California LPCC law passes; should MFTs dually license?

Late in the evening of October 11, Governor Schwarzenegger signed California Senate Bill 788, adding Licensed Professional Clinical Counselors (LPCCs) to the state's masters-level mental health professions, alongside MFTs and LCSWs. Licensure by grandparenting will take place over a six-month period in 2011, with routine licensure starting January 1, 2012. Should MFTs dually license?

For most, there would be no benefit, and significant added expense. Since licensure is inherently a state-based activity, there is no reason to believe that licensing as an LPCC will make one's license more portable; in fact, a license obtained through grandparenting may have greater trouble getting recognized in another state. Add to that the still-unclear question of whether California will recognize national exams in counseling (national exams in MFT and Clinical Social Work are not recognized in the state), and the likelihood of a portability benefit grows even slimmer. The added expense of two renewal fees could be little more than wasted money.

There is, however, a legitimate reason why some MFTs may want to dually license: They want to reflect what their professional orientation has been all along. California was the first state in the US to license MFTs, and the last in the country to license LPCCs. As a result, some who work under the MFT license do so because that was the masters-level entry point into a career in mental health, and not because they particularly identify with systemic concepts. For those therapists, the Clinical Counselor license is probably a better fit.

They will not, however, want to switch over entirely. Counselors will enter the mental health marketplace in California more than four decades after MFTs did, and will need to fight for themselves every battle MFTs waged and won for recognition in hiring and reimbursement. They'll be able to make up ground, but it will be many years before counselors can claim the kind of recognition and stature in the state that MFTs claim today, thanks to decades of good work by CAMFT and AAMFT.

Blogging the AAMFT Conference: Sunday

The AAMFT Annual Conference wrapped up Sunday morning, as the last die-hards snuck in one last 3-hour workshop before drifting up to the Sacramento airport and back home. I was a presenter on Sunday morning, but only if you use the word "presenter" loosely; I led a panel discussion on licensing exams.

Before you go into the automatic response (which is, I believe, "zzzzzzz"), you should know there was one significant piece of news to come out of it: California's Board of Behavioral Sciences and the Association of Marital and Family Therapy Regulatory Boards, who develop the California and National MFT Exams respectively, have agreed to collaborate on their next occupational analyses. It's a small step but a significant one, as it will at least allow for an apples-to-apples comparison of the practice of MFT in California versus around the rest of the country. That kind of comparison would be necessary in any discussion of California eventually moving toward use of the National MFT Exam -- something I believe in very strongly.

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As is the case every year, I leave the conference energized, with many new research ideas, new potential collaborators, and new respect for the amazing work taking place in our field. I also leave Sacramento with renewed appreciation for just how clinically strong our Alliant students are and will be; it wasn't at all unusual to see the best questions in any workshop -- and often the best answers as well -- coming from people with orange "Alliant" stickers on their badges. Great work, everyone. See you in Atlanta next September.

Blogging the AAMFT Conference: Saturday

Susan Johnson stole the show with her plenary presentation at the AAMFT Annual Conference in Sacramento today. Presenting without Powerpoint slides was itself refreshing, but she said several things in a far more eloquent manner than anyone else has this weekend. I'm paraphrasing, but here were a couple of my favorites:

• Therapy needs higher goals than simply reducing conflict. We get better every day at actually creating new love and bonding.
• Emotions have an exquisite logic to them that is not to be ignored or dismissed. For EFT or any other kind of therapy, clients should not expect that they need to leave their intellect at the door.
• Connection with a partner soothes the brain. MRI studies show that an expectancy of shock is mediated when in physical contact with a partner.
• When it comes to sex, research is clear: Practice *and* emotional connection make perfect.

The workshops I attended today were good informationally, but neither was put on by especially dynamic presenters. I learned about marital satisfaction instruments and online education, both of which are eminently practical -- one of the things I like most about the conference.

The evening presentation by Dorothy Becvar was a nice review of the history of the field in terms of its concepts and contributions to mental health. A good (and brief) final plenary to a very good conference. I've heard that the other workshops were greatly varied this year in terms of quality, but that those that were good were incredibly good. The conference concludes tomorrow with a set of 3-hour workshops, including one I'll be moderating on the licensing exam development process. More tomorrow.

Blogging the AAMFT Conference: Thursday/Friday

Today was the first full day of the AAMFT Annual Conference, which is in my former hometown of Sacramento. It's been great catching up with old friends, colleagues, and students -- this event has become as much a reunion for me as an educational experience. Still, I've learned a lot. Here's what I've learned last night and today:

• We've come a long way. The opening plenary on Thursday night was an appreciation of the history of our field, and a celebration of finally accomplishing licensure in all 50 states. Bruce Kuehl did a great job with it, and I may be adding clips from this to the MFT Theories course next year.

• I need to start a Facebook group. I'll call it "MFTers for Changing MFTers for Change." But then a subgroup would probably spring up to try to change my group, and I don't want that kind of trouble.

• Family systems and psychoanalytic principles are not mutually exclusive. Okay, to be fair I already knew that. But Richard Scwartz's presentation of Internal Family Systems made me believe this more strongly than I had before.

• COAMFTE accreditation matters. I already knew this too, but now I have more evidence to back it up. Jeff Larson was kind enough to fill in for Russ Crane, and Jeff joined Mary Moline and I in presenting a workshop on the things that set COAMFTE programs apart. Jeff handled curriculum, pointing out that MFTs are required by licensure laws to get far more education and experience in family therapy than any other profession. Mary took on public mental health, reviewing how the COAMFTE programs in California and around the country are uniquely positioned to integrate changes in public mental health approaches like the recovery orientation. And I took on licensure, pointing out that graduates of COAMFTE-accredited programs get further, faster in the licensure process and are more likely to pass their exams than graduates of non-COAMFTE programs.

Overall, the AAMFT Annual Conference has again earned its spot as the most valuable and rewarding continuing education event I attend during the year. More tomorrow.