plan, and she welcomed speakers and members to the organization in such a warm and characteristic way that any leader with the luck to learn from her could not help but be influenced for the better.  Link here to read more about this recognition.

Service to Families Award:  This year, in honor of our conference theme of innovation, we are marking the way that love and relationship tends to break new ground.  The CTAMFT Board is delighted to present the Service to Families award to a couple who has terrifically impacted the fields of family studies, family therapy and family medicine. They have both blazed individual trails, while expanding their influence exponentially as a partnership.  Dr. Robert Ryder and Dr. Jeri Hepworth are this year’s honorees.  Link here to read more about this recognition.

2015 Conference

Save the date!  CTAMFT’s Annual Spring Conference is scheduled for Thursday, April 30-Friday, May 1, 2015.  Based on attendee’s recent feedback, we are planning some exciting changes for the 2015 conference.  Stay tuned for more information!

Student Committee Corner!

Jessica Floyd, Student Representative and Mika Vinci, Student Consultant
CTAMFT Student Committee (students@ctamft.org) 

Pamela N. Griffin Scholarship Award
Would you like to attend the national AAMFT Conference in Wisconsin next year? Or perhaps this year’s CTAMFT Annual Conference: The New Brain Science of Connection?  Here’s how you can apply to receive either $500 for the national conference or full admission to this year’s CTAMFT conference!…

Pamela N. Griffin established a trust to award scholarships to MFT students entering the field of Marriage and Family Therapy.  The intent of the scholarship is to support students wishing to attend CTAMFT, AAMFT and other conferences.

The amount to be awarded will be $1,250 per year, and distributed in two ways:

1. One (1) award of $500.00 for the AAMFT National Conference (or another MFT conference of applicant’s preference).
2. Five (5) awards of $150 to one student member from each MFT program in CT (i.e., one student will be selected from each of the following programs: SCSU, UConn, University of Saint Joseph, CCSU and Fairfield University) to attend CTAMFT’s annual two-day conference.

To receive awarded funds, recipients must submit proof of conference attendance (i.e., proof of registration and attendance).

Application Criteria and Procedures:

• Applicant must be a current MFT student in a Connecticut MFT program.
• Applicant must be an AAMFT Student Member (must submit AAMFT ID# on application).
• Applicant must have a G.P.A. of 3.0 or higher (must submit scan or photocopy of current transcript or written proof from Department Chair or Faculty Supervisor).
• Applicant must complete Pamela N. Griffin Award Application Form.
• Applicant must submit a brief essay (250 words max.) describing goals as a future MFT and how the conference will enhance that goal.
• Applicant must receive a signature on the application form from their MFT Program Director or MFT faculty member.
• Final award will be made upon proof of registration and attendance to Conference (local or national).

Selection Process:

• The $500 award will be selected via a lottery, drawn at random by CTAMFT’s Board of Directors.
• For each of the $150 scholarship awards, one student from each of the five MFT programs in CT will be selected by lottery, drawn at random by CTAMFT’s Board of Directors.

Submit applications electronically to manager@ctamft.org.

Letter from the President – November, 2013

CTAMFT President, Denise Parent, LMFT (president@ctamft.org)

Last month I had the opportunity to represent Connecticut at AAMFT’s annual conference in Portland, Oregon. This year’s theme was “Raising Vibrant Children.” Keynotes encouraged vibrancy; talked about maximizing the contribution of urban and marginalized youth; defined family interventions to promote physical health in children; and discussed what it means to promote resilience.

Council of Division Presidents Meeting
Representing Connecticut, I was one of only three Division Presidents to present at the Council of Division Presidents Meeting. My assigned topic was “engagement,” which I described as paying close attention to the experiences we are creating with our members and figuring out how to connect the work we are all already doing to multiply the result.

The Colorado Division discussed how their leadership increased membership “MFT style” by creating collaborations with other associations. The Illinois Division highlighted the process of “doing their homework,” as they prepared to pass legislation to allow MFTs to be hired in Chicago schools.

Division Leaders also talked about key issues like state-to-state license portability. Another featured topic was the need to compile documentation for legislators about MFT as both an evidence-based and cost-effective treatment modality worthy of Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement.

AAMFT Update
We learned that AAMFT has just begun working with an association management consultant and a task force comprised of a variety of Division Leaders to reorganize the association’s structure.

AAMFT Executive Director, Tracy Todd, announced the formation of a new AAMFT non-profit research foundation, an overhaul of the AAMFT website and “branding,” as well as a move forward on Medicare reimbursement for MFTs by co-funding a cost-effectiveness study to support future legislative efforts. A decision to deliver the AAMFT Approved Supervisor courses and refreshers from the national organization after the year 2015 was also discussed.

AAMFT has also been involved with the Texas division in fighting a lawsuit where MFTs ability to “diagnose” has been challenged. The Association has asked for member support to help fund this initiative, as its outcome is important to us all.

Connecticut Featured at the Conference
Our Connecticut Division was well represented collaboratively by our Executive team, Board members, CTAMFT members and students. A special thank you to Michele Parker, MaryAnn Labella, Sebastian Perumbilly and Jessica Floyd, for the work they did to represent our division.

I’d also like to extend congratulations to former Board member and UCONN faculty member, Rachel Tambling, who was recognized for a “cutting edge poster” about developing measures for motivation for treatment.

Personal Highlights
One of my personal highlights was a workshop by the energetic author Diane Gehart. She conducted a “tour” through all the “evidence” about why MFT works – crystallizing how research supports clinical work.

Keynote speaker Andrae Brown challenged us to acknowledge the loss of collective strength through the ongoing devaluing of young minority and native people. Using Langston Hughes’ “Kids Who Die” poem and clips from a young rapper, he asked us to taste this grief, as losing “the iron in our blood” and aspire to promote the contributions of invisible youth with much to offer.

The final conference keynote was the funny and buoyant Dr. Kenneth Ginsberg, who asserted that working with children is “actually the making of 35 and 50 year olds.” We must recognize effort if we want children to put forth effort. Know that “a child is not a measure of our success, a bumper sticker on our cars.” Challenging us to note his status as a full professor of medicine who also has ADHD, he offered “everything he knew about what children need,” while standing on one foot.

Ironically, during Dr. Ginsberg’s keynote, a child spontaneously toddled up onto the stage and wandered in circles. “Unconditional love is being seen as no one else sees you,” he said. And as the child climbed up to the microphone, Dr. Ginsberg gleefully didn’t skip a beat, as if he had perfectly meant him to be there.

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.