Every 2nd Friday of the month, we host a 50-minute, virtual meet-up, designed to provide opportunities for support, connection, and conversation. Some months we'll have a theme, and others will be open-ended to provide room for any field-related discussions or case consultations.

After the RMFTN conference on 10/11, we heard your feedback that so many of you are running solo practices, and that your needs look very different from those in group settings. We want this upcoming Train & Gain to reflect that.

We’ve created a short survey so we can hear directly from you about the challenges coming up in your work now and what you see ahead. Your answers will guide our next session and help us bring you the most relevant, supportive content possible with a reprised and tailored presentation from James Childress, CPA.

Please take a moment to complete this quick survey, your input directly shapes this upcoming session.

We appreciate your voice and look forward to supporting you.

Please note that many regulatory boards accept AAMFT course attendance to fulfill CE requirements, but do not have a pre-approval process. If in doubt, check with the board.

Every 2nd Friday of the month, we host a 50-minute, virtual meet-up, designed to provide opportunities for support, connection, and conversation. Some months we'll have a theme, and others will be open-ended to provide room for any field-related discussions or case consultations.

Join State Representative Rebekah Stewart, the first board-certified music therapist elected to a State Legislature in the US, to provide a unique perspective to the legislative process, highlighted legislation from the 2025 session, and tips on being an effective clinician advocate. 

Rebekah has dedicated her life to fighting for people who continually fall through the cracks–both as a music therapist and healthcare advocate, and now as a Lakewood City Councilor.

Objectives: 

1. Participants will become familiar with important legislation that affects clinicians in the state of Colorado

2. Participants will become familiar with important legislation that affects populations served by mental health providers

2. Participants will identify 2 ways they can use their experience as clinicians to become effective advocates

Please note that many regulatory boards accept AAMFT course attendance to fulfill CE requirements, but do not have a pre-approval process. If in doubt, check with the board.

Every 2nd Friday of the month, we host a 50-minute, virtual meet-up, designed to provide opportunities for support, connection, and conversation. Some months we'll have a theme, and others will be open-ended to provide room for any field-related discussions or case consultations.

Rosemary A. Leone, LMFT was often referred to as the “Encyclopedia of Systemic Theory” at Regis University, where she graduated from her MMFT program in 2021. She has been applauded for her unique application of systemic theory in ways that result in specific, desired, second-order change in her clients. Diving deep into systemic theory and the main influencers of such, has allowed her to identify the truly transformative principles in each. Her favorite theories to present on include Ambiguous Loss Theory, and Strategic Family Therapy.

As MFT’s, we are tempted to recycle the major therapies again and again in our practice, such as EFT, Gottman, and Bowen informed intervention. Sometimes in doing so, other proven, yet less popular techniques by other greats (Boszormenyi-Nagy, Michael White, and Rollo May) get overlooked despite their palpable abilities to create lasting and meaningful transformation. If your usual therapy habits are feeling stale, this “basics reimagined” presentation is for you.

Learning Objectives

1. Define the unique principles of Contextual Family Therapy, Reflecting Teams, and Existential Therapy that set them apart.

2. Specific, systemically centered ways to expand the ways you assess in couples or family therapy, based on Contextual Family Therapy

3. How Contextual Family Therapy can enhance feelings of understanding between your clients and help you join as a clinician.

4. How Existential Questions can enhance transformative outcomes, when combined with a systemic therapy you already use. In other words, create higher meaning around your usual behavior prescriptions to increase chances of client follow-through.

5. Why Reflecting Teams were invented, how their use can be uniquely beneficial for your clients, and how to get involved in one.

Join us on the 3rd Thursday of each month for our continuing education Train & Gain webinar series.

[60-minute presentation eligible for 1 CEU then an optional, 30-minute Q&A to follow]

Every 2nd Friday of the month, we host a 50-minute, virtual meet-up, designed to provide opportunities for support, connection, and conversation. Some months we'll have a theme, and others will be open-ended to provide room for any field-related discussions or case consultations.

