DAMFT Officers
President–Layla Z. Scott, MS, LMFT,
CFLE, 214-424-7120
[email protected]
DAMFT
February 2010
Past-President – R. Scott Gornto,
MDIV., LMFT, CST, 972-312-8893
[email protected]
Vice-President –Rhett Smith, MDIV,
MSMFT, LMFT, 972-312-8893
[email protected]
Secretary – Deidre M. Wilson, M.S.,
LMFT, LPC, 972-998-5589
[email protected]
Treasurer – Stephanie Burchell, PhD,
LMFT, 214-534-6177
[email protected]
Membership – Maryellen Dabal, LMFT,
817-876-9958
[email protected]
Newsletter Editor – Sidney Starling,
M.Ed., LMFT, LPC, 214-354-9985
[email protected]
2013 DAMFT Programs
September 6
DAMFT Round Table
Best Practices:
Addictions
Panel:
Linda Dotson, M.A.,
LMFT, LPC
Scott Gornto, MDIV,
LMFT, CST
Layla Scott, MS,
LMFT, CFLE
October 4
Pathways to
Forgiveness
Presenter:
Terry Hargrave,
Ph.D.
***Please Note Location Change for
October 4 meeting
November 1
Self-Care and Stress
Presenter:
Jeannie Whitman,
Ph.D
February 7
Ethics
Presenter:
Aubrey Connatser,
J.D., Koons Fuller
September 2013
Official Newsletter of the
Dallas Association for Marriage and Family Therapy
Message from the President
Welcome back for the DAMFT fall schedule of events! I hope you
had a relaxing summer and are eager for the changes in store for the fall.
We are pleased to be partnering with SMU Plano once again to host a
Restoration Therapy Workshop on the morning of October 4, 2013. This
cost-effective training is an opportunity to earn 3 additional CEU’s while
networking with your colleagues, both old and new. We are thrilled to
have had so many student members join our organization in May, and
continue to encourage our membership to partner with the next
generation of marriage and family therapists!
To register for the morning workshop, please visit our website:
www.damft.com. Please note that our regularly scheduled meeting in
October will follow the workshop on the SMU Plano campus, and is free
of charge to all current members.
With the many exciting changes that have taken place this year,
the board is eager to keep the momentum going! It has been a privilege
serving with capable leaders and I want to thank them for working so
diligently to deliver quality programs all year long. We will soon be
electing several new faces to the board, as well as appointing new
committee heads/members. I would like to take the opportunity to
invite you to join in running our organization. Please let me know if you
are willing to serve DAMFT and your fellow colleagues. Let’s continue
the legacy of professional development and networking, and partner
together to keep our organization innovative and relevant to our
expanding membership!
Layla
Next Meeting:
Friday
DAMFT Round Table
Best Practices: Addictions
September 6
1:00 – 3:00
Location: Milliman Building – Ten Thousand North Central Expressway, Dallas, TX
Panel: Linda Dotson, M.A., LMFT, LPC; Scott Gornto, MDIV, LMFT, CST; Layla Scott, MS, LMFT,
CFLE
Please join us for this panel discussion addressing addictions which will be led by three of our own DAMFT
members. Clients with addictions present challenges involving both the client and their family. Decisions
involving treatment programs and after care, relapse prevention and the impact of both addiction and
recovery on the family system are but a few of the topics that will be addressed. This program will combine
both presentation and discussion and promises to be both informative and fun as our members interact with
one another.
Two CEUs
Non Member Fee $10.00
No Cost with Annual Membership
s
There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to
believe what is true. ~ Soren Kierkegaard
Reach out to fellow
professionals and invite them
to attend our meetings and to
consider joining our
organization. Do your part to
keep DAMFT a vibrant and
growing organization.
Forward our newsletter to
someone you know.
Restoration Therapy Workshop
Understanding and Guiding Healing in Marriage and Family Therapy
TERRY HARGRAVE, PH.D
PROFESSOR * THERAPIST * AUTHOR * SPEAKER
October 4, 2013
9:00 am – 12:00 pm
About the Workshop
Gain foundational information and training in the
primary therapeutic techniques of
Restoration Therapy.
Learning Objectives
SMU Plano
5228 Tennyson Parkway, Bldg. 3
Plano, Texas 75024
Earn 3 CEUs for morning workshop!
