While there are many benefits to being a member of Metro MFT, one of the most important is that each individual is an integral part of our local professional community.
Though the pandemic has limited opportunities for our CEU and networking events, the Metro MFT Board has been working hard to ensure that member needs and opportunities continue to be developed. We are currently working on two exciting opportunities for members; a Metro MFT Therapist Directory and a Mentorship and Peer Support Program. More information coming soon!
With networking and CEU opportunities being limited at this time, many current and prospective members have been asking (rightfully so!) where their dues actually go.
The answer: it mostly goes to our legislative advocate Willie Harris.
You have likely heard about the Counseling Compact Bill that will allow for professional counselors, licensed and residing in a compact member state, to practice in other compact member states without the need for multiple licenses.
Unfortunately, this does not include us.
Marriage and Family Therapists will need to have their own bill to gain the same benefits that the counselors are working on. It is for initiatives like this that we need the funds to pay a legislative representative.
Transparently, we get the majority of these funds from your Metro MFT member dues and without representation we face uncertainty in gaining the same benefits that other mental health professionals may have.
It is important to our field, community, and license that we continue to work together to have the same necessary and important benefits as the other helping professionals. Hopefully, we can have some fun along the way as well.
Metro MFT is a place where we hope local MFTs feel a sense of community and want to be involved in the goals and growth. We know this is a work in progress and would love to hear any feedback you have to help us reach this goal.
Did you know that Kirsten is a local? She is originally from Maryland! While she lived in a few other places, including VA, DC, and Ecuador, Maryland has been home for most of her life.
Kirsten graduated from the University of Maryland Couple and Family Therapy program in 2010.
She currently works as a program supervisor at JSSA, where she oversees a team of clinicians who worked in various locations in the community - before COVID. She also has a private practice, where she primarily works with couples. Kirsten is an Emotionally Focused Therapy enthusiast!
When asked, “Why are you an MFT/what do you like about being an MFT?”, Kirsten responded: “We have a difficult time in our culture allowing space for feelings. With couples, I do just that - I help partners to be witness to each other's feelings and experiences to move them to a place of deep connection and intimacy. While I am grateful for my emotional acumen that I gained from my FOO experiences, I did not generally receive the message that my feelings were okay to share with others - and that there was even an advantage to doing so! I am glad to know it now and be able to help others to feel the benefit of this valuable lesson.”
Kirsten’s position as President is to guide Metro MFT, forge connections with other MFT organizations, advocate for our profession, and work with the Board members to implement programming that supports the health of MFTs. Our organization is still in its infancy, and like a parent, she is trying her best to create a space of secure attachment where our organization can begin to develop an independent and thriving culture. To do so, she wants to ensure that there is a clear path for the voices of our local MFTs to guide our decisions and programming as we grow.
Kirsten’s personal goal in her term as President is to support local MFT leadership in ways big and small. She believes that the more we all participate, the less any few people feel charged to take it on by themselves.
Fun Facts About Kirsten:
1) She had her first child about one year ago at the start of COVID!
2) She is passionate about nutrition! She has taken advanced courses in the impact of nutrition on mental health and implements what she has learned in her practice with individuals.
If you need to reach Kirsten, you can find her here:
Website: www.coupleandfamilytherapist.com
FB: https://www.facebook.com/KirstenLCMFT
Instagram: @collectingwellnesstips
E-mail: kirsten.sidell@gmail.com
Willie Harris is the official lobbyist for MetroMFT and has been advocating for Marriage and Family Therapists for more than a decade. Willie works directly with elected officials to protect Maryland consumers of mental health services and our ability to serve them. He informs us of changes in the political landscape in Annapolis, advocates on our behalf during session, and uses his professional expertise and connections in the community to advance the MFT profession and the interests of our clients. Thank you to everyone who has become a part of our new organization as a significant portion of your dues directly finances our ability to keep Willie and in turn our place among the other mental health professionals of Maryland.
Willie was born in Washington, NC, but was raised in Brooklyn, NY. After leaving the Air Force, he went to work for Willie Brown as a political consultant but was soon asked to move to the East Coast to lobby for the Service Employees National Union. In 2003, Willie began working for the Marriage and Family Therapists of Maryland (MAD-AAMFT) and has been dedicated to supporting our profession since. Fellow MFTs describe Willie as friendly, reliable, effective, and a strong advocate for us and our clients in Annapolis!
August 17, 2020
Black Lives Matter. Our country is moving through a cultural revolution to advance the rights of Black people and bring attention to ongoing systemic racism, state perpetrated violence, and oppression of people of color. As helping professionals, we are called to be culturally competent providers and vocal opponents of oppression.
