Dec 2016 fmhca newsletter

FLORIDA MEANTAL HEALTH COUNSLOR ASSOCATION

DECEMBER

Volume 1, Issue 12

ED Corner : Inside this issue:

President’s Corner

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What’s Next?

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Coping With Loneli- 8 ness During the HoliBreathe. Exhale. Repeat: The Benefits of

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Webinar Lineup

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A Psychological Perspective on Gratitude

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Inside Story

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“Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates vision for tomorrow.”

Melody Beattie

Thank you to our loyal and wonderful members! If you are not yet a member, I encourage you to join our organization and let your voice be heard! Our organization offers so many great resources for our members, including education (such as FREE WEBINARS), legislative oversight, networking, and FMHCA member discounts with partner organizations.

We are excited to announce that we have over 1000 FMHCA members. Reaching this goal is a milestone for the FMHCA organization and it allows us to Raise Our Voice Together as One. Once again our Pre-conference Workshops are exceptional - I sincerely hope you did not miss out! Our breakout sessions are designed to increase your clinical skills, enhance your knowledge and expertise, and stay current. Our keynote speakers are leaders in our field and committed to advancing FMHCA's platform - we are so excited to have them on board this year!

I would like to personnel thank you for supporting FMHCA and making this event possible. It is only through the support of our members that FMHCA can reach it goals to support and advocate for mental health counselors in Florida. Enjoy!

President’s Corner :

Dear FMHCA members, I hope that all of you had a wonderful and peaceful Thanksgiving holiday with your families and loved ones. As President of FMHCA, I took this time of Thanksgiving to reflect on our organization, all of the past and present efforts of individuals who have dedicated so much of their time to support you, our members and to secure our profession and leave a legacy for future generations of LMHC’s in our state. I am truly grateful for the opportunity of being part of your leadership team and for the support of our members, it’s so greatly appreciated.

During this past month, I had the privilege of attending the FMHCA Chapter meeting of the Palm Beach Mental Health Counselor’s Association. I want to personally thank John Davis, Chapter President for his dedication and unwavering commitment to the continued success of the Chapter. I also want to extend my deepest appreciation to the members of the Palm Beach Mental Health Counselor’s Association, who I enjoyed meeting and speaking with; your passion and enthusiasm for our profession was refreshing. The meeting took place in the beautiful and historic Old School Square in Delray Beach. And, the training was on “Treating Complex Co-occurring Disorders as a Team” presented by Jamie W. Vinck, MC, LPC, NCC, Chief Operating Officer at Sierra Tucson.

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Board of Directors 2016 - 2017

President Leonel Mesa, PsyD, LMHC lmesa@flmhca.o.rg President-Elect Louise Sutherland-Hoyt, LMHC lsutherland@flmhca.org Treasurer Jim Messina, PhD, CCMHC, NCC, DCMHS jmessina@flmhca.org Past President Michael Holler Mholler@flmhca.org Secretary Kathie Erwin, Ed.D, LMHC, NCC, NCGC

kerwin@flmhca.org Parliamentarian Frank Hannah, MS, LMHC fhannah@flmhca.org

President’s Corner Cont.

Once again, thank you for the opportunity to have been part of this experience and I look forward to visiting again soon in the future.

Our Government Relations Committee, under the leadership of our President-Elect, Louise Sutherland-Hoyt has completed the final arrangements regarding our Legislative Day event in Tallahassee on the 9th and 10th day of January 2017. This will be an outstanding opportunity for us to visit with our state representatives and advocate on behalf of our profession. I encourage you to be part of this historical event and join us in highlighting the value that LMHC’s represent to our communities throughout our state. If you would like additional information regarding this event please contact our FMHCA office at office@flmhca.org.

I also want to encourage you to register for our upcoming FMHCA Annual Conference on February 2nd thru the 4th in Lake Mary, Orlando. This has been a wonderful venue for connecting with other LMHC’s throughout our state, for learning innovative clinical strategies to enhance your therapeutic skills, laughing and setting aside some time to enjoy each other’s company. I look forward to seeing you all there, we’re going to have a great time!

