Happy New Year, I hope your 2017 is filled with great health, happiness, and prosperity.
In my practice and even amongst my friends I keep hearing people say that they want to put “2016 to bed” and are looking forward to 2017 to be a better year. As I look back at 2016, I felt that the year was not too bad for me, personally, I was able to accomplish most of my goals with only a few setbacks and a couple failures. However, you know what they say about failures, “they’re new opportunities to learn.” I would attest that is true, but I do tend to be a fairly upbeat person. I am looking forward to 2017 with great anticipation of the possibilities of what we can accomplish together. I know our program schedule for 2017 is packed with wonderful speakers and in February we are again having Dave Jensen come to speak about Law and Ethics. This is a great way to get the 6 hour CEUs, have lunch, network with fantastic therapists, and learn. It is always a great day and I hope you will join us.
I wanted to share with those of you who take insurance of a change coming up for 2017. Cigna and Magellan will now pay for “teletherapy.” This is important as some clients in our practices cannot make it to our office on a regular basis. Or maybe your specialty is so sought after you are receiving referrals from up and down the state. If you are paneled with each company or if your clients have a PPO plan, telehealth is 100% covered. Just remember that we can’t use Skype or Facetime for this service but there are plenty of HIPAA-secure video platforms out there that are easy to use. Another update I wanted to share is the State of California Board of Behavioral Sciences, affectionately called BBS, has also updated the Statutes and Regulations relating to the Practices of Professional Clinical Counseling/ Marriage and Family Therapy/Educational Psychology/ Clinical Social Work. The highlights I found interesting included as of January 1, 2018, the term “Intern” will be changed to Associate for MFTs and PCCs, bringing MFTs & PCCs into the same terminology as Social Workers and providing the general public with a better understanding that they do possess a Master’s level education, they are just collecting hours to sit for the boards. The second highlight is the change of practicum hours to include direct client contact and delete equivalencies; prohibit out-of-degree remediation of “assessment” and “diagnosis” in core content areas. This regulation was passed partly due to some online universities not requiring direct client hours in practicum classes. You can find the complete handout from the BBS@ http://www.bbs.ca.gov/pdf/publications/lawsregs.pdf
Are you one to make new Year resolutions? I am not the type to set up resolutions. However, I do have goals that I work towards monthly, but I don’t set the goal just because it’s a new year. If you are the type to make resolutions what types of resolutions do you intend to make? Are they big resolutions or small ones? Do you actually keep them or do they change over the year? I would be interested to know your thoughts.
Lastly, I hope that in 2017 you think about some local chapter service. It really doesn’t take that much time and with “many hands make light work” as my dad used to say. This is true and just think about the great people you will meet by your service.
Let’s make this year a fantastic success
Sherry
