Fall has fell!  Spring has sprung!  The typical heavy wet snow followed by gorgeous weather. Spring is a time of renewal and growth.  I see it already in my yard.  The occasional iris, tulip, new shoots on my hops, and catkins on the trees.  It's also a time of renewal and growth for CAP.

The Mental Health Statute, which provides us with our right to practice, expires next year.  As part of its Sunset Review, DORA will present the new law to the Legislature in a month or so, to be voted on next year.  CAP has been working on behalf of our members to ensure the look of that law has nothing that might jeopardize our right to practice.  And our lobbyist is working with DORA, the Mental Health Coalition, and the Legislature to be sure this happens.

To be able to continue to work on your behalf we need to increase our membership to pay for our lobbyist.  So I'm excited to announce CAP's April Membership Drive!  You received an email earlier with more details.  We have some wonderful prizes donated by our new sponsors and by Board members.  Full details are on the home page of the CAP web site.

We are grateful to Bradford Publishing, a locally-owned printing company, for becoming our first Associate Member! They have generously donated 10 copies of Denis Lane's "The Legal Guide For Practicing Psychotherapy In Colorado".  I bought a copy myself, and believe me, this is a must-have book in any psychotherapist's library.  It is a treasure-trove of valuable information.  You won't regret having it.

We're also grateful to Bart Levy Photography for donating a portrait session, which includes a web-ready image for your web site or marketing materials.  If you need a fabulous image of yourself, here's your chance!  Cheryl Foster of Barefoot Dreams Reflexology has donated a foot reflexology session. I also scheduled a series of foot relexology sessions with Cheryl to see what it was like.  After the first one I thought I died and went to Heaven!  It was SO wonderful.

We also have gift cards to Office Max and Amazon, so you see, there are plenty of great reasons to sign up new members.

If you know someone who is an unlicensed psychotherapist but not a member of CAP, now's the time to encourage them to join, and perhaps win a prize for the referral.  If you used to be a CAP member, now's the perfect time to renew your membership and help in our work preserving your continuing right to practice.  After all, you have that right thanks to CAPs efforts over the years.

Other news and updates:

Our dear friend, colleague, and past CAP Treasurer, Greg McHugh, has a new book, "The New Regression Therapy".  Greg's a master in the field so we look forward to his continued success with his book.  You can learn more about it on the Member's Ads tab of the CAP web site.

CAPS's By-Laws provide for a 12-member Board. All of those seats have never been filled.  We are in need of someone to take the roll of Membership Chair and manage our membership records.  This would entail entering updates, preparing reports for the Board, attending monthly Board meetings.  Computer skills are necessary.

 We also are in need of someone to take the roll of IT Chair taking care of the changes and updates to the CAP web site, managing the newsletters and emails, surveys, etc., through Constant Contact, as well as attend the monthly Board meetings.  Computer and web skills are necessary.

If you are interested in volunteering for one of these Chairs, or simply participating on the Board, please let me know by emailing me. We promise not to kiss you but the Board would be very happy to have your contribution and you'd meet some wonderful people dedicated to CAP and preserving our right to practice. We could also use some help contacting past members to encourage them to renew their memberships with CAP.  If this is something you would be able to help us with, please let me know at the above email.

Finally, speaking of the Board, each meeting follows Robert's Rules of Order, and we keep minutes of the meetings.  One of our members suggested sending the minutes out to everyone so look for an email in the next week or so.  The minutes will give you a glimpse into what goes on at Board meetings and how much there is to be done.
 
As always, if you have questions or concerns, or would like to offer your insight, please email me.  CAP's success depends on you so everything your offer is most welcome.

Take care,

Ed Robb
President of the Colorado Association of Psychotherapists

 

by Suzy Walz, VP and Legislative Chair

CAP is undertaking an active role preparing for the Sunset Review. As you may know, the statute under which all mental health professionals practice is the Mental Health Practice Act (MHPA). Under Colorado law, this statute lasts for 10 year at which time it will expire unless the legislature passes another statute. This process is called "sun-setting", hence the name Sunset Review.

 

Prior to the actual Sunset, which would take place in 2012, each of the mental health groups get together and form a Mental Health Coalition. This coalition reviews the statute line by line and makes recommended changes to the practice act. Each group (psychologists, licensed social workers, licensed professional counselors, marriage and family therapists, certified addiction counselors and the unlicensed psychotherapists) submits their groups proposed changes. The whole coalition votes upon which changes they support. These accepted changes become a report that is submitted to the Department of Regulatory Agencies.

 

It is DoRA's job to draft a new Mental Health Practice Act. They interview all the different groups, as well as individual practitioners, members of the public, etc., and then submit their amended version to the Colorado Legislature for approval. The legislature hears testimony on the proposed changes, including any others that DoRA did not include, and then votes upon the changes. This version becomes the new Mental Health Practice Act.

 

CAP has been meeting regularly with The Mental Health Coalition, our lobbyists, DoRA and legislators to get the word out on the changes that we would like to see in the MHPA. Here is a summary of the changes we support:

 

1. The Mental Health Coalition is supporting a change to amend the language in the list of prohibited activities 12-43-222(1) (g) and (i):

 

 A few years ago there was a de facto policy with at least two of the DoRA mental health boards and among some staff to interpret 12-43-222(1) (i) that there should be a categorical prohibition of all dual relationships. This was happening even though such a categorical prohibition/policy was not granted by the statute in the existing language usually referenced around this issue (12-43-222(1) (i) and the standards of practice of most of the National and State provider groups referred to in the current paragraph 12-43-222(1) (g) state that some dual relationships are helpful and therapeutic for clients while others may be harmful. Most of the codes recommend that practitioners perform a self-assessment, consult with a colleague and/or document the risk of exploitation in the client's chart.

