|
|
|
Michigan Mental Health Counselors Association
Life Lines |
|
| Serving Professional Counselors | Fall 2015 |
|
|
SAVE THE DATES
Networking Breakfasts
TBA Southfield
TBA Kalamazoo
TBA Royal Oak
Workshops
Oct. 30-Lansing
Nov. 13-Auburn Hills
Nov. 20-TBA
Dec. 4 -MSU Lansing
Dec. 11-TBA
Annual Meeting
Oct. 30 - Lansing
|
MMHCA is the state chapter of the American Mental Health Counselors Association.
Quick Links...
|
|
Interested in gaining experience in communications and helping MMHCA? Contact Jim Blundo to find out more!
|
|
Welcome to MMHCA
Anne Acker
Karyn Aguilera
Sara Anani
Karen Anthony
Ellen Armbruster
Allison Arnekians
Kathy Bennett
Ashley Bertram
Kelly Bonewell
Michelle Ciloski
Amy DeGraffenreid
Nancy Gilbert
Katie Goff
Anna Grajek
Julia A. Henning
Atefeh Jenrow
Anne Lambrecht
Christine Lyon
Justynn Mayo
Randy McCown
Melissa Melson
Kerry Minshew
Pamela Myslivec
Bevin Naftel
Twinet Parmer
D'Adriewne Pickett
Kathleen Piecuch
Kelly Reck
Charles Richards
Debbie Robb
Carlos Rubio
Deanna Scott-Hicks
Robin Skora
Andrew Slater
Ann Sovey
Jenny Stephens
Andrea Stickel
Theresa Steele
Wanda Trembath
Kevin Vaillancourt
Kimberly Watzman
Traci Westphal
Kelli Williams
Sherrell Wilson
Brittani Bertoni
Barbara Bungart
Arshia Ebrahim
Tracy Eagle
Merindar Grant
Lauren Levinson
Steve Nachtegall
Jennifer Prestenbach
Diane Schalk
Susan Schomberg
Renee Williams
Catherine Zatkoff
Viorica Lazin
Dr Arnold Coven
Dina Chapman
Napoleon Harrington
Jeff Katke
Lindsay Kukuk
Megan Lang
Jannise Newby
Trisha Nelson
Yulonda Ricks
Kristy Blackmer
Julie Clark
Debra Dobbs
Hannah Hyde
Gerald McAvoy
Shahin Paul
Jaclyn Jorgensen
Winda Webb
David Adams
Kevin King
Elizabeth Lorenz
Sherry McClendon
Elizabeth Porter
Heidi Weipert
Bruce Heustis
Stephanie Kitchen
Deborah Spencer
Beth Peterson
Catherine Starks
Elizabeth Zill
George Armitage
Scott Boeneman
Vincent Cousino
Kathleen Pizzo
Nancy Delaney
|
T A Mike Financial
Retirement Planning and Accounting.
Mission Statement:
Personal Attention to your Financial Assets
My goal is to produce Financial Statements and Balance Sheets and through these reports to be able to make the best decisions for your small business.
www.tamikefinancial.com
Visit our Sponsor |
|
|
|
Executive Director Report
Out of My Mind
Counselors are Blue Cross Providers!
We have been waiting for 25 years for inclusion in Blue Cross. The time has arrived.
Beginning October 1st we were officially accepted as providers. Instead of an explanation from me, please read the article written by Dr. Don Deering who has been our chief negotiator with Blue Cross. It is important that you understand the process and steps.
We have worked very hard to make our profession fully integrated into the providers of mental health services in Michigan. Many counselors have struggled to gain acceptance and be on a level playing field with other mental health providers. It has been very difficult to make a living in our profession. It takes both passion and persistence to survive.
Myself and several other committed counselors have persevered with the profession in spite of its economic limitations. I share with them the great expectations and hope for a future of equality and credibility we fought so hard to create.
To the new professionals and students we are so excited to have been part of helping create a rightly respected profession along with the other mental health providers in Michigan.
