VAMFT Newsletter (v. 4, no. 2)

• A Letter from the President
• Student and Associate Members: How Can I Represent You, Help Me Count the Ways!
• VAMFT on the Net
• VAMFT CONFERENCE CHANGED
• Scott Johnson, Ph.D., Past President of VAMFT, WINS AAMFT DIVISION CONTRIBUTION AWARD
• TWO VOTING REFERENDUMS COMING UP IN DECEMBER 1999
• VAMFT OFFICER ELECTIONS
• On VAMFT from Across the Country

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A Letter from the President
by Anne Prouty, Ph.D., L.M.F.T

As the beautiful leaves fall from the trees and the cycle of life comes full circle, so ends this Board's term in office. During the last two years, VAMFT has continued to promote the profession of Marriage and Family Therapy in Virginia, while simultaneously collaborating with fellow mental health professionals to support Virginians' mental health and family systems. In addition to the wide variety of professional mental health services MFTs provide, we are active in the Virginia and National Legislative processes, publish books and train new professionals, and are consultants to a variety of neighbors including schools, businesses and disaster relief centers.

In the arena of parity for MFT and the regulation of LMFTs in Virginia, our opinions again are diverse. The current regulations of the LMFT both exceed and simultaneously do not meet the standards for clinical membership in AAMFT, and because of the shortcomings of the educational requirements the Virginia license remains one of the few not recognized (of the 42 US licenses) by AAMFT. On the other hand, the clinical hour requirement of 2000 clinical therapy hours is a significant hurdle for new professionals to earn the license -- especially when obtaining employment and clients without a license continues to be more and more difficult. Rallying for mental health parity and helping our members to market the value of MFT with potential employers, referral sources, reimbursement corporations and clients remains a priority for VAMFT.

In addition to parity issues we, as mental health professionals, have many other priorities that are near and dear to our hearts such as: continuing education, networking, ethics, research, training and service to our communities. Taking all into consideration, the VAMFT Board has continued to identify and allocate VAMFT's resources toward these interests and priorities. In December of 1998 we met and established our 1999 Strategic Plan. We identified and prioritized several objectives, then brainstormed ways to meet those objectives. From that has developed a five year legislative plan, the Spring 2000 conference and several committees. Let's look at some activities that are in the process of being developed.

VAMFT Strategic Plan: Phase 2000

1. Market MFT's as being expert Mental Health Care Providers AND about Family Issues
   1. Activate Membership Committee
   2. Identify Members who already provide their expertise to their communities (outside their practice)
   3. Establish a reference network for legislators, reporters, and column writers
   4. Identify members willing to write columns about family issues
   5. Identify members serving on Red-Cross and other crisis teams (school violence, floods, etc.)
   6. Utilize AAMFT marketing knowledge and help our members use it (town meetings, web page, marketing brochure)
2. Determine if there are any legislative avenues to obtain third party reimbursement for LMFTs
   1. Establish a Vendership Committee
   2. Design a legislative action plan
   3. Design a funding action plan
3. Support Professional Education and VAMFT as a member of a Mental Health Care Community
   1. Reinstate the annual VAMFT Conference (find topics that appeal to our fellow mental health professionals too)
   2. Town-Meetings: perhaps some about new therapy ideas, ethics or supervision
   3. Continue to nurture our relationships with fellow mental health professionals, professional organizations and within our communities

VAMFT Committees

VAMFT has recently revived several Committees. Most have meeting dates set for 1999 and the rest will meet in early 2000. The President appoints a Chairperson with the approval of the Board. Each Committee is asked to meet at least twice a year in person, and is encouraged to meet at least two more times a year via the internet or a conference telephone connection. Each Committee creates its own goals, according to the members' perceptions of VAMFT's members' needs, and the strategic plans of AAMFT and VAMFT. The Committees are responsible to the Board and report as directed. The terms of committee membership are two years. Only the members of the Election Committee need to be voted into office. All members are invited to join a Committee!!

