What's New, What's News

Successes and Challenges in Couples Therapy - WAMFT Summer Conference

 

Friday, June 22, 2012 / 9am-4pm

Clarion Hotel / Green Bay

Featuring Russell Brethauer, Psy.D. and Mark Hirschmann, Ph.D., LMFT, RN

Join seasoned MFT's Russell Brethauer (left) and Mark Hirschmann in a dialogue and audience discussion of successful strategies and persistent challenges of couples therapy.  They will offer their ideas on evaluating marital viability, conducting meaningful assessments, establishing working relationships and applying productive techniques in couples therapy.  Their dialogues are designed to stimulate discussions with audience participation on these topics and the challenges practitioners find working with couples.

Russell Brethauer, Psy.D. is a licensed psychologist and licensed marriage & family therapist with a full-time practice in Elm Grove, Wisconsin.  Dr. Brethauer has been practicing for 37 years, was clinical supervisor of family therapy at Waukesha Memorial Hospital from 1989 to 2009, as well a past director of the Family Therapy Training Program at Family Service of Milwaukee.  He completed his doctoral internship at Philadelphia Child Guidance Clinic under the direction of Salvador Minuchin, MD, and enjoyed a close 10-year collaboration with Carl Whitaker, MD. He holds membership in the American Psychological Association, the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, the International Family Therapy Association, the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis, the EMDR International Association, is a Diplomate in the American Psychotherapy Association, and a  Fellow of the American College of Advanced Practice Psychologists. Dr. Brethauer also served as a member of the Professional Practices Committee of the Wisconsin Psychological Association for 13 years and served as its chair for 7 years, and was a WAMFT board member from 1984 to 1987, and chair of its ethics committee from 1986 to 1988. He has written numerous articles about  marriage and family clinical practice published in the Journal of Family Psychotherapy.

Mark Hirschmann, Ph.D., LMFT, RN has studied under Richard Schwartz in Chicago and Douglas Sprenkle from Purdue University where his earned his PhD in marriage and family therapy (1986).  Since moving to Wisconsin twenty years ago, Mark served on the first MFT State of Wisconsin Examining Board and was President of WAMFT (1998-1999).  Mark teaches MFT professional, legal and ethical issues at the Aurora Family Therapy Training Institute and Edgewood College. 

Within the last six years, Mark has focused his professional attention on couples therapy.  Mark draws the ideas of John Gottman, Richard Schwartz, Harville Hendrix, Susan Johnson the solution-focused community into his sessions.   Mark believes that couples benefit from his internet marketing, assessment procedures and sound common factors of MFT practice.  More recently, Mark is expanding his appreciation of personal presence with couples especially when they are facing challenges devoid of simple solutions.   Mark is looking forward to sharing his ideas and practice procedures as he and Russ Brethauer combine their wisdom and dialogue with the participants of the 2012 Couples Conference.

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Having trouble logging in to the members only section?

If you are a member of WAMFT/AAMFT, you can log into  the "members only section."  Look down and to the right of your screen and you will see a place for your user name or email address and password.

If you have forgotten your password, please click the request new password link just below the login field. This will take you to a form where you are prompted to enter your email addres. (Please note in most cases( *see below) this is the email address you have on file with AAMFT.)  A link to reset your password will be sent to you via email. follow the directions in the link to resest your password.  The email to reset your password will have the subject line: "Replacement login information for ___ your user name or email address_____ at WAMFT."  The body of the email reads: (please note this is for information only, and the reset link below is no longer valid, and if you click on the reset links you will get an "access denied" message)

"A request to reset the password for your account has been made at WAMFT.

You may now log in to www.relationshiphelp.org by clicking on this link or copying and pasting it in your browser:

http://www.relationshiphelp.org/user/reset/000/1335388850/536e50369cfec1...

This is a one-time login, so it can be used only once. It expires after one day and nothing will happen if it's not used.

After logging in, you will be redirected to http://www.relationshiphelp.org/user/000/edit so you can change your password."

* If you attempt to log in with an email address that is different than the one you have on file at AAMFT,  the system may not recognize you as a user. Please be sure the email you are entering is the email address you have on file with AAMFT. Some people contact the WAMFT office to update their email information and later have problems logging in. The reason is AAMFT by virtue of our charter aggreement, our default contact information system. Please be aware if you have a change in any of your member information, you must make those changes on the AAMFT website as well as at WAMFT.  AAMFT sends us a list of members quarterly and the contact information they have for you automatically gets updated on our website.  This means if you've made a change to your contact information (including your email address) and only updated it through the WAMFT office  once AAMFT sends us the quarterly contact information, the changes you made with WAMFT will revert to what you have on file at AAMFT. This can result in your having difficulities logging into the WAMFT site.

For new members: When we receive notice of new members from AAMFT, you are added to the WAMFT system. You will receive an email from WAMFT notifying you of your new account on our website. Please click on the link in the email message and set your password to access the members only area of the WAMFT website.