Susan Sandoval has been a grant writer for seven years, beginning her journey at a nonprofit family center in her rural hometown of Burlington, CO. What started as a practical need for employment soon grew into a passion for securing funding to support vital community programs. Over time, Susan transitioned to pursuing a career in addiction counseling, blending her grant writing expertise with her dedication to making a difference in the lives of individuals and families affected by addiction.

The presentation, GET GRANTS – SET YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS, is an informative guide to navigating the grant process, divided into four essential sections:

1. Grant Funding: This section explores the basics of grant funding, including the current economic landscape, variations in foundation types, and the different categories of grants available. It provides insights into the diverse sources of funding and how to identify the best fit for specific needs.

2. Grant Writing Process: This part focuses on preparation and emphasizes the importance of research to align goals with funder priorities, reflection to refine objectives, and crafting a compelling case for support that resonates with potential funders.

3. Grant Application: This segment outlines the critical components of a successful application, including developing a clear narrative, assembling essential attachments, and writing a professional cover letter and summary. It also highlights best practices for presenting a polished and persuasive proposal.

4. Next Steps & Tips for Success: The final section offers strategies for post-application success, such as effective planning and grant management, and emphasizes the importance of relationship-building with funders to establish long-term partnerships.

Each session is designed to equip participants with practical skills and strategies to secure grants and achieve lasting success in their funding efforts

Join us on the 3rd Thursday of each month for our continuing education Train & Gain webinar series.

[60-minute presentation eligible for 1 CEU then an optional, 30-minute Q&A to follow]

Every 2nd Friday of the month, we host a 50-minute, virtual meet-up, designed to provide opportunities for support, connection, and conversation. Some months we'll have a theme, and others will be open-ended to provide room for any field-related discussions or case consultations.

August Tousignant-Stanton, LCSW, LMFT is a therapist, supervisor, and speaker with their private practice Affirming Psychotherapy LLC. August holds a masters in social work and a certificate in intimate relationship/family therapy. August is the Program Director at Denver Family Institute and the Lead Clinician for the newly-developed Queer Youth Program. August has 15 years of experience in the field, and specializes in working with LGBTQIA+ youth and neurodiversity.

Systemic therapists use an unbiased perspective with client systems to build alliance and rapport. At times, this can be to the detriment of queer individuals; validity of queer identity becomes a matter of perspective and negotiable.  The Queer Adjusted Systemic Lens: An Affirming Approach for Queer Clients and Their Relationships presentation explores a new approach with interventions for therapists to use to both affirm the identity of queer clients and successfully build alliance with the client system.

Learning Objectives

1. Describe the need for a queer adjusted systemic lens (QASL) for the queer community, in particular, queer youth.

2. Name the various models of family systems theory from which the queer adjusted systemic lens is drawn.

3. Identify the core tenets of the QASL.

4. Name and describe the five interventions of the QASL model

Join us on the 3rd Thursday of each month for our continuing education Train & Gain webinar series.

[60-minute presentation eligible for 1 CEU then an optional, 30-minute Q&A to follow]

Every 2nd Friday of the month, we host a 50-minute, virtual meet-up, designed to provide opportunities for support, connection, and conversation. Some months we'll have a theme, and others will be open-ended to provide room for any field-related discussions or case consultations.

Every 2nd Friday of the month, we host a 50-minute, virtual meet-up, designed to provide opportunities for support, connection, and conversation. Some months we'll have a theme, and others will be open-ended to provide room for any field-related discussions or case consultations.

Presenter: Dr. Priyanka Rao

Dr. Priyanka Rao is a licensed clinical psychologist and founder of Asha Mental Health, a group practice specializing in neurodiversity-affirming and multiculturally inclusive mental health care. She provides individual and couples therapy, as well as adult ADHD and autism assessments, with a specialty in working with high-masking individuals. With a Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology from Adler University and extensive clinical and leadership experience, Dr. Rao is dedicated to fostering growth, resilience, and inclusivity for individuals from all backgrounds.

Objectives:

1. Participants will be able to define neurodiversity and identify common neurodivergent identities.

2. Participants will be able to describe the unique challenges and strengths of neurodivergent couples.

3. Participants will be able to apply neurodiversity-affirming principles to their work with couples.

Join us on the 3rd Thursday of each month for our continuing education Train & Gain webinar series.

