News & Updates

MAMFT wants to give a big shout-out to the MAMFT member volunteers, board members, and staff for showing up for Twin Cities Family Pride and running our awesome booth! 

We had a blast sharing about MAMFT's resources for professionals and for those in the community seeking mental health support.

Thank you everyone for showing up!

Pictured: Patty Ostberg-Speiker, LMFT; Shauna Zotalis, LMFT; Kate Sciandra, Bridget Mozina, LMFT, Kori Hennesy, LMFT, Brenna McGee, LMFT

Pictured: Tanner Zimmerman, LMFT; Calvin Hauer, LMFT; Patty Ostberg-Speiker, LMFT; Shauna Zotalis, LMFT; Dana Barnaal, LMFT

Check out some of our other photos from the day:

A letter from MAMFT Board President, Alex Iantaffi:

Dear members,

I want to take a moment to thank Serenity Curtis for serving as our Secretary until last month, when she chose to step down due to personal circumstances. Serenity has put in so many hours to support MAMFT as a volunteer both during her tenure as a Board member and prior to being elected on the Board! Thank you Serenity, you are appreciated and missed already!

I am glad to report that one of our Board members, Katelyn Thoresen, kindly moved up to cover Serenity’s position to ensure that not too many officer positions rotated off at once and to help us avoid a special election. Thank you Katelyn for choosing to serve in this position, you are appreciated!

I also want to take a moment to acknowledge that, over the past 4 years, we have had a few members who have needed to step down from their Board positions before the end of their term. I can understand that this might seem unsettling to members so, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me (president@mamft.net), or the President Elect Leah Seeger (presidentelect@mamft.net)  or our Executive Director, J’Kalein Madison (executivedirector@mamft.net). Most of the people who have needed to step down from the Board early were facing unexpected stressors and circumstances in their lives. I am confident that many of us can relate to this given how challenging life has been, in so many ways, over the past four years due to systemic factors.

I am glad to serve on a Board where we put relationships and wellbeing first. As systemic providers and relational healers, my hope is that we can keep showing up for one another in a web of collective care and responsibility. Thank you to all the members who have served, are serving, or plan to serve on our Board. I understand how much time, care, commitment and capacity these volunteer positions require and I am grateful for you.

In community,

Alex Iantaffi, PhD, MS, SEP, CST, CST-S, LMFT

MAMFT Board President

Governor Walz announced the following appointments to our regulatory board (BMFT), effective June 12th of 2024 through January 2028. Dr. Shonda Craft, PhD, LMFT was reappointed as the higher education representative, and Anna Clavin, MA, LMFT of St. Cloud will join the board replacing Andrea Hendel, LMFT. 

To stay up to date on the regulatory board’s latest efforts please visit https://mn.gov/boards/marriage-and-family/ 

If you have ideas about how MAMFT can support therapists like you right here in Minnesota AND you enjoy brainstorming in a community of MFTs, we have an amazing opportunity for you!

In an At Large position on the MAMFT Board of Directors, you get to bring your ideas, passions, and concerns to the organization and you have the (not so magical, but magical) power of ️voting ️ to make things actually happen!

Learn more and apply here:

Apply Here 

Have questions? Contact Melissa at elections@mamft.net.

MAMFT will be hosting a booth during Twin Cities Pride and we are inviting you to grab a buddy and join us in talking about Marriage and Family Therapy, playing games, and enjoying the event while also giving back and building connections in the MFT community!

Volunteer times include:

10:00-11:30am

11:00-1:00pm

1:00-3:00pm

Sign Up Here 

️‍Reach out with any questions to Melissa at volunteer@mamft.net 

️‍See you there!

️‍

We are looking for 2-3 MAMFT members to join a review committee with 3 MAMFT Board Members in making recommendations to the Social Justice Committee about disbursement of scholarship funds. There is an opportunity to do so in a virtual community with other reviewers or at a time of your own choosing.

Interested?