In gratitude for all of your support, Leonel “Dr. Leo” Mesa, Jr., Psy.D, LMHC, CAP, CEAP FMHCA President

Member-at-Large Joe Skelly, MS, LMHC jskelly@flmhca.org Member-at-Large Erica Whitfield

ebuabua@gmail.com

New CE Requirement for Licensure Renewals:

Member-at-Large Hassiem Kambui, PhD, LMHC hkambui@flmhca.org Member-at-Large Judith Roberts, Ph.D., LMHC JRoberts@flmhca.org Executive Director Darlene Silvernail, PhD, LMHC, CAP, DCMHS

Within the 30 required renewal CE’s, you must now complete a 3 hour laws and rules update course every third biennium.

Current licensees would need to complete the course by the biennium ending 3/31/19.

Licensees in their first biennium, (which are exempt from CE’s for renewal) would need to meet the requirement by the biennium ending 3/31/21.

For more information on this requirement, please review Rule 64B4-6.001, Florida Administrative Code.

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FMHCA Member Perks: CE Broker FMHCA is a CE Broker Gold Partner!

FMHCA, Florida Mental Health Counselors Association, members will now receive a $5 discount to CE Broker, the official continuing education tracking system.

Contact us for the Discount Code - office@flmhca.org - then go to CEBroker.com& use the Association Code to apply your $5 discount. Subscribe or create a 7-Day Free Trial Account & apply the code when asked, "Have a Promotion Code or Association Discount?"

CounselingExam.com $15 off a 1 week subscription, $40 off of all 1 month, 2 month, and 3 month subscriptions, and $44 off of a 6 month subscription. To Receive the discounted rate, members must send an email to CrushTheExam@Gmail.com stating that they are a FMHCA member - then, they will receive a reply with instructions on how to proceed.

National Board of Forensic Evaluators NBFE is proud to be a professional partner with FMHCA. Because of our professional partnership, NBFE Offers discounts, benefits and free CEUs to our professional partners members.

If you hold a current professional membership in any of the following associations, you will be eligible to receive a 15% discount towards the NBFE credential and homestudy programs. FREE 2 contact hour programs offered to all CFMHE and all of our Professional Partners. Offerings are posted during the year and only available to NBFE's Professional Partners.

NBFE Certified Forensic Mental Health Evaluators (CFMHE) American Mental Health Counselors Association (AMHCA) Florida Mental Health Counselors Association (FMHCA) Licensed Professional Counselors Association of Georgia (LPCA-Georgia) Utah Mental Health Counselors Association (UMHCA) Washington Mental Health Counselors Association WMHCA) Van Wagner Insurance

Insurance Discounts for FMHCA Members Savings up to 25% with Van Wagner's Comprehensive Occurrence (Professional and General Liability) Insurance Program. http://go.sterlingrisk.com/VW/FMHCA TherapySites TherapySites specializes in creating mobile-responsive websites that are engaging, professional, cost-effective, and extremely simple to maintain, helping mental health professionals successfully market and manage their practice online. Everything is included, from credit card processing, to an online appointment calendar, search engine optimization, and many more features, all of which come standard. Start building your practice today by visiting our website and entering promo code "FMHCA" to receive a free website and one month of free hosting service! http://www.therapysites.com?a_aid=8157&a_bid=3dd8338e

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What’s Next?

It’s over! The ugliest presidential campaign that most of can remember is finally behind us. The question that looms for all Americans is what happens next?

This election unleashed an anger that was brewing just beneath the surface of our nation’s valleys and streams. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center more than 200 hate incidents ranging from swastika graffiti to physical threats were reported since the election.

Fear is running rampant! Whether the fear is about not having enough money to pay the bills or because of the color of your skin, the religion you practice whom you love. People are afraid. Terrified people act not from rational thought but impulsively.

As counselors how do we respond? What can we do help our nation return to civility? I think we can do a lot.

There are over 10,000 mental health counselors of in the state of Florida. Every day sit we sit with people who are asking for help. We have the power to impact many lives for the better.

Many years ago I told a friend I hadn’t seen in a long while that I was a mental health counselor. Her response was you’re a healer. I hadn’t really thought of myself in those terms. But as counselors we are called to help people heal. Today our fellow countrymen feel battered. As counselors, we can rise to the challenge inherent in our calling, to heal.