[60-minute presentation eligible for 1 CEU then an optional, 30-minute Q&A to follow]

Every 2nd Friday of the month, we host a 50-minute, virtual meet-up, designed to provide opportunities for support, connection, and conversation. Some months we'll have a theme, and others will be open-ended to provide room for any field-related discussions or case consultations.

Join AAMFT staff for an overview of AAMFT’s current and recent federal and state advocacy initiatives, including inclusion of MFTs as Medicare providers, the Access MFTs initiative to improve the portability of the MFT license, and addressing changes taking place this year. This presentation will also provide an overview of the AAMFT Family TEAM, the MFT grassroots network of advocates, and how you can become involved in advocating for the profession.

Roger D. Smith, J.D.
Chief Advocacy Officer & General Counsel
Roger joined AAMFT in 2005. He currently serves as AAMFT’s Chief Advocacy Officer and General Counsel. Roger oversees AAMFT’s Government and Corporate Affairs team, which administers AAMFT’s federal and state advocacy initiatives, and the Ethics and Legal Affairs team, which handles general legal issues for AAMFT and supports the AAMFT Ethics Committee in overseeing compliance with the AAMFT Code of Ethics. Roger serves as the primary AAMFT staff representative to the Medicare Mental Health Workforce Coalition. After receiving a bachelor’s degree from Purdue University, Roger earned his law degree from the Indiana University School of Law in Indianapolis.

Neal Sombke

Dr. Reo Leslie

Learning Objectives

• Based on the content of this session, I will have a basic understanding of the Medicare program, and move forward with knowledge of how to enroll as a Medicare provider.

• Based on the content of this session, I am able to understand changes in laws in several states allowing MFTs licensed in good standing to become licensed in other states

• Based on the content of this session, I will have an understanding of the AAMFT Family TEAM and how to join the Family TEAM as an MFT advocate.

Join us on the 3rd Thursday of each month for our continuing education Train & Gain webinar series.

[60-minute presentation eligible for 1 CEU then an optional, 30-minute Q&A to follow]

Every 2nd Friday of the month, we host a 50-minute, virtual meet-up, designed to provide opportunities for support, connection, and conversation. Some months we'll have a theme, and others will be open-ended to provide room for any field-related discussions or case consultations.

Presenter:  Melanie Grundvig M.A., MFTC

Melanie Grundvig is an MFTC, M.A. in Marriage and Family Therapy, and currently does clinical therapy work with couples and individuals in the Denver/Boulder region. Melanie also has a B.A. in the humanities which directly influences how she approaches clinical work with clients, pulling in themes from philosophy and literature in her practice. She believes that what makes great art also makes great therapy; which is the ability to connect someone to their experience. For the past two years, Melanie has served as a board member for the Rocky Mountain Family Therapy Network, creating events for professionals to network and a place for clinicians across the mountain west to develop professionally. In her free time, Melanie loves to spend time outdoors with her husband or read a great book. You can find her on linkedin or contact her via email at grundvigtherapy@gmail.com.

Psychotherapy and literary analysis can be deeply interconnected. In fact, different therapeutic models have long been used as tools to analyze and discuss literature from Freud to Lacan to Jung (Tyson, 2014), and more recently Family Systems models (Novianti, 2015). Less clearly established is the reverse: the utility of including  literary analysis as a tool for psychotherapy. However, there are ways in which we see this occur as well. The intervention of deconstructive questioning within Narrative Therapy is derived from deconstructionism: a well-established form of literary critique (Tyson, 2014). Better understanding the relationship between these fields matters insofar as it deepens clinician’s understanding of where their theoretical orientation is rooted and because it potentially contains a well of creativity and utility that clinicians can draw from.  This presentation will discuss the intersection between literary analysis and psychotherapy and advocate for the utility of literary analysis as a possible tool and meta-theory for clinical practice including an opportunity to discuss and suggest future directions for research. 

Objectives

2. Explain the  interconnectivity in the fields of literary criticism and psychotherapy

3. Assess and discuss the utility of literary analysis as a meta framework in clinical work

4. Educate on the current research that suggests the benefits of literary skill for psychotherapists

Join us on the 3rd Thursday of each month for our continuing education Train & Gain webinar series.