Elections: Prepares a slate of nominees for all elected positions, and shall oversee the elections of such positions as provided by the VAMFT Bylaws and in rules and procedures adopted by the Board for elections.

Membership/Ethics: This committee is responsible for dispensing information on AAMFT membership requirements and application procedures. It is responsible for educating members and the public about AAMFT's Code of Ethical Principles for Marriage and Family Therapists.

Finance: This Committee assists the Treasurer in preparing the annual budget for approval by the Board and the membership and is responsible for making financial recommendations to the Board.

Legislative: This Committee, with Board approval, interacts with State and US legislative bodies to ensure recognized standards of care and practice are maintained among marriage and family therapists.

Professional Development/Conference: This committee is responsible for the planning and execution of conferences, town meetings and other professional development opportunities.

Vendership: If approved by the upcoming election, this Committee would be responsible for designing, planning and executing a Virginia Parity plan. They would work together with the Legislative Committee on legislative parity matters. The Vendership (sometimes referred to as the parity committee) would also focus on issues such as: employing MFTs, HMO panel access, and marketing MFT to payers, clients, and referral sources. If we were able to get enough members on this committee, we could develop regional task forces who could attend to the unique practice challenges in each region in Virginia.



The most valued, and perhaps underutilized, VAMFT resource remains its members. VAMFT needs you! If we all knew more about what we were each doing toward our goals, we could support and advocate for each other on a grander scheme. Sometimes, especially if you live in Richmond, it would really help just to have someone available to attend a meeting, or talk to a legislator or legislator's aid. We could also get more accomplished as a professional organization if more of us gave one day a month to work for VAMFT. Knowing we are all very busy people, a day a month could still be doable for everyone. Please ask yourself: how could I contribute my energy and expertise? Do I have more ideas?

It has been an honor to work as your President for the past two years. I have met a lot of wonderful people and learned a lot about the field of Marriage and Family Therapy. I look forward to our future together in Virginia. I want to thank all of the members of the current Board for their time, their energy, their ideas and their commitment to VAMFT. I wish the next Board and each of you all of the best for the new year!
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Student and Associate Members: How Can I Represent You, Help Me Count the Ways!
by Peter Michaels, M.S., Interim Student/Associate Representative

For those of you who don't know me already, allow me to introduce myself. I've lived in Virginia since 1977, and I first learned of the profession of systemic marriage and family therapy while working at Prince William County's Crisis Intervention and Drug Detox Program. I entered the Virginia Tech Northern Virginia Graduate Center's MFT Master's program in 1991, taking classes on a part-time basis. I left my job at Prince William County and began taking classes full time in 1994. I finally graduated from Virginia Tech last year, and have been trying to navigate the licensure process ever since.

I first came in contact with members of the VAMFT Board of Directors as part of completing my Master's degree, and continued attending Board meetings to learn more about licensure and other issues affecting the profession. I am very grateful to all the members of the Board for allowing me to observe their meetings, for answering my questions, and for listening to my comments, concerns, and suggestions. I am especially obliged to Dr. Anne Prouty for facilitating my attendance at the AAMFT Leadership Development Conference both last year and this year, and to Mr. Scott Edwards for all of his generous personal support.

It is because of such experiences as those listed above that Dr. Prouty and the Board asked me to fill the remainder of Mr. Edwards' position when he announced he would be leaving Virginia before the completion of his term of office. So that is how I came to be your new Student/Associate Membership Representative on the VAMFT Board of Directors without being elected.

In order for me to represent you and advocate on your behalf, I need to know your concerns. Although my previous experience as a Student member, and my recent experience as an Associate member, have informed me of many members' concerns, I also want to make sure I am aware of your individual needs. To that end, I will be calling some of you at random over the next few months to ask if we can chat for a few minutes. I look forward to speaking with you, and hearing from you directly. If you would like to contact me at your convenience, please feel free to e-mail me at pmichaels@aol.com.