There is still much to do beyond gaining approval of Blue Cross.
- Full inclusion with providers under the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services which oversees the former Department of Community Health
- Medicare inclusion on the national level.
- Educating administrators and organizations that we are legitimate providers of services.
- Lobbying to both protect and advance the profession with the legislature and bureaucratic systems in Michigan
- Marketing LLPC/LPC's to the community, corporations, nonprofits, and all types of associations.
- Advance our skills through training, workshops, and conferences.
We are in urgent need of the following!
1. Your membership is extremely important to our success. Numbers count! If you have not renewed please do so. If you're not sure, please email me at jamesblundo@att.net.
2. Your active participation as a member will make more progress happen faster.
- Attend our Networking Breakfasts across the state
- Use our workshops and conferences to improve your skills
- Contact your state and national legislatures when requested to support legislation. (Medicare inclusion of mental health providers is being introduced in the US House and Senate.)
- Help us form interest networks regionally to support and market your local therapist's specialties.
- Help mentor students and new professionals so they are successful.
3. Make a donation to our PAC fund. We will have a way for you to donate with our new and improved website. This should commence by November.
The time has come to act! Passivity leads to failure.
Here is a short list of activities that will be beneficial to your future. The details and registration will be online in mid-October. Save the following dates. www.mmhca.org
- Friday October 30-Private Practice workshop and annual/awards meeting. (Great networking opportunity)
- Three DSM 5 ICD 10 CM workshops- Friday October 16 Ashland Theological Seminary, Friday November 20 location TBA, December 11 location TBA.
- Friday November 13 workshop Suicide and Self-Mutilation Jack Klott presenter Crowne Plaza Hotel Auburn Hills.
- Friday December 4 Integrative Care Conference-Keynote Dr. James Messina. Kellogg Conference Center MSU East Lansing.
Jim Blundo, LPC, CCMHC, NCC
MMHCA Executive Director
|
|
|
2015 - save these dates!
*Check www.mmhca.org for details and to register.
*October 16:
DSM-5: The Diagnostic Manual for the Future, Plus ICD 10 CM in Southfield, MI Presented by Michael Matouk.
*October 30:
Dual Event: Private Practice Workshop plus Annual Meeting and Awards Luncheon.
|
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan direct reimbursement available to Licensed Professional Counselors
After years of collaborative efforts, Licensed Professional Counselors (LPCs) are now eligible to begin the paneling process as of October 1, 2015 and reimbursement for services rendered will begin January 1, 2016.
LPCs will have the opportunity to participate in Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan's Traditional, TRUST (PPO) and Mental Health and Substance Abuse Managed Care networks. Participating LPCs will receive direct reimbursement for covered mental health services that fall within their scope of practice/licensure.
Covered mental health services will be reimbursed at 80 percent of the Traditional, TRUST and MHSAMC doctoral level practitioner fee schedule, less any member deductibles and copayments. Additional provisions for expanded coverage continue and will be made available for dissemination as they become active.
Note: Not all BCBSM plans (i.e. Self-Funded Plans) will cover LPC services or services billed directly by an LPC, although services may still be billed on an "incident to" basis for both LPCs and LLPCs. As additional Self-Funded Plans become eligible for contract renewal, it is expected they too will adopt LPCs as covered providers under their respective plans. To find out if a patient has coverage, check web-DENIS for member benefits and eligibility or call PARS at 1-800-344-8525. Also, if an LPC registers as a 'nonparticipating' provider for Traditional BCBSM plans, payments for covered services will be sent directly to the member.
Beginning October 1, 2016, LPCs can find the Traditional, TRUST and MHSAMC practitioner agreements and enrollment forms on bcbsm.com. To find enrollment information, click on Providers, and then on Join the Blues Network and Enrollment and Changes. Specific qualification requirements are identified within each agreement. Qualified LPCs may apply for a BCBSM provider identification number by completing the enrollment applications available on this site.
