About Bridging the Gap: From the Classroom to the Couch
No single program can completely prepare you for the complexities of your ever-evolving role as a professional marriage and family therapist. By attending this conference, you will:
- Learn actionable strategies to help you navigate the shift from student to working professional
- Network with MFT professionals and fellow students
- And more!
From choosing a career track, managing the licensure process, choosing a supervisor, and exploring solutions to address discrimination, the TAMFT student conference hopes to help you fill in the gaps between the classroom and the couch.
While this conference is being conceived and designed with students in mind (masters and doctoral students), we believe that educators, supervisors, and other therapists may find a lot of value in this all-day online conference, so anyone may register and attend.
The best part? It is worth 5 CEUs!
Pricing:
$75 for TAMFT members | $95 for Non-Members
SCHEDULE
9:00 AM-10:00 AM CT | In Search of Yourself: Integrating Your Theory with Who You Are | 1 CEU
Dr. Jason Martin
One of the more intimidating aspects of developing as a new therapist is taking the concepts and interventions you learn in class and effectively integrating them into your therapy. It looks so effortless in seasoned professionals, but it can feel unnatural and mechanical as a student. How do you take what you've learned and meld it with who you are as a person? How do you know if your theory is right for you, and what does that mean for your clients? This session takes a look at how a personal theory of therapy is developed and steps attendees can take now to better integrate themselves with their theory.
10:00 AM-11:00 AM CT | Private Practice Primer | 1 CEU
Dr. Kate Walker
Operating a private practice does NOT have to be difficult. Follow some simple steps and you can make a living doing the thing you love. Kate will talk about creating a strategic plan that will guide everything from how you organize your business and your budget, to daily operations that will keep you in line with HIPAA and license laws. Students will leave with tools including a superbill they can use as a receipt for clients who prefer not to use insurance. Objectives: (1) Introduce students to essential steps to starting a private practice in Texas; (2) Explain how budgeting will determine how many clients you need, what to charge, and when to grow; (3) Frame the presentation within the constructs of HIPAA, license laws, and good ethics
11:00 AM-12:00 PM CT | Self-Care for Therapy Students | 1 CEU
Dr. Wen-Mei Chou, LMFT-S, LPC-S
Learning to help others in therapy can be challenging and exhausting. In addition to the normal family responsibilities and perhaps employment, therapy students juggle clients with a wide range of clinical problems, supervision, internship sites, and other graduation requirements, not to mention preparing for licensure and a career. Self-care is unfortunately one of the first sacrifices for time, but it does not have to be! This session will help students learn the importance of prioritizing self-care as well as techniques to implement it in a variety of settings and schedules.
12:00 PM-1:00 PM CT | Student Meeting - Lunch
Led by Hannah McKinnies and the TSAMFT officers
Welcome! Many students may not know that when they join TAMFT, as a student they are automatically in TSAMFT as well. We want to hear from the students. The lunch meeting will discuss the student association and its purpose and benefits of it. We want to know what students want and need and want from a student organization. What kinds of networking or learning opportunities is everyone interested in? We want to tell everyone what the student association has been up to and where we want to go. We welcome everyone to join us for this informal lunch meeting.
BREAKOUT (Option 1 of 2): 1:00 PM-2:00 PM CT | Breakout: Overcoming Common Challenges to Earning Hours | 1 CEU
Angela Hayes, MS, LMFT
Collecting enough hours for internship and associate licensure can be daunting and stressful! Learn more about how to overcome some of the common challenges to earning enough hours so that you can feel confident and prepared.
BREAKOUT (Option 2 of 2): 1:00 PM-2:00 PM CT | "How I passed the Exam": A Panel Discussion of recent MFT Exam takers | 1 CEU
Dr. Jason Martin
What is it like to take the exam? What are some surprises that past students wish they had known about? Hear directly from a panel of students who recently taken and passed the exam about what they learned from the experience.
2:00 PM-3:00 PM CT | Texas MFT Licensing Information and Q&A | 1 CEU
Dr. Lisa Merchant
The licensing process can be confusing and frustrating. Thankfully, there are people with answers and a guide for navigating the process. In this session, Dr. Lisa Merchant, who serves as chairperson of the Texas State Board of Examiners of Marriage and Family Therapists, will share information about the licensure process, including common mistakes & pitfalls. She will also engage in a Q&A session. This is your opportunity to ask the confounding questions you have about licensing to get your career moving!
3:00 PM-4:00 PM CT | Social Hour/Conclusion
Led by the TSAMFT officers
As a student, it can be intimidating to talk with professionals and others that have been practicing in the field for a long time. Many times, students also may not have access to other students that they can collaborate and network with. We want to have a fun social hour so we can meet each other and get to know one another. We want to have an informal time, and everyone is encouraged to come and talk and learn.