Once you enter the member section, you will have access to the benefits and perks available only to members of WAMFT/AAMFT

If after follow the directions above and ensuring the email address at AAMFT and WAMFT are the same, you still can not log in please contact Tammy Conrad at tammyjconrad@gmail.com or the WAMFT office at wamft@mailbag.com

 

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Important Information Regarding Continuing Education Audits

Dear WAMFT Members and License Holders,

Beginning April 2011, five percent of all licensed marriage and family therapists will be audited for continuing education credits for the 2009-2011 biennium.  If you receive an audit letter you will be required to submit to Department of Regulation and Licensing proof of attendance for the required continuing education hours.  You can check what qualifies in MPSW 19 of the MFT licensing rules.  Please be sure to always keep a record of your continuing education units.

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Resources For Families

Finding the Help You Need

Sometimes, in our fast-paced, stress-filled lives, we need a little help with life's problems. If you or someone you know is struggling with serious mental or emotional issues, please consider contacting a marriage and family therapist.

People who have worked with marriage and family therapists report improvements in their emotional and overall health, family and partner relationships, relationships with co-workers, productivity at work, and even their social life and community involvement.

Professional Resources

Compassion Fatigue

by Amie Leonoff

Everyone who reads this probably knows at least the basics about compassion fatigue. A lot of the information I’m going to share is “common sense,” but as a colleague of mine says, “Common sense is good.” And so is review of compas- sion fatigue, as it can creep up on us over time.

There are two kinds of compassion fatigue. The first is when people have lots of compassion for others and we have taken on so much of others’ pain that we ourselves may feel hurt. We may also feel helpless when we cannot help people fix what is wrong. When the number and intensity of sad stories we hear is more than we can handle, we can literally become worn out by our compassion for others. This is also referred to in some cases as “secondary traumatic stress.”
A second definition of compassion fatigue suggests that after helpers have been exposed to so many traumatic stories, we run the risk of not being able to muster any compassion for people. Instead, we see suffering as part of the normal routine. We may become jaded or callous, we depersonalize people, and we may blame them for their own problems.
Scope of Practice
 
By Linda Pellmann, MA LMFT 
WAMFT Past President
 
As marriage and family therapists and part of the greater mental health profession we are charged to work within our Scope of Practice, do our Best Practice and know MFT core competencies. These phrases are spoken or heard often when professionals are gathered, yet, I ask myself, and you, how often we take time to consider their importance and ramifications. I’ve browsed the web and notice that clinicians list their clinical populations and areas of specialty under “Scope of Practice.” The function of the phrase Scope of Practice informs the consumer that a therapist, behavioral health practice, or agency sees an identified system of people (individuals, couples, and children) and treats specific problems or disorders. This is a legitimate use of Scope of practice which adequately informs the consumer about the clinician/agency. My concern is that we arduously adhere to what makes us ethically and theoretically able to practice with certain populations and their problems.
Extending Your Private Practice

Our present economic climate is bringing change to every part of society. As marriage and family therapists we are well trained to observe and provide the conduit for change for small and large busi- nesses as well as for individuals, couples and families. I took the step of contacting area business groups to offer to speak about change and how owners and management staff can more proactively addres the issue of change. Afterwards I offered to write the following summary of my speech for the group’s monthly free space in the local newspaper. Opportunities like this can increase the circulation of your name and wisdom and extend your private practice.

Ambivalence in Couples: Relax, it's Normal

By Don Ferguson, Ph.D.

When working with couples, we have all noticed the delay factor with many of those who call for help. They initially call for information, fees, insurance coverage, etc., and insist that they will discuss this with their partner and get right back to us. Three months later we get another call about possible openings and again a promise to get right back to us. In another few weeks they actually make an appointment, but in that time, enormous additional pain and injury has occurred.

It is extremely common to feel ambivalent about changing your relationship even when you know that it should be better. In fact, it might be abnormal to not have doubts. Many of us are trained by life’s experiences to not ask for more from others. We are also aware that it is very difficult for people to make significant changes. Finally, we fear that talking about things, particularly in front of a stranger, might actually make things worse. Most of the couples that I see have tried to improve their relationship, but were frustrated when the changes they made were either not lasting or did not make enough of a difference. We also notice a good deal of media that discourage lasting committed relationships. While it is good news that divorce carries less stigma than it used to, it is not such good news that there is less encouragement to grow and foster an exclusive, intimate relationship. This adds to the confusion for many as to whether working on their marriage is hopeful or worth the risk money. The cost of dating each other and counseling is negligible compared to the emotional, physical and financial costs of marital stress to themselves and their children.

Our Daily Practice

From The Education and Ethics Committee

Ethics: philosophy which treats of human character and conduct, of distinction between right and wrong, and moral duty and obligations to the community. [Gk. Ethos, character] Webster’s New Age Encyclopedia of Dictionaries.

Recently, a question was posed to the Education and Etics Committee regarding whether continuing education post licensure was really a necessary part of our professional obligation. An immediate thought was of course it is if you want to keep your license. However, setting aside the issue of licensure let us consider the concept of “necessary.” What necessitates us as marriage and family therapists to continue to learn? The point the individual was making was that the everyday experience of treating people was the best source of learning. Certainly our therapeutic experience helps us to hone our skills and techniques. Seeking consultation with other therapists also assists us in developing perspective about our clients as well as gaining information which our colleagues may offer. But is this enough?