As part of our MetroMFT mission, we provide opportunities for our members to be well educated and practiced regarding the issues that are relevant to the current climate. We continue to be interested in building our knowledge and competence in the areas of race relations, power dynamics, racial equity, and privilege. These have always been areas of education, supervision and therapeutic conversation but are particularly culturally salient at the present time.
As an organization, we also seek to engage and educate our community. From our perspective, this includes being vocal with our community about how MFTs are allies in the advancement of the rights of Black people.
We expect our members to continue to improve their understanding and knowledge in these areas through their own self-reflection and education and will support that work in a number of ways.
As members of MetroMFT, we ask that you commit to:
Promoting racial justice in your work
Encouraging curiosity and empathy when it comes to understanding another’s experience
Exploring how racism impacts our community
Working to advance your knowledge of privilege and engage in self-of-therapist work around understanding your own privilege
Being actively anti-racist in your spoken and written words both personally and professionally
So how can MetroMFT assist you during this time?
The MetroMFT Board is pushing forward various opportunities for members to get involved in meaningful conversations and action in support of racial justice. We invite members to share ideas in moving this cause forward. We are also in need of your time to help us take action on the following initiatives:
Peer supervision discussions that focus on race and social justice in the therapy room
The formation of a Social Justice committee
Future trainings on topics such as:
The impact of microaggressions
Racism and trauma
Here are a few resources for delving deeper into these topics:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/1619-america-slavery.html
https://europepmc.org/article/med/29390062
https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubpdfs/racial_disproportionality.pdf
https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/248588.pdf
https://files.epi.org/2013/Unfinished-March-School-Segregation.pdf
http://austinchanning.com/blog/tag/race
White Fragility Robin DiAngelo
How to Be an Antiracist Ibram X. Kendi
Me and White Supremacy Layla Saad
The work of bringing light to racism and it’s insidiousness, as well as bringing change does not rest solely with our Black and Brown colleagues, family members, and friends. It is unequivocally the job of the dominant culture to assess, address, and eliminate the rampant racism that exists in our policing, policies, laws and enforcement, justice system, education system, and yes, clinical practices. of course partnering with, lifting up, and making space for Black and Brown voices as we address hundreds of years of oppression.
We stand with all our Black community members, colleagues, friends, family members and clients as we make steps toward true racial justice in the U.S. We want MetroMFT to be a place where people of color find an open seat at the table to participate in and lead the group. We want to be a place of support as people experience, heal from, and work to correct the atrocities of racism in the world. We welcome any input or ideas you, as members, may have to help move us in that direction.
MetroMFT Board of Directors
Kirsten Sidell, President
Jennifer Fang-Brehm, Vice President
Taylor McMahon, Advocacy Officer
Jordan Madison, Treasurer
Krista Zerby, Officer of Operations
Eric Slaughter, Secretary
Jessica Brenneman, Member-at-Large
We understand the stress and uncertainty that some of you might be experiencing right now and want you to know that you have a community here with us. We have hosted several online Peer Support Sessions for therapists and our members so we can find support, discuss our challenges and victories, and learn from one another during this unprecedented time. Please be on the lookout for additional sessions! We are currently brainstorming additional ways we can offer avenues for our members to connect with each other and cultivate a safe space to be supported and encouraged in a way that allows you to thrive professionally. We hope you continue to grow and build with us and hope to see you soon – in person or virtually!
In other news, the Board of Professional Counselors and Therapists recently released an announcement regarding an Order signed by the Secretary of the Maryland Department of Health addressing the temporary changes to teletherapy regulations during the state of emergency. The full order should be read carefully and can be found at the link below.
https://health.maryland.gov/bopc/Documents/mdhorderbopc1.pdf
As many of you are aware Maryland’s legislative session ended early this year due to the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent social distancing protocols imposed by Governor Hogan. The General Assembly is scheduled to reconvene for a special session in late May 2020, pending any continued social distancing recommendations from the Governor. Despite this unexpected change, this session ended in our favor with the passage of SB182/HB303, Board of Professional Counselors and Therapists (BOPCAT) – Sunset Extension and Program Evaluation. This bill amends the Sunset legislation that regulates BOPCAT and allows us all to practice Marriage and Family Therapy in the state of Maryland.
We are grateful to everyone who could come out to Annapolis on Advocacy Day and meet with key legislators that influenced this decision. It was a great event to meet students new to the MFT community, reconnect with old colleagues, and build relationships with new peers. The energy and support our participants brought truly made a difference in what one might typically expect to be a stale venture. We hope you enjoyed your experience as well and we welcome any feedback you think might improve this or any other event we host!
