New York CATs

[Guest guest]

If we leave things to the powers that be as Tomar suggests, the world

will be in even worse condition than it is now. We may not be

addressing painful global needs such as the nightmare in Dafur, but we

can make a difference in New York State.

Here are the names of the members of the senate committees on higher

education and mental health. You can find out if any of them represent

you by clicking on

http://www.senate.state.ny.us/senatehomepage.nsf/senators?OpenForm

..

If you are a constituent, write from that perspective. If your senator

is not on any of the committees write to him or her and to Bruno.

Explain the alternate route dilemma.

Dani Fraenkel

Higher Education

Wednesday 10:30

Room 806 LOB

Chairperson:

LaValle

Members:

Seward

Stavisky

Rath

Oppenheimer

Maltese

Balboni

Flanagan

Krueger

Robach

Serrano

Alesi

Valesky

Winner

Coppola

Young

ittee:

Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities

Wednesday 9:30

Room 801 LOB

Chairperson:

Morahan

Members:

Libous

Padavan

Montgomery

Volker

Schneiderman

Marcellino

Connor

Young

Thania Acaron wrote:

Thank you for your responses!

Right now I think getting information about who it is

that has the power to change this would be helpful. I

think Dani is in Hong Kong right now and I don't know

what lobbying options she has explored.

I would like to also know who is in the same

predicament. I think there are more people than we

think and numbers are important to have. I formed an

Alternate Route Yahoo Group, but dont know who is

practicing in NY. It also didn't include other CATs.

Here is the email just in case:

ardmt-subscribe .

For Joan Ingalls, who asked what my situation was, I

received my DTR last april, have the 1500 hours, and

my master's is in Dance Education. Grandfathering is

not for CATs who have been in the field for long only,

because those who graduated last year from approved

programs and have the 1500 hours will receive their

licenses.

The only provision for Alternate Route CATs practicing

for less than 7 years is Alternate Pathway 1. I copied

it in this email for review:

[Alternate Pathway One. You must verify that you have

completed a master's or higher degree in creative arts

therapy or a related field, from a college registered

by the Department or the equivalent, with the course

content specified in regulations (Form 2 and

transcript) and submit evidence that you have

completed 1,500 hours of post-degree experience in

creative arts therapy, acceptable to the department

using Form 4 and Form 4B or 4C.] Link:

http://www.op.nysed.gov/mhp-apply-faq.htm ]

The one thing we can lobby for is that the Alternate

Route centers are approved as equivalents. I don't

think there are any approved by the Department and I

don't know why this is. Exploring the equivalent

requirements gives us some leeway. I received an email

that my educational requirements were approved, but

that they didn't qualify for an equivalent so I had to

submit under Pathway 2, which is the one that requires

7 years experience.

But again, who has the power to do this? What is the

procedure?

Well, that's all for know. Keep the discussion going.

Thanks again,

Thania Acaron, MA DTR

--- Joan Wittig wrote:

Dear CATS,

I am pleased to see this dicussion on the listserve.

Some of you know that

I have had very strong feelings about this. The 3

CATs on the mental health

professionals board (myself included) fought hard to

get alternate route

education recognized. I can tell you most assuredly

that we who worked

toward licensing made sure the legislation was

drafted in such a way to

recognize alternate route training. However SED has

opted to interpret the

bill differently, and I have been informed they are

within their rights to

do so. I encourage the CAT community to continue to

pursue this issue, and

any others that are important to you. As board

members we will support you

in any way we can; and we will do what we can from

our perspective. But at

this point it will mainly be up to you, the CAT

community, to actively

pursue what is important to you. The board exists

to protect consumers and

SED puts some definite limits on what we can do

without creating a conflict

of interest. Stay active in NYCCAT. Nothing is

permanent.

Yours,

Joan Wittig

----Original Message-----

--- "Joan S. Ingalls"

wrote:

Date: Tue, 09 May 2006 08:35:37 -0400

Subject: Re: [nysadta] Inaction is not an option

To:

Thania,

I am sorry to hear about how you feel.

Maybe this will help: Do you understand that this

is, right now, is a

grandfathering process only? I don't hear that in what

you are saying. You

are saying that you are not eligible for

grandfathering but does that mean

that you can't earn a license once the grandfathering

period is over? Is

there a reason why you can't continue to work under

supervision or take

another course - whatever is required for the license

after the

grandfathering - so that you do qualify under what

will become a normal

licensing process?

Grandfathering is for those of us who have been in

the field for over

seven years and for which more training would be a

hardship, and not

necessary because in our years of experience, it is

assumed (my guess), we

have learned something.

What do you think? I'd like to know more about your

situation.

Joan

Re: Inaction is not an option

Thania,

I wrote to you and to the list in April about receiving by LCAT

and LMHC as an alternate route ADTR. Have you been

rejected

outright? As far as I know, you do not have to have

practised in NY

for 7 years, but have had to be in the field for at

least 7 years.

I do think that something is off about their

approval process for

education. The LCAT licensing people do not seem to

be recognizing

the Masters level education of alternate route

people, but the LMHC

Educational approval committee did. I was approved

on Alternate Route

I for LMHC, but Alternate route 2 and 3 for LCAT. This was very

weird for me and the LCAT people couldn't really

explain it.

What suggestions do you or Dani have in terms of

lobbying? Have you

or anyone else spoken with people on the Licensing

approval

committee? How about Joan Wittig? She is the ADTR on

the committee (

I think).

If you, or other folks think there are ways we can

help, I would be

glad to try.

Pamela Faith Lerman

As the Licensure talk slows down, I imagine most

of

the CAT field is in the process of receiving their

licenses throughout the year. I wanted to bring

some

attention to the people who are sure they are not

receiving their licenses: the alternate route CATs.

I am one of those people and this email also

gathers

others in my same position. This also applies to

Art,

Drama and Poetry Therapy as well.

We are the people who had so much passion for this

field that being a bystander was not enough, so we

went beyond our master's degrees to gather

additional

courses anywhere we found them. We are the ones

that

didn't have the protective bubble of an university,

who paid for this career with our own money because

student loans wouldn't cover it, who don't have an

university reunion to go to in conferences, who

struggled to find their own internships and

contacts

and who traveled to become a part of this field.

But if you are in NY and have practiced for less

than

7 years, you will NOT get licensed. For most of us,

a

change in career is not an option.

So I ask, what is being done? Where are the

credentials committees that approved us, the

lobbyists

for this license, the Alternate Route Centers that

taught us? Dani Fraenkel from Kinections can't do

it

alone. Why have we not heard these voices? I don't

think we really understand that there are some

people's careers and homes at stake. And sitting

back

and saying "those poor Alternate Route CATs wont

get

it" or brushing us under the rug is not a way to

show

support to professionals who have fought to be a

part

of this field.

I thank the people who have listened and gave their

time to our emails and applications. But going back

and getting a master's in CAT or a different field

is

not an option for many. I invite anyone who has an

interest in this issue to come forth with options

and

solutions. I know all of us worked really hard to

get

those applications together, which was a

nightmarish

process. But the work is not over. Let's not

forget

there are some of our colleagues left behind.

Inaction is not an option.

Thania Acaron, MA DTR

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