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VAMFT on the Net

Our award winning VAMFT web site (at www.vamft.org and www.therapy.org) has now been available on the Internet for one year. In that time it has grown to where it receives over 9,000 "hits" each month, coming from over 800 unique sites from around the world. Since June, the three most frequently accessed pages, in order, have been the "About Marriage and Family Therapy" page, the "VAMFT Links" page, and the "About Marriage and Family Therapy Licensure in Virginia" page. The "VAMFT Referral Directory" page has been among the top five visited pages every month since July! We hope that you, our members, are finding the web site useful. As always, we invite your suggestions and thoughts on how we can keep improving it.

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VAMFT CONFERENCE CHANGED

We have had to make several changes to the VAMFT 2000 Conference, due to funding and participation problems. (We were unable to establish external funding and we only received three presentation proposals.) The Board has cancelled the Williamsburg Conference.

Instead, the Conference Committee is designing a one day Conference in Chester, Virginia. We will verify the date as soon as possible and send out a flyer in early January. This year we are especially interested in strength/resource based systemic therapies working with families struggling with addiction, violence and school problems. If you are interested in joining the conference committee or presenting on a systemic therapy with families, please contact VAMFT.

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Scott Johnson, Ph.D., Past President of VAMFT, WINS AAMFT DIVISION CONTRIBUTION AWARD

We wish Dr. Johnson a hearty congratulations for being one of the winners of the AAMFT Division Contribution Award at the 1999 AAMFT Annual Conference in Chicago! We whole heartedly thank him for his many years of devoted service to the membership of VAMFT, the promotion of the profession of MFT in Virginia, and his continued efforts to the profession as current AAMFT Treasurer.

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TWO VOTING REFERENDUMS COMING UP IN DECEMBER 1999

This is your 30 days notice that a ballot for all of the following will be posted to you on December 5th. Your ballot must be postmarked by December 30th to be considered. Results will be posted on the VAMFT web page and in the next Newsletter.

PART I. VAMFT BOARD OFFICER ELECTIONS: Elections are to be held for ALL Offices. Please see Elections article.

PART II. VAMFT BYLAWS REVISIONS: After much discussion the VAMFT Board suggests two revisions to the current VAMFT Bylaws. Both suggested revisions are designed to enhance the preparation of new Officers, maintain more VAMFT Board continuity and provide better representation of and service to the members of VAMFT.

A. The first revision would enable the VAMFT Board to be elected in two year rotations. The benefit of this is that VAMFT would not have such a potentially difficult "catch up" time every two years as we experienced with our election, when almost all of the Board were new. When all the Board members are elected at the same time, we risk losing momentum the Board members try to figure out what they are supposed to be doing. If we staggered elections, some experienced Board members could teach the newer ones and VAMFT memory and momentum could be maintained. Category A would be elected one year, and Category B the next year. (If passed, those persons elected this December in "Category B" would serve shorter terms.)

Category A	Category B
President Elect	Northern VP
Eastern VP	Central VP
Southwestern VP	Student/Associate Rep.
Treasurer	Secretary

B. Change the VAMFT Board Elections so that members would be elected in April, to officially begin their offices in June. Currently VAMFT Board members are elected in December and begin in January, right in the middle of the Virginia Legislative period. This mid-legislative election is confusing for the Board members, as they enter in the middle of a very fast paced time and often do not feel prepared to represent VAMFT to State and National Legislators. We risk losing momentum and effectiveness every other year. With the rekindling of the VAMFT Conference, we are electing people right before the Conference. If we elected in April we could announce the new Officers at the Conference but give them two months to train before expecting them to assume their offices and responsibilities on June 1. (This couldn't take effect until the next set of elections, as we need people in all of the positions now.)
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VAMFT OFFICER ELECTIONS

It's time again to elect new VAMFT Board Members. What? you say! What would I do in this office? Well, here's a list of some possible things each of the Officers do on the Board.

