Prologue: A poem for new graduate students

Brodie Vissers / Burst / Used under licenseI wrote this poem several years ago, and republish it each fall as a welcome to students beginning their graduate studies in the mental health professions.

Every fall, the university where I teach enrolls dozens of new students into our graduate programs in mental health care. Our new students tend to be immensely talented, and many of them (as at any school) are also immensely anxious as they begin their journey.

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By not pursuing an interstate compact for MFTs, AAMFT is making a big mistake

Airplane flying overhead. Photo via Burst, used under licenseIn April, I wrote about AAMFT’s decision not to pursue an interstate compact for MFTs. You can see them discuss the issue and their rationale in this video. Their logic came down to two things: 1) since more than half of MFTs are in California and New York, and these states would almost certainly not join such a compact, the benefits to the MFT profession would be limited; and 2) the cost of such an effort, which would require resources to be pulled away from other initiatives, would not be worth it, especially given #1.

I think they’re wrong on both counts.

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