Guidance on the Essential Critical Infrastructure Workforce: Ensuring Community and National Resilience in COVID-19 Response
"This guidance and accompanying list are intended to support State, Local, and industry partners in identifying the critical infrastructure sectors and the essential workers needed to maintain the services and functions Americans depend on daily and that need to be able to operate resiliently during the COVID-19 pandemic response."
It's a good time to review the teletherapy laws in your state! See the link below for an update on the MD Board of Professional Counselors and Therapists website - they have COVID-19 FAQs posted.
MD Board of Professional Counselors and Therapists
February 26, 2020
A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT:
A belated welcome to a new year with MetroMFT! I am excited to start this year with our newly elected MetroMFT Board!:
Jessica Brenneman, Member at Large
Three of the Board members, Jennifer, Taylor, and I, served on the previous Interim Board, during MetroMFT’s first year as an organization. With this continuity, we have the resources to continue to build on the strong foundation that we established last year.
As part of this strong foundation, we made important decisions about how MetroMFT is organized and run. For example, we created a Policies and Procedures manual that outlines Board meeting procedures, the roles and responsibilities of each Board member, policies around elections, and workflow for conferences and other types of events. I am especially proud of the 72 memberships we gained in 2019 and the 8 events that we hosted! Our two large CE opportunities took place through our partnership with University of Maryland and Bowie Youth and Family Services, and we benefited from the generosity of our presenters, Jeff Jackson, Opher Ganel, Bowman & Company, and Tydings & Rosenburg, to provide formal continuing education to our community. Our smaller networking events geared towards community building were equally as successful.
In this first year as the elected President, it is my desire to empower our organization by challenging our members and prospective members to become more actively involved. That means getting more of our committees up and running, holding open Board meetings, and continuing to host CE events that promote our expertise. My goal is also to increase collaboration with other State or regional MFT professional organizations nationwide, and sow the seeds for partnerships with other mental health agencies in our local area, especially when it involves the unique and powerful way that our systems training and licensing enables us to support individuals and families experiencing transitions and difficulties.
Our new Board is very eager, and we have already come together as a cohesive team. We are working on various initiatives that I would like to share with you:
First, for two Board members, there will be an anticipated absence from Board duties while on maternity leave. Baby Fang Brehm is due in early March, and Baby Sidell will be arriving sometime around mid-April! The Board has worked on a plan for managing roles and responsibilities while Jen and I are on our respective maternity leave.
Do you have updates you want to share with your community of MFTs? Let us know!!
Advocacy Day: SUCCESS! Taylor led us through a productive Advocacy Day! Thank you to the many volunteers who participated and spoke on behalf of our profession. Our task was to meet with Delegates about House Bill 303 and Senators about Senate Bill 182. The Bills were in support of the Sunset Legislation, extending the Maryland Board of Professional Counselors and Therapists’ timeline for making quality improvements to various processes that provide structure for our profession. Primarily, the Bill is important because it defines our MD Professional Board, allowing it to exist and for Marriage and Family Therapists to exist as a licensed group.
Member Forums: To increase two-way communication, transparency, and member involvement, the Board is instituting two member forums this year. Our first forum will be in early April. The forum gives the Board an opportunity to share with more detail the projects we are working on. It also gives members and prospective members an opportunity for a dialogue with the Board. We will be sending out an event announcement soon!
Fall Conference: Mark you calendars for a late September conference! We are excited to be planning for a full day of workshops. If you have ideas for local presenters, send us your ideas!
Committees: As an organization born from a grassroots movement, we need your continued support. We have various committees, and we need your voice to ensure we continue in a direction that is relevant to our local MFTs. Look for our future announcements regarding information about how to get involved.
Public Relations Committee, led by Jennifer
Events Committee, led by Krista and supported by Jordan
Advocacy Committee, led by Taylor
Membership Committee, led by Jessica
Volunteer Committee, led by Krista
New Logo: We have a new look! Over the last year, we have worked on a logo to represent MetroMFT, the four regions we serve as a professional organization (MD, DC, DE, Northern VA), and our systemic approach to supporting our clients. With its smooth, interconnected lines and colors, it embodies our perspective as clinicians in the therapy room.
Contact Us: In addition to our website, we have an email and phone number for your comments, questions, and concerns. We want to hear from you!
Website: metromft.wildapricot.org
Email: metromft@gmail.com
Phone: 301-578-6403
Facebook Page
Facebook Group
I look forward to engaging with you this year to promote our profession!
Best,
Kirsten Sidell, M.S., LCMFT
President, MetroMFT
#metroMFT
admin@metromft.com
Silver Spring, MD 20910