Think about it. The core of our work is the relationship. The counseling relationship is built on trust, authenticity, genuineness, acceptance and non-judgment and unconditional positive regard. Those are the Rogerian tenets we all learned in Theories of Counseling. As a student I thought they sounded pretty easy. Almost 20 years later I know that to be true these precepts I must be aware of my tender places. I must never be complacent. I just must do my own work daily. It’s not easy.

But, if we do our work. We can model civility for our clients. We can teach them patience not so much by what we say but how we act. We can teach respect in every encounter not just with our clients but with everyone we whose life we touch.

We can teach restraint because we are restrained. We are 10,000 strong. The impact of each of us doing what our profession asks of us every day will make a difference.

We are healers.

Lorrie McCann, LMHC, CT

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Member Mental Health Professionals Apps: DSM-5 Criteria This is the mobile app for clinicians to utilize in diagnosing their clients. It is an easy to use system which lists the criteria for all of the DSM-5 diagnostic catagories with the criteria listed for each diagnosis (this is not a free app).Read more about this app at: http://www.appi.org/Pages/DSM5Mobile.aspx ICD-9-CM Codes ICD 9 Consult puts the complete, current ICD9-CM on your iPhone or iPod Touch, instantly smart-searchable and browsable. Read more about it at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/icd9-consult-2014-free/id358845668?mt=8 ICD-10-CM Codes ICD 10 Helps you to Quickly look up diagnosis codes using the new ICD-10 coding system. All codes are downloaded to your device - no downloading is necessary as you are looking up your code. Read more about it at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/stat-icd-10-coder/id467916561?mt=8 Provider Resilience Provider Resilience gives health care providers tools to guard against burnout and compassion fatigue as they help their clients be they civilians or service members, veterans, and their families. Providers can take a self assessment to determine if they are at risk and steps they can take to ward off such burnout and fatigue. Read more about it at: https://www.t2health.org/apps/provider-resilience

Coping With Loneliness During the Holidays: Loneliness is common during the holidays.

Empty nesters, the elderly and individuals who are grieving — the loss of a loved one or a relationship — CADC, may be parM.Ed., LCPC, a ticularly vulnerable to feelings ofnational loneliness, according seminar trainertoand psychotherapist Joyce Marter, LCPC. psychotherapist who specializes inrun relationships.

Expectations are high, and comparisons rampant.

“Many people feel tremendous In pressure be sense happyofand short, to your lonesocially connected.” There’s a prevailing everyliness maysense be a that reflexive one is living a Hallmark movie with the ideal family andin an reaction that has roots perfect celebrations, she said. unhealthy childhood, he People who experience That is, everyone but you. And said. this can trigger feelings of isolation.

Loneliness also can cut deep. Rather than a response to the current environment, individuals who experience chronic loneliness may carry profound scars from past emotional experiences and traumas, according to Ross Rosenberg,

chronic loneliness tend to have a shaky sense of self-worth and self-esteem. They may misinterpret feelings of loneliness as confirmation of their inadequacies.

Loneliness lies on a continuum, Rosenberg said. And it can be painful. It may lead you to turn to unhealthy habits and toxic people. Below, Rosenberg and Marter share their suggestions for coping healthfully with loneliness. Click Here to Read the Rest of the Article From World of psychology

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About the Artist - George E. Miller II: My name is George Miller; I am a Child Advocacy Artist. I have devoted the past 20 years of my life to creating artwork that advocates for the education and well being of children. All of my artwork is hand drawn and hand painted. I am a self taught artist.

I have been commissioned to create works of art by numerous child advocacy organizations across the country. The Child Wel-

fare League of America, The National Youth at Risk Association, The American Association of School Social Workers, The Federation of Families, The Utah Comprehensive Counseling Association, The Florida Coalition for Children and the Florida Network of Child Advocacy Centers to name a few. Almost every piece of artwork on this website has been commissioned by some agency or organization working in support of children.

I love to create artwork that is meaningful and helpful. My artwork addresses issues such as literacy, dropout prevention, child abuse prevention, mental health and autism. I wish to inspire teachers, social workers, parents and

grandparents, mentors and politicians. If a piece of my artwork encourages someone to share even one extra moment with a child that otherwise may have been overlooked than my artwork has served its purpose.