Email Melissa at socialjustice@mamft.net for more information.

Sign Here!

This designation will serve as a platform to raise awareness about the vital role that marriage and family therapy plays in supporting individuals, couples, families, and communities in times of need.

Here are a few reasons to designate August as National Marriage and Family Therapy Month:

Strengthening Relationships: Healthy relationships are the foundation of thriving families and communities. By promoting the importance of relationship health, National Marriage and Family Therapy Month can help reduce divorce rates, strengthen marital bonds, and improve parent-child relationships.

Raising Awareness: Many people are unaware of the benefits of marriage and family therapy or may hesitate to seek help due to stigma or lack of information. Designating August as a dedicated awareness month will help educate the public about the effectiveness of therapy and reduce barriers to access.

Supporting Professional Development: National Marriage and Family Therapy Month can also serve as an opportunity to recognize and celebrate the contributions of marriage and family therapists. By highlighting the expertise and dedication, we can encourage more individuals to pursue careers in this critical field.

Preventing Family Dysfunction: Addressing issues within the family system can prevent larger social problems such as domestic violence, child abuse, and intergenerational trauma. By prioritizing family therapy, we invest in the long-term health and stability of our communities.

We hope you will consider signing this petition to bring more awareness to our field! 

Sincerely,

MAMFT

A big THANK YOU to everyone who donated to our May 10th Red Cross event!

MAMFT was able to give back to the community, and we could not have achieved our goals if it wasn't for those that showed up and donated!

See below for some photos from the event, and Calvin getting a pie to the face!

As the Change Healthcare outage continues, MAMFT is committed to finding ways to support members and other impacted mental health providers. In response to this issue, we are proactively asking insurance companies to extend their timely filing requirements in 2024, so our members have more time to address the outage before claims submission deadlines start to expire. Our advocacy team is notifying the Governor’s office about this matter, and we are actively seeking the support of other mental health professional organizations to co-sign our request.

Read the detailed request HERE

A huge thank you to MAMFT member Sarah Bengtson for helping us start this process.

Rate Increases Possible

We are entering the final days of the 2024 Minnesota Legislative Session and we wanted to provide membership with the current status of legislative language important to the Minnesota Association for Marriage & Family Therapy. While the State of Minnesota has a current budget surplus of $3.7B, fears of future projected deficits have severely limited the amount of funds being made available for a potential supplemental budget. Of the available $3.7B, about $500M is targeted for a supplemental budget for the State of Minnesota.

The State of Minnesota works on a two year budget cycle with a full $59.1B State Budget being passed last session  Therefore, the Legislature has the ability, but not the obligation to pass a supplemental budget. This has all culminated in many MAMFT and Mental Health Legislative Network priorities being pushed to the next budget cycle.

A further complicating factor is that Senator Nicole Mitchell (DFL-Woodbury) was arrested April 22nd on charges of first degree burglary. This is important because the Democrat Majority is only one vote, 34-33. Senator Michell is that 34th vote meaning she is the deciding vote on all legislation and funding. This fact has made all of the funding bills become more controversial and procedurally more difficult. The likely end result will be slimmed down packages containing mostly agreed upon language.

However, the DHS Rate Study Increases are currently included in the Health and Human Services bill in the Senate. We encourage you all to reach out to your legislator (you can find who that is here) and encourage passage of the rate increases for mental health and substance abuse providers.  

Here is a draft paragraph on what you might want to send to your legislator.  Any personalization you can do to this statement will be important and appreciated: 

"Dear Insert Elected Officials name here, 

I am a constituent, I live at insert address here. I am urging you to take action and help pass the rate increases for mental health and substance abuse providers contained in the Senate Health and Human Services Finance Omnibus Bill.  We are in a mental health crisis and need all the support we can get to provide service and help people across the State of Minnesota. These rate increases would help keep people in the profession and attract people to the profession to provide more services. 

{Insert what you do and why it matters.}