Sept. Faculty Grad School Panel Zoom Recording

 For those that were unable to attend the Faculty Graduate School     Panel, click on the link below to watch the zoom recording. 

Activity zoom recordings

 Go to https://hdfs.usu.edu/programs/graduate/how-to-apply-mft and   click on "tips for applying to graduate school" to view the handout   mentioned in the video.

LMFT Panel Activity Summary

We were able to have a great activity over Zoom! First you will find introductions of all the therapists on the panel, and then the 10 questions that were asked, with their accompanying answer. 

Preston is in Uintah Basin. He pursued MFT because he worked with a lot of children that did a lot of work and changed a lot and then went home to a family and system that hadn’t changed. He wanted to help make a systemic change for families. Works with all different situations and people, and is also one of the emergency workers. 

Dolores is a therapist in Logan. She began her journey working with couples in natural birth education and as a doula, which she loved. She began to notice how trauma affected child birth, and started training other doulas on how to help couples with trauma during childbirth. She then moved and felt the obvious path would be MFT. She works with trauma, and is trained in EDMR and other trauma therapeutic techniques.

Austin is a recent graduate from USU, and works down in Utah Valley. He doesn’t yet have a specialty, but does a lot of work with children, autism, ADHD, and OCD. He took a psychology course and loved it, graduated and taught a class on relationship education and decided he wanted to become a therapist.

Pamela King was one of the first graduates from USU’s MMFT program, practices in Logan. She worked as a mental health specialist doing case management in schools, and had background in juvenile detention and foster care. She felt that the MFT program was a natural continuation to what she wanted to be doing. Specialized at first in domestic violence, developed programs for children who witnessed domestic violence. Extensive training in play therapy, trauma, does a lot of training. 

Question 1: How do you practice self care?

Answer: Have a consultation group. It is important to have people to talk with and bounce things off of. Breaks between sessions are important. Build in days off to the schedule, stay physically active and make time to do the things you love. 

Question 2: How has being an LMFT assisted you as a parent, and how do you balance work and family life?

Answer: Separating the two very distinctly is important, keep all sorts of work at work, and keep home at home. Even having a forced commute time is helpful in being able to decompress and separate the two. 

Question 3: How to prepare to apply to practicum?

Answer: There is such a shortage of mental health workers, they will probably just be glad that they are being contacted. Maybe prepare a letter of interest and send a resume with it.

Question 4: How should we be involved in our undergrad to prepare for practicum and grad programs?

Answer: Get experience in the field, look for job or volunteer opprotunities. 

Question 5: What are other things that you enjoy doing or are involved in that help you balance work and life?

Answer: Make sure that other things you are involved in are not therapy or therapy related. Become involved in the community and have different responsibilities that allow your brain to work in different ways then when you are doing therapy. Balance the professional engagement you have as well. Find other ways to apply your skills, such as teaching, organizing conferences, etc to balance different professional responsibilities rather than always doing therapy all day every day. Have time to play.

Question 6: How do you figure out what to specialize in, and when should you decide?

Answer: You are going to want to try all sorts of different things while doing your masters, so you can have a taste of all of it. Then maybe with your practicum you can narrow it down a little bit, but it won’t be until after that that you will likely feel drawn to a specialty. It is continuous learning through the whole career. It is not a bad thing if you are not specialized in a certain population. 

Question 7: What is the biggest need right now that clients have?

Answer: There has been a massive uptick in anxiety in the last 25 years. People are becoming more aware that it is ok to recognize and deal with trauma, it is another very common concern. There is definitely a big need to break community stigmas about mental health. Working with children and autism is also a very large population.

Question 8: What is the most surprising thing about being an MFT?

Answer: The longevity of the ability to do the career, and she still loves it. Learning to trust the clients and their knowledge of themselves. Watching clients make discoveries about themselves is endlessly satisfying. It has been surprising how enjoyable and good it actually is.

Question 9: What do you think are some of your favorite things about being a therapist?

Answer: Seeing clients begin to start trusting their emotions and instincts instead of running from them. Allowing them to transform their lives and seeing the shift in them. Therapists do not need to have the answers. Ask them questions and let them guide their healing. If you are open to it, you will always learn something from your clients. If you can lean into their difficulty, you will learn more about them, but also more about yourself. 

Question 10: What are your least favorite parts of the job?

Answer: It can be very difficult to work with the parents of children that the therapists are working with. Getting over the anxiety of being assertive with people, and de-escalating intense or crazy situations. Legal and insurance paperwork. 

Last Activity of the Semester, LMFT Panel

 Hello MFTSA!