I hope that other artist around the country will be inspired to use their talents to help people. Positive visual images help people to become tolerant of other people and conditions they don’t quite understand. They provide a unique opportunity for you to see what could and often should be. Visual images inspire people into action and help them to remember what their hearts already know.

Allow me to paint a picture for you of a world where artist of all mediums create works of art that address the issues that plague our society. Giant, bright and colorful murals adorn all of our nation’s cities encouraging unity and diversity. Our buildings are adorned in murals that salute our educators, doctors and nurses, police and firemen, social workers and psy-

chologist. Schools and Universities are filled with art that inspires the spirit of learning. Statues around all the major cities that give hope to the homeless, raise the spirits of the poor and foster environments of love and peace.

As an artist I feel I have the power to change the world! If you are an artist consider creating a work of art that helps lift the spirit of a child or encourages the people that work tirelessly to advocate for our children.

Come meet George at this years 2017 FMHCA conference .

Breathe. Exhale. Repeat: The Benefits of Controlled Breathing system. For centuries yogis have used breath control, or pranayama, to promote concentration and improve vitality. Buddha advocated breath-meditation as a way to reach enlightenment.

Take a deep breath, expanding your belly. Pause. Exhale slowly to the count of five. Repeat four times.

Congratulations. You’ve just calmed your nervous system.

Science is just beginning to provide evidence that the benefits of this ancient practice are real. Studies have found, for example, that breathing practices can help reduce symptoms associated with anxiety, insomnia, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and attention deficit disorder.

Controlled breathing, like what you just practiced, has been shown to reduce stress, increase “Breathing is massively practical,” says alertness and boost your immune Belisa Vranich, a psychologist and author

of the book “Breathe,” to be published in December. “It’s meditation for people who can’t meditate.”

How controlled breathing may promote healing remains a source of scientific study. One theory is that controlled breathing can change the response of the body’s autonomic nervous system, which controls unconscious processes such as heart rate and digestion as well as the body’s stress response, says Dr. Richard Brown, an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia University and co -author of “The Healing Power of the Breath.”

Click Here to Read the Rest of the Article From The New York Times

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Become a FMHCA Member : FMHCA invites all mental health professionals to become a part of our organization so your voice can be heard and you can enjoy a strong network of professionals in our state.

Join by Clicking Here! by downloading a membership form and mailing it with your payment, or you may make a payment directly through our website. Keep in mind we have a few membership options: $65.00 Clinical - All LMHC's or CCMHC's $55.00 Regular - All registered interns or non-licensed professionals $25.00 Retired Clinicians - License Retired $Free Student (Free for the first year and there after $20.00) - Full time graduate, postgraduate, or undergraduate student Membership Renewal If your FMHCA membership has expired, we encourage you to and hope you will you to renew today by visiting our FLMHCA.ORG 2967 West Midway Road Fort Pierce, FL 34981 772-461-0863,ext 502

Thank You to our Amazing Sponsors!

Advertise On Our Website & In Our Newsletter!

Increase your professional exposure by becoming a FMHCA sponsor!

FMHCA's website gets hundreds of hits a day from members, nonmembers, and prospective members. Becoming a sponsor with FMHCA lets other professionals know that you're out there - it's a terrific way to network and grow as a professional.

There are two ways to becoming a sponsor - you can purchase a flashing banner across the top of our pages or one of the sponsor blocks at the bottom of our website pages.

Best of all, you get a full year of sponsorship for one low price!

Artwork must be submitted in one of the following formats: png, jpg, tif, tiff, or psd.

After you have completed payment, submit your artwork to us at

office@flmhca.org

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Become a FMHCA Member :

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We're Looking for Talented Writers: FMHCA is seeking Graduate Students and Registered Interns to contribute monthly articles for our newsletter. This is a wonderful opportunity to share your point of view and your journey to licensure with others while getting professional exposure. We're looking specifically for articles that will you're your peers navigate the journey to graduation and licensure study tips, resources, how-tos... there are so many relevant topics worthy of investigation and discussion. These articles will also help you train yourself on best practices - it's a win-win!

Please email office@flmhca.org if you're interested in this opportunity.

Be Active in FMHCA - Join A Committee: Interested in becoming more active with FMHCA but not sure how to get started? Consider joining a committee!