[60-minute presentation eligible for 1 CEU then an optional, 30-minute Q&A to follow]

Google Meet Link: to be provided to members in their email reminder the week of.

Every 2nd Friday of the month, we host a 50-minute, virtual meet-up, designed to provide opportunities for support, connection, and conversation. Some months we'll have a theme, and others will be open-ended to provide room for any field-related discussions or case consultations.

Dr. Autumn  R. Ascano is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Colorado and an AAMFT Clinical Fellow. Her education includes a PhD in Developmental Psychology, Master of Science in Clinical Psychology, and a Juris Doctorate. 

During her time as an attorney, her practice was child-focused as a guardian ad litem and custody investigator. She has continued this child-focused practice as a counselor with an emphasis on traumatic stress and adverse childhood experiences. 

Dr. Ascano currently provides direct therapy services for young children, consultation for attorneys as it relates to developmental psychology and legal issues, and training in areas where there is overlap between developmental psychology and law.  

Dr. Ascano has testified in court hundreds of times as an expert witness, an attorney, and an clinician. She will bring that experience to the  presentation. Dr. Ascano will discuss clinicians can practice risk management in court related matters and tips for court testimony.  

Learning Objectives 

1.  Understand and distinguish between the types of witnesses.  

2.  Understand the scope of testimony based on witness type

3.  Summarize risk management practices related to court testimony.

Join us on the 3rd Thursday of each month for our continuing education Train & Gain webinar series.

[60-minute presentation eligible for 1 CEU then an optional, 30-minute Q&A to follow]

Google Meet link will be sent upon registration

Every 2nd Friday of the month, we host a 50-minute, virtual meet-up, designed to provide opportunities for support, connection, and conversation. Some months we'll have a theme, and others will be open-ended to provide room for any field-related discussions or case consultations.

James Childress is an accountant for therapists and owner of the firm CAC Advisors. He and his team help practice owners manage their finances, plan for predictable growth, and achieve their entrepreneurial dreams. His team's proactive and high contact approach has helped many clients double their practice sizes in under three years, all through the power of accounting, data analysis, guidance, and financial forecasting. James lives with his partner and two bossy cats in “the town of Wyoming” as he likes to call it.

Greenlights for Growth is a presentation meant to supercharge the entrepreneurial practice owners’ approach to stabilizing and growing their practice. Most practice owners are bootstrapping their business and don’t even know it, and James Childress addresses those risks head on. With rave reviews from both the AACP 2024 leadership summit and MHM 2024 Annual conference, this is not one to miss.

1. Attendees will learn what the essential Greenlights for Growth are, strongly protecting their practice from being among the 65% of business that close within ten years after opening.

2. Attendees will learn how to set a value-centered holistic accountability in place for their team members and vendors.

3. Attendees will learn how C Suite roles are critical to practice success, not merely reserved for big corporate juggernauts.

4. Attendees will learn methods for instituting these roles proper function at any size of practice.

5. Attendees will learn the real potential of a therapist and patient centered, properly sized private practice that builds the future in the way we all are fighting for.

Join us on the 3rd Thursday of each month for our continuing education Train & Gain webinar series.

[60-minute presentation eligible for 1 CEU then an optional, 30-minute Q&A to follow]

Google Meet link will be provided upon registration

Every 2nd Friday of the month, we host a 50-minute, virtual meet-up, designed to provide opportunities for support, connection, and conversation. Some months we'll have a theme, and others will be open-ended to provide room for any field-related discussions or case consultations.

After the RMFTN conference on 10/11, we heard your feedback that so many of you are running solo practices, and that your needs look very different from those in group settings. We want this upcoming Train & Gain to reflect that.

We’ve created a short survey so we can hear directly from you about the challenges coming up in your work now and what you see ahead. Your answers will guide our next session and help us bring you the most relevant, supportive content possible with a reprised and tailored presentation from James Childress, CPA.

Please take a moment to complete this quick survey, your input directly shapes this upcoming session.

We appreciate your voice and look forward to supporting you.

Please note that many regulatory boards accept AAMFT course attendance to fulfill CE requirements, but do not have a pre-approval process. If in doubt, check with the board.