8/31/21 Update: Goal Accomplished! (See Original Posting Below)
Great news MetroMFT community…
We asked whether advocating for our profession is important to you and you answered.
Because of all of you who responded, we made it to goal before the deadline!!! As of this morning, August 30th, we’re at $5155 of our $5000 minimum needed to renew our lobbyist, Willie Harris’ contract for the rest of 2021. Thank you SO much for your support and continued contributions in membership and donations!!!
If you did not pitch in yet and would, your donation and membership is certainly still needed and valued!! It is good to have some cushion so we can plan further out beyond December 2021. Please take anyof the following actions:
1. Would you consider donating the equivalent of a single session of your therapy fee? https://metromft.wildapricot.org/Donate
2. Would you talk to one other MFT you know about what we are trying to do (see goals below) and becoming a member? Here's the link to join: https://metromft.wildapricot.org/join-us
3. If you’d like to contribute to MetroMFT through your ideas, your skills/ talents, your contacts, and/or your time, please help us accomplish goals by signing up to help: https://metromft.wildapricot.org/Sys/Poll/27714
Goals we are working on that need your support are currently:
A. Applying for CEU sponsorship to Board of Professional Counselors and Therapists costs $750 (Public Relations Committee)
B. Regional licensure reciprocity between MD, VA, DC. (Advocacy Committee)
C. Lining up local speakers for monthly lunch and learns, hopefully for CEU credits (Events Committee)
D. Setting up a local Therapist Directory for colleague and client referrals (Membership committee)
E. Mentorship between LCMFTs and MFT students or LGMFTs (Membership Committee)
F. Building MFT community resources by scripting and contacting members and potential members to inform them about what we do and value of membership (Fundraising and PR Committees)
G. Identifying and developing Racial and Social Justice initiatives for educating and equipping clinicians for informed, competent and compassionate practice with clients of all identities (Social Justice Committee)
H. Planning Fall 2022? Conference Topics and Presenters (PR and Events Committee)
I. Developing our relationship with a dozen other states that also have regional MFT professional organizations. (Become a Metro MFT Board member!)
We know everyone is busy and aim not to overburden anyone. Most committee meetings would be once a month for up to an hour with another 1-2 hours of individual work so that would be 2-4 hours per month.
We look forward to your ongoing involvement to grow our MFT professional community!
8/18/21 Urgent Metro MFT Update
We are writing to inform you that we are unable to fulfill our lobbyist contract; funds that come directly from Metro MFT membership dues. With overall membership being low, and the inability to hold our in person annual conference due the pandemic, we do not have sufficient funds.
While the organization as a whole is not in jeopardy, we will need to suspend our contract with our lobbyist, Willie Harris, unless we can fund the next two payments. Transparently, we will need to raise $5,000, as outlined in our lobbyist contract. We need to raise these funds by the end of August. If we are unable to come up with the funds needed, we will be pausing our work with Willie.
In addition to having Willie’s eyes and ears alerting us to important local advocacy initiatives, and making sure MFTs have a voice in Maryland, we have begun a project to explore making licensing easier for MFTs in the DMV (as discussed in our June forum). This involves ease of licensure beyond one's home State. Without our lobbyist, we will need to pause this pursuit.
Over 65% of membership funds go towards funding our lobbyist. Largely, Metro MFT was founded based on the belief in the essential nature of local advocacy efforts. Being in this position is a reminder for us. It is an opportunity to make a choice. As a group, do we still have the desire to maintain local MFT advocacy efforts in the same way? Are we committing again to having the support of a lobbyist? These are questions we must answer together.
So how can you help? If your Metro MFT membership has lapsed, and you need to renew, please do so. If you can donate, please visit the donation page at https://metromft.wildapricot.org/Donate. These funds will go directly to fulfilling our lobbyist contract.
The goal is to raise $5,000 by the end of this month to cover our contract obligations. It is up to you, our members, to demonstrate what is important.
In the upcoming year, MetroMFT will continue to develop our membership benefits. As a reminder, initiatives include a membership directory, mentorship program, CEU opportunities, and networking events. We are striving to add value to your membership. As always, we would like to keep communication open and are hopeful for ongoing mutual support within our professional community.
