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!:

• Kirsten Sidell, President

• Jennifer Fang-Brehm, Vice President 

• Taylor McMahon, Advocacy Officer

• Krista Zerby, Officer of Operations

• Eric Slaughter, Secretary

• Jordan Madison, Treasurer 

• 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. 

• It was fun to be together! I also enjoyed seeing that the legislators recognized our profession as Marriage and Family Therapists and I heard comments on the great work of our lobbyist, Willie Harris, who arranged the meetings and was present to support us. Amongst the group, we met with 17 legislators and many even recognized some specific MetroMFT members who have been present in the past for our Advocacy Day. It shows how important it is for us to have this annual tradition of showing up to advocate for MFTs. 

• 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

• You can also see what is going on in our membership by logging onto our Facebook page and group. Feel free to share with your community here!

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 

THANK YOU FOR JOINING US!!

It was wonderful to see the MetroMFT members who were able to gather for a special networking event today. A huge thank you to Risa for hosting us all in her beautiful home! It was great to catch up and snack on some delicious treats. We also were able to collect great feedback and brainstorm for future events and increasing memberships.  - Generated list of presenters for future conferences - Discussed a presentation offering on the financial/business aspect of running a private practice - Discussed making the website more user friendly when it comes to membership renewals  - Discussion adding information on our MD lobbyist on the website  - Request to Board to send an update to all contacts regarding our fundraising efforts and updates in this area  - Reviewed current nominees and the positions still needing nominees/volunteers (Secretary, Treasurer, and Officer of Operations)  - Scheduled a follow-up meeting to finalize a fall fundraiser on August 25th 1-4pm. The Board will send out an invitation  Best,  Kirsten

Metro MFT has not forgotten about you!!

The MetroMFT Board has been busy.

Busy planning for membership engagement and advocacy for our profession... 

Busy creating a stable, understandable, and supportive process for the current Board and future Board compositions... 

Busy forming committees of MetroMFT members to support engagement of the community and increase our ability to provide networking opportunities...  

Stay tuned for emails regarding upcoming events, geared toward bringing our MFT community together!

Thank you so much to everyone who came to support the MFTs of Maryland in Annapolis on Advocacy Day! We had a great day of meetings with legislators and their staff where we had the opportunity to educate them on the practice and purpose of our profession. We advocated for the right of Maryland consumers of mental health to have access to qualified professionals who have been trained in relational therapy and discussed current issues that could effect our ability to serve that community. 

We couldn't be more grateful for the time and energy you all brought that day. It is this kind of support we need going forward on a more regular basis at the Board of Professional Counselors and Therapists meetings that are held the third Friday of every month. Our most pressing need for MFT representation is at their next meeting, this Friday February 15th at 10:30AM, where they will be discussing the current composition of the board and whether or not MFTs should maintain their current representation of three board members or not. As many of you know, obtaining these three seats on the board was quite an accomplishment and required the hard work of many MFTs. We cannot stress the importance of showing the board our commitment to supporting our community and the benefits of maintaining equal representation on the Board of Professional Counselors and Therapists of Maryland.

If you can’t make this next meeting, please consider trying to attend when you can make it a part of your schedule or writing letters to the board sharing your experience when MFTs were unequally represented on the board or your fears if this were to happen again. If you have any questions about advocacy for Metro Marriage and Family Therapists please reach out to our Advocacy Officer, Taylor Baker, for more information on how you can get involved.

We are proud of one of our own, Risa Ganel, LCMFT!!

Have you seen the newest publication from the MD Board of Professional Counselors and Therapists? Thank you, Board Chair, Risa, for encouraging communication between the Board and its licensed mental health professionals!

Letter from the MD Board Chair.pdf

In addition, if you have not seen the “Notice Regarding Unlicensed Practice,” from the MD BOPCAT please read and share this page with colleagues.

Unlicensed Practice Notice.MD Board.pdf

Thank you to all of the participants at today's CEU event! We had a great turnout!

You can review our updates under the News in our Members tab! 

It's almost time to ring in the New Year! 2019 will be a big year for MetroMFT, and we are excited to be implementing the MetroMFT mission(created by YOU and YOUR feedback!) in its first year of existence.

Please support MetroMFT by registering for our first two events:

- DBT and Family Therapy Conference*

- MD Advocacy Day!

*On January 25th, at the 6 CEU DBT training, we will spend some time discussing MetroMFT priorities for the upcoming year.

You don't want to miss the updates to be shared, the spectacular presenter, Jeffrey Jackson, PhD, and the opportunity to connect with MFTs and other systems-minded therapists in the area! 

Register today!