Blogging the AAMFT Conference: Sunday

The AAMFT Annual Conference wrapped up Sunday morning, as the last die-hards snuck in one last 3-hour workshop before drifting up to the Sacramento airport and back home. I was a presenter on Sunday morning, but only if you use the word “presenter” loosely; I led a panel discussion on licensing exams.

Before you go into the automatic response (which is, I believe, “zzzzzzz”), you should know there was one significant piece of news to come out of it: California’s Board of Behavioral Sciences and the Association of Marital and Family Therapy Regulatory Boards, who develop the California and National MFT Exams respectively, have agreed to collaborate on their next occupational analyses. It’s a small step but a significant one, as it will at least allow for an apples-to-apples comparison of the practice of MFT in California versus around the rest of the country. That kind of comparison would be necessary in any discussion of California eventually moving toward use of the National MFT Exam — something I believe in very strongly.

===

As is the case every year, I leave the conference energized, with many new research ideas, new potential collaborators, and new respect for the amazing work taking place in our field. I also leave Sacramento with renewed appreciation for just how clinically strong our Alliant students are and will be; it wasn’t at all unusual to see the best questions in any workshop — and often the best answers as well — coming from people with orange “Alliant” stickers on their badges. Great work, everyone. See you in Atlanta next September.