We are excited to announce that our last activity of the semester is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist panel. This will be a great opportunity to meet some LMFTs from the community and ask your questions about what it is like to be an MFT, how to become one, or anything else you can think of!

What: LMFT Panel

When: Thursday, April 22, 2021

Time: 6-7pm

Where: https://usu.zoom.us/j/86163024382?pwd=aTEwaWJGUXZkUER5Vzl0dlE5K3ZTUT09

Meeting ID: 861 6302 4382

Passcode: 346628

Please, email us with any questions. We would love to see you there!

Aubrey Lake

MFTSA President

Ways to connect with us:

USU MFTSA Blog: https://usumftsa.blogspot.com/

USU MFTSA Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MFTSALogan/

USU MFTSA Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/usu_mftsa/

USU MFTSA Twitter:  https://twitter.com/usumftsa

MFTSA December Service Challenge

 Aggies,

As we part for Winter Break, we want to promote self-care. One of the best forms of self-care is to serve others. We challenge you to perform at least one act of service, post a picture or video, and tag us on any of our social media pages using #usumftserve. We will be highlighting people's activities on our social media as well as here on our blog. 

Happy Break!!

MFTSA Facebook

MFTSA Instagram

MFTSA Twitter

MFTSA Mock Therapy Nov. 2020

We wanted to let you know about our upcoming MFTSA activity. This is our most anticipated activity of the semester, mock therapy. In this activity, you will have an opportunity to role-play three separate roles: observer, client, and therapist. There will be MFT faculty members and graduate students to provide support and feedback. This is a great opportunity to see what it’s like being an MFT!! We hope you will join us for a great evening! 

What: Mock Therapy 

When: Thursday, Nov 19, 2020 

Time: 6-7:30 pm 

Where: https://usu-edu.zoom.us/j/94999939703?pwd=cGRnYWpuRkEzNnBqVmNDV1pSUTNJZz09 

Please connect with us for announcements, information, and all things pertaining to the MFTSA  

 

Here is a link to the blog: https://usumftsa.blogspot.com/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MFTSALogan/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/usu_mftsa/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/usumftsa 

Thanks, 

Moana Fullmer 

MFTSA President

Classroom Zoom Announcement

 

Greetings MFTSA,

The MFTSA Council recorded an announcement that we have included here, click on the link below:
Classroom Zoom Announcement

Also as a reminder, we want to invite you all out to participate in our upcoming activity Oct 8, 2020, through zoom. Here is a link to the zoom invite.

We hope to see you there!

Zoom Recording, Upcoming Activities, and Council Position

 

Greetings MFTSA

Thank You:

I wanted to thank everyone who could join us through zoom on Thursday, Sept 17, for our Opening Social. Those of us in attendance learned from each other's shared experiences. It was an uplifting experience as Jessica Barbazoa left each of us feeling more grounded and hopeful about the struggles that many of us are dealing with in response to the global pandemic. For those who could not join us live, you can access the zoom recording here on the MFTSA blog 

Upcoming Activities in October: Grad Schools and the Application Process

As deadlines for applying to graduate schools are fast approaching (Dec-Jan), we will be focusing on graduate school for October.

Friday, Oct 2: BYU Virtual MFT Graduate Fair information found here and Facebook event here.

Thursday, Oct 2, 6-7 pm through zoom. 

https://usu-edu.zoom.us/j/97347519949?pwd=dTNZdWNFWlNxY21ucGFFYkhYdlFyUT09

Next month we will be focusing on the application process here at USU for the MFT graduate school. We will have a panel consisting of MFT professors and graduate students. We are encouraged to take some time to read through the program and application process and email your remaining questions in response to this email. You will also have an opportunity to ask questions on the night of the activity.  

Opening for Council Position: VP of Marketing 

We have one opening for a council position, VP of Marketing. The VP of Marketing creates digital flyers for each activity three weeks before the event and delegates to other council members how/where to advertise. The VP of Marketing works with the VP of Technology to ensure distribution to proper entities. Priority consideration will be given to those that can commit to more than one semester. This position requires someone who has experience with graphic design and programs like Adobe Photoshop. A successful candidate should be: detailed-oriented, works well on a deadline, and is skilled at collaborative work. Additional expectations include attending monthly planning meetings, participation in monthly MFTSA activities, making announcements in classrooms, and other outreach activities as needed.  Grad schools like to see extracurricular and leadership involvement like this on graduate school applications! We work hard to keep our council positive, collaborative, and communicative. If you are interested in applying for the position, please respond to this email and indicate interest. We will communicate further details to those interested. 

Moana Fullmer

MFTSA President