Cost: $50.00
Register and view payment details at:
www.damft.com
 Describe the basic theory of love and
trust-worthiness.
 Explain and assess emotional pain from
relational violations.
 Describe the emotional process of peace.
 Utilize the technique of “re-parenting.”
 Utilize the “Four Steps” in organizing
change strategies.
**Workshop followed by afternoon lecture:
Pathways to Forgiveness
1:00 – 3:00 pm
Cost: Free for DAMFT members
$10.00 for non-members
Earn an additional 2 CEUs!
DAMFT
Dallas Association for Marriage and Family Therapy &
SMU M.S. in Counseling Program
Editor’s Comments
Sidney Starling
I must be willing to give up what I am in order to
become what I will be. ~ Albert Einstein
“The single biggest problem in
communication is the illusion that it has
taken place”. I recently revisited this
quote by George Bernard Shaw. It is one
of my favorites because, as a clinician, it
is so much a part of my everyday life –
and yours too.
As clinicians we are trained to
listen, ask questions, affirm and re-affirm
until we are fairly sure we understand.
Ah ha, we think. We are communicating
with our client. And ha ha! How often do
we find that even we have become
embroiled in miscommunication, despite
the illusion we held that communication
had taken place.
And then there is the challenge of
teaching our clients, especially our
couples, to communicate. Even if they
profess to have a “communication
problem”, so often they still are not fully
aware of the assumptions made that
contribute to the illusion of
communication. So we try to encourage
better listening, questioning, re-stating,
etc, etc, ad infinitum in our efforts to
combat the illusion that communication
has taken place!
Isn’t it fun!
Speaking of fun – I hope you all
managed to have a little over our summer
break. If you did something you would
like to share, please don’t hesitate to
“communicate” with me and we can get
it in the newsletter. I look forward to
hearing from a few brave souls that
would like to make a contribution!
Sidney
There are only two ways to live your life. One is as
though nothing is a miracle. The other is as if
everything is ~Albert Einstein
Member Contribution
Sharing information on important issues and events that impact our profession
On July 11 The Meadows Foundation met in Dallas to gather ideas as part of the formation stage in the
creation of The Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute for Texas. They will continue to meet across Texas to
establish partnerships and gather ideas and seek collaboration. They have hired Tri West and Zia consultants
to help them evaluate the mental health needs of Texans. I urge you to spread the word encouraging other
professionals to attend their meetings as they travel to other areas in Texas. They truly want to know our
opinions and how we can better serve Texans dealing with mental health issues. I found them to be open and
eager to understand our particular concerns and needs. They want grass roots input so they plan to travel all
over Texas.
Even though they have already met here in Dallas, since the Meadows foundation is local, there may
be future meetings. If so, I will try to alert our members. Below is the announcement from The Meadows
Foundation.
Connie Cornwell
The Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute for Texas Description
The Meadows Foundation, after a two‐year planning process with input from thousands of stakeholders across
Texas, will launch the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute for Texas with a five‐year, $10 million
commitment. This statewide, non‐partisan Institute will work with public and private partners in the mental
health and substance abuse communities as well as organizations serving children, veterans, the homeless and
criminal justice systems ‐ anyplace where effective mental health care can make a difference.
The Institute, with its partners, will identify best practices for preventing and treating mental health and
related conditions. It will provide state policymakers with reliable, objective information and analysis to make
better use of our resources. And, it will help Texans know what works and how to implement these ideas
across our communities.
The end result is that people in Texas who require mental health and substance abuse care are more likely to
get services that really help and that as a state we use our resources more wisely to reduce the massive costs
of incarceration, homelessness, and violence in our families and schools.
The first task is to establish partnerships throughout Texas. In the formation stages we will seek ideas and
collaboration. We want to work with each partner in the system to decide how best to contribute, how to be
represented, and how to co-create the Institute with us.
2013 AAMFT Annual
Conference
Raising Vibrant Children
October 17 – 20
Portland, Oregon
Register Now
www.aamft.org/annualconference
If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt,
as far as possible, all things. ~ Rene Descartes
Go to our page by following this link.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dallas-Association-for-Marriage-and-FamilyTherapy/250896721626936
WALK ARLINGTON FOR CHILDREN
SEPTEMBER 14, 2013
RIVER LEGACY PARK
Follow this link To Register
http://www.preventchildabusetexas.org/walks.html
Prevent Child Abuse Texas invites your participation in the Walk Arlington For Children
scheduled for September 14, 2013. Walk Arlington For Children is a 5K Walk and be held at
River Legacy Park.
