The AAMFT Blog

Experience AAMFT15 Anywhere

Get a glimpse of this year’s annual conference even if you’re not able to be in Austin, TX this Labor Day weekend! Here’s how:

Watch a livestream of John Bul Dau’s keynote address, Between Two Worlds on Friday, September 5 at 10:45 am – 12:15 pm CT. Register here.

Follow the hashtag #AAMFT15 on Twitter to get real-time updates on everything conference directly from attendees tweeting what they are hearing and seeing during conference. You don’t need to be a Twitter user to see these updates, which are worth a look.

Periscope is a new live-broadcasting video streaming platform with over 10 million users. Periscope works in conjunction with Twitter, alerting you when someone is starting to broadcast. There is also an interactive element during certain broadcasts in which you can ask live questions using a chat box.

During AAMFT15, we will be live-broadcasting various events for those of you not in attendance to get a glimpse into conference! To view a broadcast, you will need to have Periscope on your smartphone or tablet.

Follow AAMFT on Instagram and check out the hashtag #IAmAnMFT, where MFTs will be posting photos and videos to share what makes the profession of marriage and family important. Post your own video with the hashtag and help us spread the message of the value of relational therapy!

Senate introduces legislation to allow MFTs to be reimbursed under Medicare

We are happy to report that the senate has finally introduced legislation that would allow MFTs to be reimbursed under Medicare. The bill, S.1830, the "Mental Health Access Improvement Act", was introduced by Senator John Barasso (R-WY) and co-sponsored by Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI). Representatives Chris Gibson (R-NY) and Mike Thompson (D-CA) introduced the identical House version, H.R.2759 - Mental Health Access Improvement Act of 2015, in June.

Allowing MFTs the opportunity to participate in the Medicare program, the bills expand the number of mental health providers available to beneficiaries and prevents seniors from aging out of their coverage when they turn 65 and go on Medicare.  This is especially important when you realize that the CDC has stated that depression, “is the most prevalent mental health problem among older adults,” and that depressive disorders can negatively impact the treatment of other chronic diseases. And while 80 percent of depressive disorder cases can be treated many of them remain untreated or undertreated in older adults. In addition, many Medicare beneficiaries live in mental health professional shortage areas. The shortage will get significantly worse as the Baby Boomers enroll in the program and current mental health service providers retire.

This bipartisan and bicameral legislation is pure common sense. The U.S. Senate has twice passed legislation recognizing MFTs under Medicare (S 1 in 2003 and S 1932 in 2005), while the House also has twice passed such legislation (HR 3162 in 2007 and HR 3962 in 2009).

AAMFT continues to work to build support for the legislation, including a planned major grassroots advocacy push in the fall and direct meetings with legislators to talk about the importance of MFTs in Medicare. For more information please contact Ed Hill at AAMFT at [email protected].

For more information on MFTs and Medicare, go to our website.

 

Dating, Mating & Marrying in the Age of Social Media

Apps, texts, status updates, and profiles - we communicate, socialize and even date via our social media networks. But what are we missing while we wait for the next text or update? What do we miss out on if we're always logged in?

On Friday September 25, Dr. Alexandra H. Solomon will host a webinar about the intersection of technology and love. She will discuss how our digital age has added enormous complexity to relational communication and romance. Dr. Solomon will provide participants with information and ideas about how to help individuals and couples use social media to enhance and expand their love lives, not replace them. Specifically, participants will learn how to:

• Consider how technology is influencing how we think about and experience love including common misconceptions, timeless questions, and recent trends
• Engage clients in dialog about modern romance in a way that avoids simplistic formulations and easy answers
• Create a therapeutic environment in which clients, especially emerging adults, can quiet the external noise in order to grow their relational self-awareness and create authentic and healthy intimate relationships

Register here!

Dr. Alexandra H. Solomon is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychology at Northwestern University, and she is a licensed clinical psychologist at The Family Institute at Northwestern University. In addition to her clinical work with couples and individuals and her clinical supervision with gradate trainees, she teaches at the graduate and undergraduate level at Northwestern University. She teaches Intimate Relations I in the Master of Science in Marriage and Family Therapy (MSMFT) program and Building Loving and Lasting Relationships: Marriage 101. This innovative and popular undergraduate course has received local, national, and international media attention. Dr. Solomon has published a number of articles and book chapters, she presents to a variety of audiences, and she consults frequently with the media on topics related to marriage and family, including Oprah Winfrey Network (#OWNshow), O Magazine, The Atlantic, CBS Early Show, and NPR.

Dr. Solomon is the author of Brave, Deep, Intimate: 20 lessons to Get You Ready for the Love of a Lifetime (New Harbinger) which will be published in February 2017.

She can be found on the web at www.dralexandrasolomon.com, on Facebook at Dr. Alexandra Solomon, and on Twitter at @AHSolomon. 

 

Change to the ICD-10

Effective October 1, 2015, all providers need to start using the ICD-10 instead of the ICD-9. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is the agency responsible for enforcing this change.

Below are links that you might find helpful to prepare for this transition. We also encourage you to subscribe to the CMS updates on the ICD-10.   

CMS.gov

World Health Organization

CMS Provider Resources

ICD Infographic

Introduction to ICD-10: A Guide for Providers

 (click to enlarge)

Inside Out: The Complexity of the Human Experience

Have you ever been told that you cannot possibly feel sadness and joy simultaneously? That loving a person who has hurt you makes no sense? Toss a third or fourth emotion into the mix at the same time and advice pours in to "help" you figure out which is the right one to feel. When you hear these statements of singularity is there a part of you that wonders 'well, why not?' just before you shift into the most culturally acceptable stance?

Today I want you to know that it is IMPOSSIBLE to have only one feeling about any given event or situation. Think about becoming a parent for the first time. Do you remember feeling terrified, excited, blissful, confident, sad and doubting all at the same time? Was there an internal or external (or both) voice saying "Don't be ridiculous, this should be the happiest time of your life! You can't feel ______ (fill in the blank with a generally unacceptable emotion for the occasion)!"?

These voices suggesting a singular response, although very well meaning, are just plain wrong. The intention is to simplify and make sense of a complex emotional state. I get it. It's a lot easier to only feel angry at the person who betrayed you. It takes a lot of energy and sometimes even *gasp* help to weed through the layers of disappointment, sadness, doubt, relief and anticipation.

We deny the complexity of the human experience when we pick only one emotion to be allowable at any given time for ourselves or those around us. We impose shame by suggesting that certain ways of feeling are wrong by believing that there is only one right way to feel. Shame leads to the deep down belief that we are inherently flawed and unworthy of love. Shame is a topic for a later post.

Disney's new Inside Out offers a wonderful depiction of the complexity of our emotional selves. I highly recommend you check it out with your kids, grandkids, neighbors kids, your own inner kid, and let it be the springboard for curious conversation and exploration of ALL of the possible feelings associated with any given situation.

Lauren Pedersen, LMFT,  is the clinical and program coordinator of the CCSU Family Therapy Institute at the Outpatient Children's Psychiatric Clinic of Klingberg Family centers.  Her professional passions are training/teaching and supervising MFT clinical interns and bringing high quality, effective clinical services to the families in impoverished and underserved communities. This post was originally published on the Facebook page of The Ana Grace Project, the foundation of AAMFT15 keynote speaker Nelba Marquez-Greene, of which Lauren is a partner and works closely with to bring clinical services to elementary schools in New Britian, CT.