Participating in a FMHCA committee allows you to interact with professionals who share your passions while providing a valuable service to FMHCA. Let's face it - change doesn't happen by itself. We need YOU to help us make a difference! There are several opportunities for you to get involved - consider any of the following committees: 

Ethics Committee



Membership Committee



Graduate Students & Registered Interns Committee



Chapter Relations Committee



Finance Committee



Nominations & Elections Committee



Governmental Relations Committee



Conference Planning Committee



Education, Training, Standards, & Continuing Education Training Committee



Military Service Committee

 Research Committee Feeling especially interested in any of those topics? Consider being a committee chair - you'll be surprised how rewarding it can be to help make things happen!

Email office@flmhca.org to express your interest. Thank you!

FMHCA Chapter meeting of the Palm Beach Mental Health Counselor’s Association.

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Member Perk Session 1: Developing Your Inner Project Manager: Fostering an Environment of Productivity Date: Friday, 1/6/17, 2:00-4:00 pm Session 2: Transitioning to ICD-10-CM: What It Means for the Diagnosis of Mental Disorders Date: Friday, 1/27/17, 2:00-4:00 pm Session 3: Neuropsychological Evaluations: An Under-Used Tool in Mental Health Counseling Practice Date:Friday, 2/24/17, 2:00-4:00 pm Session 4: Facilitating Emergence: A Model for Launching Young Adults with Cognitive and Emotional Challenges Date:Friday, 3/24/17, 2:00-4:00 pm Session 5: Ethics and Social Media in the Digital Age Date:Friday, 4/28/17, 2:00-4:00 pm Session 6: Use of Motivational Interviewing to Broaden Your Skills with Your Clients Date: Friday, 5/26/17, 2:00-4:00 pm Session 7: Maternal Mental Health: What Therapists Need to Know Date:Friday, 6/23/17, 2:00-4:00 pm Session 8: Working with Kinky Clients Date:Friday, 7/28/17, 2:00-4:00 pm Session 9: Multicultural Counseling: A Mosaic, Not a Melting Pot Date:Friday, 8/25/17, 2:00-4:00 pm Session 10: Navigating Professional Practice Boundaries: From Telehealth to Portability Date:Friday, 9/22/17, 2:00-4:00 pm Session 11: Integrative Psychotherapies- New Paradigms in Psychotherapy Date: Friday, 10/27/17, 2:00-4:00 pm Session 12: How to Have the Difficult Conversation You’ve Been Avoiding with Family, Coworkers, Parents, Partners or Children Date:Friday, 11/10/17, 2:00-4:00 pm Session 13: Addressing Tobacco Use in Behavioral Health Date: Friday, 12/8/17, 2:00-4:00 pm

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A Psychological Perspective on Gratitude and Volunteering: During holidays such as Thanksgiving and New Year’s, people feel more positive and thankful, and researchers saw a significant bump in both gratitude and positive affect principal on Thanksgiving. As strands of modern psychology are rediscovering the effectiveness of virtue in human well-being, a special interest in the virtue of gratitude has arisen among scientists. Positive Psychology, which deals primarily in questions of happiness and well-being, has emerged principal in the last 10 years as a leading field of study and includes positive thoughts associated with positive emotions. Many of these studies link the gratitude phenomenon to higher relationship quality and satisfaction later on.

Grateful adults report higher levels of well-being and happiness, regardless of age, gender, or marital status, and numerous studies on gratitude are proving the emotion of gratitude has deep roots in the human’ evolution, sustaining key social bonds essential not only to happiness but also to survival as a species.

The relationship between materialism and gratitude can run in the opposite direction, and inducing gratitude in people caused a decrease in materialism. Other new studies are documenting how to cultivate gratitude in ways that counter the negative aspects of materialism, including forms that people can spend their money and their time to boost their gratitude.

But is it possible to cultivate gratitude in real life outside of university laboratories? The answer is yes. In fact, identifying effective gratitude practices is one of the most exciting areas of inquiry in Positive Psychology.

In general, people have two great needs in life: agency, to feel capable and competent, and communion, to feel connected to and needed by others. When someone is thanked for a helpful behavior, this actually fulfills both of those core human needs. Besides, the capacity for initiative is essential for adults in our society and will become more important in the 21st century, and the context that seems to be best suited to enhance this capacity would be structured voluntary activities.