Every day, 10,500 children are abused or neglected in America. Each day, four of them will
die as a result. Too often ignorance and fear hide the symptoms of child abuse from the
world. Too few people recognize the symptoms, and that ignorance can be deadly to an abused
child.
The Walk Arlington For Children is a bold challenge. It’s a siren call to the world that we will
take extraordinary steps to help the most vulnerable. Up to 200 walkers will each support the
mission of Prevent Child Abuse Texas and participate in this uniquely inspiring event.
Imagine this: Up to 200 people, each willing to walk in a public demonstration of support for
children. And each person – many of them friends and family of abused children – register to
earn the privilege of walking.
These are the participants of the Walk Arlington For Children.
Critic’s Comments
Cedric Wood
Good Movies were hard to find this summer. But finally I found a few.
“Lee Daniels’ The Butler” is a moving work of art starring Forrest Whitaker and Oprah Winfrey. It is the
dramatic telling of the conflict between a father who worked at the White House as the “house butler” and his
son who rejected the life of a subservient “negro” and decided to fight back. He joined the Black Panthers
which alienated him from his father but time and changing times healed these wounds. The relationships are
deep, traumatic, but very real and beautifully portrayed.
Three and a half stars.
“JOBS” the first biopic about Steve Jobs, creator of Apple. Jobs, the man (Ashton
Kutcher) is revealed to be a driven man, even to the point of being a tyrant. It almost
seems he is trying to prove to the birth parents who gave him up (and stayed together)
that they should not have abandoned him. He fights the corporate types and seems to
have come out the winner. Nothing after the Ipod is presented.
Three Stars
Woody Allen’s “Blue Jasmine” is a heart-wrenching movie about a woman who falls from riches into poverty
and has to live with her sister who does not share the high-mindedness that she exudes. They were both
adopted but seemed to have bonded and love each other. A retelling of “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “Blue
Jasmine” presents real human drama but will not give you the ending. Cate Blanchett will most likely win the
Oscar for Best Performance. It’s that good.
Three stars.
A surprise is “Lovelace” the movie about Linda Lovelace (Amanda Seyfried) who starred in “Deep Throat.” It’s a
bland first third as we see her get caught up with a charming egopath played by Peter Skarsgaard. But the
second half is a searing expose of the glamour façade where domestic abuse and violence is revealed to be the
hidden background to the pleasure scene.
Three stars
You can see my full reviews online at www.whiterocklakeweekly.com.
INVESTMENT + COMMITMENT = RESULTS
FamilyPAC is the political action committee for TAMFT. It is the political muscle for MFT professionals
before the Texas Legislature and state government.
The Texas Legislature convenes every odd year for five months, but critical issues loom for your clients,
your profession and the way you conduct business every day. Let’s make a difference and increase our
political power to help stem the rising tide of legislation and regulations that threaten the MFT profession.
INVESTMENT: The level of influence we can exert on the legislative/regulatory process depends directly
on our finances and grassroots support. We need to financially support the election of lawmakers who
support marriage and family therapy and client welfare.
COMMITMENT: To be a powerful, unified voice for Texas Marriage and Family Therapy in the legislative
and regulatory process, we need MFT professionals to carry our message straight to elected officials.
Show your commitment to Texas Marriage and Family Therapy.
Invest in FamilyPAC Today!
Donations may be made directly to:
FamilyPAC/TAMFT
P.O. Box 49009
Austin, TX 78765
Or
DAMFT will gladly remit any donation designated for FamilyPAC for you
For all DAMFT questions please email Layla Z. Scott at [email protected]
www.damft.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dallas-Association-for-Marriage-and-Family-Therapy/250896721626936
Meeting Information - Where & When?
Other than the February meeting (which is 1:00-4:00 PM), our regular meetings are from
1:00-3:00 PM. Meetings include 2 hours of CEU’s (3 hours Ethics in February) and are held
at the Milliman Building – Ten Thousand North Central Expressway, Dallas, TX - North of
Walnut Hill and 75 on the east access road – in the Community Room located on the first
floor.