• President: At the AAMFT level, the President represents VAMFT at the two AAMFT Leadership Conferences each year. The President is a member of the Council of Division Presidents (CDP), an advising counsel to the AAMFT Board. The President may chose to serve on Division President Committees. The President is a part of the Division President Listserve, by which he/she asks for ideas and provides ideas to the other Division Presidents. One of the important projects that the CDP did during the last two years was to pool resources to develop a MFT Marketing brochure. We are still working on a national marketing campaign. On the State level, the President represents VAMFT in meetings with legislators, the Attorney General, other professional organizations, and Licensing Board meetings, although other VAMFT members are encouraged and invited to do this also. The President is the current contact person for the VAMFT web page, referral requests, advertisers, and the media. We are working to delegate the latter two of these tasks to our very qualified members. Within VAMFT, the President also leads the VAMFT Board meetings, appoints committee chairs and oversees the running of VAMFT. Because VAMFT has no staff, the President often delegates tasks to member volunteers and attends the startup meetings of new committees and projects. The President also tries to attend VAMFT Town Meetings, wherever they are in the Commonwealth.
• President Elect: At the National Level, the President Elect attends the two AAMFT Leadership meetings in order to enhance her/his understanding of AAMFT and VAMFT's place within the organization. There are training sessions held especially for Division Presidents Elect (DPEs) and this is an important opportunity to establish a national network for Virginia. The DPE is also a member of the Division Presidents' Listserve (via e-mail). At the State Level, Virginia's DPE serves as the Chair of the Legislative Committee. We have traditionally done this to provide mentorship from the President on the many methods of the Virginia Legislative process and to get the DPE known in the State. Since this is the DPE's primary responsibility, their energy can be focused on the tasks outlined by the Board in the previous year's strategic plan. AAMFT and the DP Listserve provides a lot of support and good ideas. Since we are currently in a planning and building mode, this is a great time to move into the President Elect position.
• Regional Vice Presidents: At the National Level, the DPE may be asked for a referral -- although with AAMFT's new comprehensive "Find a Therapist" this need has decreased. Since it's in such close proximity, to the point that we do not have to get any additional hotel rooms, the Vice Presidents are invited to go to the April AAMFT Leadership Conference held in the Washington DC area every year. At the Virginia level, the Vice Presidents represent the membership in their areas. This can be especially important as our four areas tend to need very different things from VAMFT. The Vice Presidents must serve on one VAMFT Committee and are asked to participate in any Town Meeting within their Region.
• Student/Associate Representative: Although all Board members are supposed to know and understand various members' needs, the Student/Associate Representative is the Officer who pays special attention to the needs of both the Student Members and the Associate Members. The Student/Associate member is the only position among all Board members and Committee Chairs who is not a Clinical Member. This Officer does have a vote at VAMFT Board meetings. In addition to attending VAMFT Board and Town Meetings, for the past several years the Student/Associate Representative has gone to all AAMFT Leadership Conferences. The Student/Associate Representative also held a VAMFT Issues discussion in Falls Church in April, 1999, at the request of local Student/Associate members. The Student/Associate Representative is also called upon to represent VAMFT members at legislative, licensing board and other meetings relevant to parity, as the issues for novice and non-licensed members are often different from those of licensed members. This is an excellent opportunity to gain valuable leadership skills and learn more about the profession of MFT.
• Secretary: The Secretary is responsible for taking and distributing the minutes for all the board meetings. The Secretary also handles the VAMFT membership lists, and distributes welcome and AAMFT anniversary membership letters. The Secretary is also occasionally asked to do special mailings to the membership or work with another officer on a membership project.
• Treasurer: The Treasurer designs the budget, is responsible for writing checks to pay all bills, keeps VAMFT's books, submits VAMFT's IRS paperwork, submits VAMFT's paperwork to AAMFT, and handles the hiring of an outside accountant to perform an audit about every two years. This officer does not take total responsibility for VAMFT's money, as the budget is approved by the Board and all checks must carry two signatures. This person can be trained in basic accounting procedures and the IRS laws pertaining to VAMFT.