 

These changes to these two paragraphs are being recommended so that there is uniform interpretation of the statute by each practice group's DoRA board in these areas.

 

By making the language more clear and concrete, practitioners as well as the public, can better understand what activities are prohibited from practice.

 

·       In 12-43-222(1) (g), we recommend removal of the contradictory language so it shall read: (A person has violated the statute if she/he) has acted in a manner that does not meet the generally accepted standards of the professional discipline under which such person practices. Such standards shall include, but may not limited to, the standards of practice generally recognized by state and national associations of practitioners in the field of the person's professional discipline.

 

·       In 12-43-222(1) (i) we recommend that it shall read: (that the person) Has maintained relationships with clients where the person's professional judgment was impaired or where the person exploited the client.

 

 

2. The Mental Health Coalition supports changing the make up of the various professional boards to FIVE professional members and TWO public members.

 

·       The reasoning behind this proposal is to have more board members that are educated and experienced in the field they are regulating and therefore can make more fully informed decisions affecting clients of health care professionals and the professionals. We believe that this will be a more efficient way for boards to operate and therefore save the public time and money.

 

3.              CAP is recommending a nomenclature change in statute for identifying those psychotherapists who are not licensed but are listed in the Mental Health Grievance Board data base and regulated by DoRA. CAP is recommending that the term "unlicensed psychotherapists" be struck and replaced with "registered psychotherapists." This recommendation is in no way a proposal for a title protection, per se.

 

·       CAP believes this change will represent this group of practitioners more accurately and appropriately. The new language will describe what these psychotherapists ARE rather than comparing them to a group of licensed practitioners, which they are NOT.

 

·       In doing research, CAP found that there is otherwise no minimal educational standard in Colorado law that would restrict using the term "registered", while "licensed" is a term that indicates an educational standard.

 

·       The fact is that psychotherapists who are not licensed ARE registered with DoRA and REGULATED (as all professional groups are) by The Mental Health Practice Act. CAP believes that this title change will clarify and simplify the terminology used in statute.

 

 

 

In April, The Mental Health Coalition will meet with DoRA and review and submit all the changes we would like to see in the MHPA. After that meeting, CAP representatives Suzy Walz and Greg McHugh along with our lobbyists Cindy Sovine-Miller and Stephanie Matthews, will meet with DoRA representatives privately and discuss the specifics of why we are requesting our changes. DoRA will consider our recommendations when writing their own report.

 

CAP has also been monitoring various bills that have been introduced in the legislature that may affect unlicensed psychotherapists. One bill in particular we have been involved with is SB 124, the Michael Skolnik Medical Transparency Act.  This transparency act already exists for physicians in Colorado where they are required to report information pertaining to their practice history including:

·       Physician's name, address, and telephone number,

·       Information relating to their license

·       Board certification and specialties

·       Any affiliations with hospital or health care facilities

·       Any health care related business ownership if the aggregate value of the contracts exceeds $5,000 annually

·       Any public disciplinary action taken by the state board or the regulatory body of another state or country

·       Any agreement or stipulation to temporarily cease or restrict practice or any order restricting or suspending the license

·       Any final action regarding involuntary limitation, suspension, reduction, non-renewal, denial, revocation of the physician's privileges at a health care facility on or after April 1, 1990

·       Any final criminal conviction or plea arrangement relating to the commission or alleged commission of a felony or crime of moral turpitude

·       Any final judgment, settlement or arbitration award in a medical malpractice claim, and

·       The refusal of an insurance carrier to issue malpractice insurance policy due to past claims experience.

·       IN ADDITON, this bill requires physicians to report the location of the applicant's practice if different than the applicant's address of record

·       Report information about the education and training the person received pertaining to his or her profession

·       Provide info about other licenses, certifications or registrations to practice the applicant's profession that were issued in the previous 10 years

·       Comply with their responsibility to report adverse actions to the appropriate regulatory body as otherwise required by law.

 

The bill enacts the "Michael Skolnik Medical Transparency Act of 2010" to extend similar reporting requirements, as applicable, to the following health care professionals that apply for a new license, certification, or registration to renew, reinstate or reactivate a license, certification or registration on or after July 1, 2011:  Audiologists, Acupuncturists, Podiatrists, Chiropractors, Dentists and dental hygienists, Physician Assistants, Mid-wives, nurses, Optometrists, Physical therapists, Psychologists, social workers, marriage and family therapists, professional counselors, addiction counselors and unlicensed psychotherapists.

 

In addition to the information required to be reported, an impacted professional is also permitted to submit the information pertaining to relevant awards and recognitions received by the person.

 

This bill has passed the senate reading and is now in appropriations. We will keep you posted of its status.

 

There are a few ways we could use your help with all of this legislative work. First of all, consider an additional donation to the CAP general fund to help pay for the cost of the professionals helping us with our work. You can go to our website and donate under "friend of CAP" any amount you choose. Or simply call us and we'll gladly help with your donation.

 

Secondly, pass this important information on to other unlicensed psychotherapists and encourage them to join CAP. We would like to double our membership over the next year. CAP represents all of the Unlicensed Psychotherapists in Colorado. We believe as the only professional organization in Colorado for Unlicensed Psychotherapists, that it is a professional responsibility to support our efforts. We are currently working on new ways to better serve our membership and welcome any suggestions or volunteers.

 

Lastly, familiarize yourself with what is going on with the Sunset Review. DoRA may call random therapists and ask them about our proposed changes. Knowledge is power so empower yourself and your practice by being involved in CAP.

 

Suzy Walz

Vice President and Legislative Chair

Colorado Association of Psychotherapists

303-480-5733