All interested LPCs must be registered with a National Provider Identification (NPI) number, as well as a Council for Affordable Quality Healthcare (CAQH) number. Additional information on how to obtain these numbers are available online to members of Michigan Mental Health Counselors Association (MMHCA).
For more information, contact Provider Inquiry or your Blue Cross provider consultant.
Thank you to all those who participated in this awaited accomplishment.
Donald E. Deering, Ph.D., LPC, NCC
President, Michigan Mental Health Counselors Association
|
|
|
We Grow in Wisdom
This summer my husband and I spent time in South Africa. The highlight of the trip was spending a week in a small village helping our son teach at KwaNyezi Primary School. During our days there we were teacher helpers in 6th & 7th Grade classrooms, in the library, and an after school program using soccer to teach HIV awareness. The school has no heat, no water, no electricity, not to mention broken windows and holes in the ceilings. The entire village is full of dirt and dust which turns to mud when it rains. Yet every morning the children shine their shoes and arrive at the school in their uniforms to line up for assembly to sing before classes begin. They are so eager and hungry to learn. I don't know if our brief time there made much of an impact on those students. But I do know it made a big impact on me. I am grateful for the opportunity to be in a vocation where I continually have opportunities to learn, both from our clients and workshops we attend. As Professionals Counselors we have the ethical principle of competency, to receive ongoing training to prepare ourselves. In The Gift of Therapy, Irvin Yalom says "the active therapist is always evolving, continuously growing in self-knowledge and awareness." Every morning I want to wake up, polish my shoes, and be ready to learn.
Newsletter by
Cindy S. Goldman, MEd, LPC, NCC
Michigan Mental Health Counselors Association www.mmhca.org
|
|
As a MMHCA Member You Can Be Listed on the Find a Counselor Page of the MMHCA Website
 In order to add you to the Find a Counselor Page on www.MMHCA.ORG we need some information from you. Please Click here to print the Website Information Update Form and email or mail it to Colleen Tavor of the MMHCA Membership Committee. Any questions? Don't hesitate to ask Colleen at cmtcounseling@gmail.com |
UP COMING MMHCA
NETWORKING BREAKFASTS
DATES AND LOCATIONS:
Southfield, MI, TBA
Kalamazoo, MI, TBA
Royal Oak, MI, TBA
Would you like to have a MMHCA Networking Breakfast in your community? Just email James Blundo, he will be happy to work with you on setting up a meeting jamesblundo@att.net
|
|
|
|
|
|
MMHCA's CORE VALUES
1. Integrity 2. Developing the Profession 3. Empowerment
4. Inclusiveness 5. Diversity 6. Altruism 7. Building Partnerships
The Mission of the Michigan Mental Health Counselors Association is to develop and empower the mental health counseling profession and promote mental health for the community. |
~ Dual Event ~
1. Private Practice Workshop: Start, Maintain, Expand
2. Annual Meeting and Awards Luncheon: to follow workshop
"State of the Profession Luncheon" includes:
Update on Blue Cross inclusion plus initiatives to enhance
the long-term survival of the counseling profession.
PRESENTER and HOST:
James Blundo LPC, CCMHC, NCC - MMHCA Executive Director
As owner of a successful Private Practice for over 35 years, Jim will help mental health professionals and students find their passion, develop strategies, and expand a private practice with or without insurance reimbursement. Learn about his eight step process exploring the methods that can make a practice work while evaluating risks and rewards.
DATE: Friday October 30, 2015
LOCATION: Great Lakes Christian College
6211 West Willow Highway
Lansing, Michigan 48917
517-321-0242
REGISTRATION: 9:00-9:30 AM
WORKSHOP: 9:30-12:30 PM (3 NBCC Credits)
LUNCHEON: 12:30-2:00 PM
ATTENDANCE INCLUDING LUNCH:
Non-Member - $70
MMHCA Member - $50
Student Member - $35
|
|
|