All Board Members: Attend between 4 or 5 Board meetings a year. In the past we have held them in person and in Richmond. However, with e-mail and other advanced technology, it could be possible to have a conference call or an electronic (chat room type) of VAMFT Board meeting. The Board would decide the days and the length of the meetings. They have typically lasted three hours, but it has been suggested that we keep them down to 4 a year and hold longer meetings. One of the meetings is usually a two day retreat, during which the Board gets to know each other, talks about the members' needs and plans for the next year.

If you would like to run for an office: Please contact Rick Peterson and provide him with a brief description of yourself and a paragraph about what you'd like to see VAMFT do for its members. This will be printed on the ballots. Contact: Rick Peterson, Ph.D.; Human Development, 0416; Virginia Tech; Blacksburg, VA 24061
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On VAMFT from Across the Country
by Scott Edwards, M.S., Past VAMFT Student-Associate Representative

Several weeks ago, I was invited to attend the Oregon Divisional Board meeting. As some of you may know, I have recently moved to Oregon as I complete my doctoral internship in marriage and family therapy from Virginia Tech. Attending the Oregon Divisional board meeting, I had several feelings and reflections come to me.

I am thankful and grateful of the leadership opportunities provided to me through VAMFT. I gained knowledge of the profession as well as of pertinent issues. I have benefited from attending the AAMFT National Leadership conferences and even more so from watching, interacting with, and shadowing current and past board members of VAMFT. For example, speaking on your behalf with Virginia's U.S. Legislators last spring with Dr. Anne Prouty and Dr. Scott Johnson. Second, I feel honored to have represented you, the Student and Associate members of VAMFT, in legislative, parity, and various other issues. VAMFT has some difficult, yet attainable, goals. I want to thank the many Student and Associate members that communicated with me regarding their concerns and aspirations.

While attending the meeting in Oregon and seeing similarities and differences in divisional goals, I experienced feeling both excitement and disappointment. A part of me feels excited as VAMFT has utilized its resources to focus in on several important aspects of licensure and parity. Although there is emphasis on strengthening the Virginia LMFT to raise it to the minimum national standards, I am excited about VAMFT's commitment to the issue of parity. Another part of me feels disappointment as I am 3,000 miles away from the next Town Meeting. I encourage everyone to participate in future Town Meetings in your area. This summer, the Town Meeting in Falls Church was very informative. Although attendance was low, I believe those attending gained valuable information from the presentations, discussions, available pamphlets and information sheets. Knowledge and skills were provided on specific issues to address as well as on how to talk with Legislators and managed care companies. Furthermore, we heard directly from Senators, Delegates and two Managed Care representatives about current issues and parity. I am disappointed as I will not be present to attend another Town Meeting and contribute to the goals of VAMFT and its members.

Accomplishing our goals toward parity will take the involvement and investment of the membership. I encourage every member to at least contact (in person if possible) one legislator, one managed care representative, or one potential employer of MFTs. Identify yourself as a Marriage and Family Therapist, inform them about what we do, and briefly discuss relevant issues of mental health care parity such as freedom of patient choice, equivalent standards and equivalent reimbursement, or equivalent training and job opportunities. Attending the next Town Meeting in your area or joining a committee is a fun and excellent way to learn how to do this and advance the profession of MFT in Virginia. If we are to succeed everyone must get involved. Parity is a grassroots project.

I want to thank you again for the past year and a half with VAMFT. I have been honored to represent the Student/Associate membership at every VAMFT Board meeting and appreciate the feedback and input you provided. I am also grateful for the leadership experiences and mentoring from the current president, Anne Prouty, as well as past and present VAMFT board members. I can still be contacted at sedwards@vt.edu to answer any questions or share my experiences. I look forward to hearing about the success of VAMFT and its members from 3,000 miles across the country.

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