In fact, volunteering constitutes one of the most important pro-social activities today, and research in Positive Psychology suggested that such activities are associated with many positives developmental processes. For instance, volunteers are more satisfied with their life than non-volunteers, and volunteering or acts of kindness, can give to a person an individual opportunity to experience gratitude, which is the glue that holds communities together. In terms of mental health, voluntary organization membership and volunteering plays in social integration and the buffering stress in adults. The social contact aspect of helping and working with others can have a profound effect on overall psychological well-being. By measuring hormones and brain activity, researchers have discovered that being helpful to others delivers immense pleasure. Doing good for a cause, a community and others provides a natural sense of accomplishment and purpose.

Additionally, volunteering is a great way to meet new people and advance career. It strengthens ties to the community and broadens support networks, exposing individuals to others with common interests, neighborhood resources, and fulfilling activities. As individuals, volunteers can gain experience in their area of interest and expand their network that field. It can be a great opportunity to practice important skills used in the workplace, such as teamwork, communication, problem solving, project planning, task management, and organization. In fact, volunteering offers a chance to try out a new career without making a long-term commitment. In some fields, you can volunteer directly at an organization that does the kind of work you are interested in. For example, the FMHCA offer places for mental health counselor students to volunteer not only in the office, but also on the many FMHCA committees and events they have. Opportunities like this can truly teach new professionals valuable job skills and provide extensive training.

Volunteering can also help you build upon skills you already have and use them to benefit the greater community. It can be an easy way to explore your interests and passions providing you with renewed creativity, motivation, and vision that can carry over into your personal and professional life. The opportunities that match both personal goals and interests are most likely to be fun and fulfilling. Over and above all of these variables, there is still a significant, positive relationship between gratitude and subjective well-being. There is something very special about gratitude, and volunteering can bring the emotion of gratitude into our lives.

Paula Carina Lazarim Marques Mental Health Counseling Graduate Student

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Government Relations Committee: Not only here in Florida, but nationwide, we are witnessing a major paradigm-shift that has the potential to be a game changer that could affect our current focus in advocating for our profession. During the AMHCA Public Policy and Legislative Committee meeting earlier this month, James Finley articulated what we are facing in 2017 in the wake of the 2016 election.

It was noted that for now AMHCA and our coalition partners will need to find a new bill sponsor for Medicare Provider status, preferably a Republican and with across the aisle co-sponsors as current proposed legislation disappears in 2017.

Having noted this, per Jim Finley, we are now facing a whole new level of uncertainty that comes with the change in leadership. Of specific concern are two main issues: The fate of the Affordable Care Act and the potential for the privatization of Medicare.

While it seems that after the first of the year we likely will need to start from scratch, it was emphasized that should Medicare become privatized, AMHCA and its coalition partners has before it an opportunity for provider status by virtue of the fact that many CMHCs are already billable providers in the private sector. We will be keeping a close eye out for any shifts and report as they become clear.

Updates will be made known as they become available.

The Government Relations Committee has been focusing on 2 major events coming up after the first of the year.

First, an appointed delegation is planning FMHCA’s Legislature Day which will take place January 9-10 in Tallahassee. Cindy Wall has been instrumental in coordinating our lodging while Erica Whitfield has been detailing our goals, objectives, roles, and tasks as we grow our relationship with legislators.

Kay Nowak has been busy pulling together key elements of the Government Relations Round Table Discussion which will take place during the FMHCA conference in February. Issues we are facing, changes, and outlook for the future will be the cornerstone of this session. We will be facilitating a cross-over dialog with Dr. Lynne Santiago who is chair of the Military Service Committee who will bring us up to speed on the progress with legislation regarding CACREP requirements and CMHCs’ role as treatment providers for the VA. Special thanks to Michael Holler who dedicated considerable time, effort, and treasure in advocating that FMHCA take on the role of vetting and certifying Clinical Supervisors. This effort will continue to move forward as additional groundwork is laid out to get this to the legislature.

And so, what we have before us are a wealth of opportunities to continue to expand our presence throughout the state and to rouse our grass roots to action!

Respectfully Submitted, Louise Sutherland-Hoyt, LMHC, CCMHC, NCC, MAC President Elect Chairman Government Relations Committee

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