Re: NYS Licensure Discussion

[Guest guest]

Dear NYCCAT Members,

Thank you for this opportunity to continue this important

discussion RE: NYS Licensure. I am new to this listserve, and don’t even

live in NYState (yet) – with any luck, I will within a few more weeks!

I wanted to contribute by discussing a few of my concerns re:

the licensing process and the MH Structure in NY (as I am only beginning to see

it):

·

I feel the application fees and the Creative Arts Therapy

Examination pose a serious economic stress (and likely serve as a barrier to

some) applicants. I hope that in time, these fees will come to reflect the

actual revenue power of a beginning LCAT; currently, I feel

the costs are exorbitant and are not reflective of the salaries available in

the mental health field to a beginning or relocating clinician.

·

I am disappointed that as a licensed clinician in two other

states, that NY State did not include reciprocity language in their licensure

laws. I have found the bureaucracy & process, relative to other states,

rather difficult to navigate (though not due to individual staff – who are

most helpful and kind, in my experience). I hope, as already has been discussed,

that this can be remedied in order to ensure that CATs from other states and

countries remain in the field and are appropriately regulated.

·

Finally, I have been surprised and concerned in my observation that

the NYS MH System appears to be set-up to benefit specific MH Professionals,

while severely limiting to others. Specifically (again, this is only my

impression), it seems that Master’s-Level Social Workers have been able to

stratify themselves with PhD/PsyD-Level Psychologists and many of the job

descriptions reflect this (i.e. Only Master’s in Social Work or Licensed Psychologists

may apply). While this is good strategy for SW’s, it appears that the

system is somewhat discriminatory toward other professions (LCAT, LMHC) with

similar if not more intensive coursework and training. I find this to be troubling,

and I need to educate myself more about why and how this was accomplished.

I hope that you will respond and let me learn from your

experience. As Chriss Berk suggests, this is something we can choose to be

involved it – and I hope that Chriss will give us specific instructions

on how and what to do to become involved in the taskforce!

Respectfully Yours,

Ty Tedmon-, MA, LPC, LCMHC, BC-DMT

From:

NYCCAT [mailto:NYCCAT ] On Behalf Of le

Fraenkel

Sent: Monday, April 19, 2010 1:36 AM

To: NYCCAT

Subject: Re: please clarify about CEUs for recertification

I was not thinking competitively. Sorry if you interpreted

it that way. I was bothered that you had cancelled your program after our

local conference coordinators worked so hard to get the local conference set up

for April 24 so that it would mesh with your conference. (I was not part of

that amazing work.) The time and energy the conference chairs put into

organizing and publicizing the conference was remarkable.

Considering all the Rochester conference committee had done

to parallel the NYC conference, I was surprised by the recent announcement

relaying the downstate cancellation. I recalled that a call for presentations

for the NYC conference had appeared on the list only a few days before the

cancellation. With the request for presentations being relayed so late in the

game and the cancellation happening so soon after, I assumed that something had

gone awry. Apologies, if I was wrong. I understand now that you cancelled the

NYC conference because of a conflict, but I am not sure to what

conflicting event you are referring. Do you mean the Rochester conference or is

there a conflict with another organization in NYC?

I appreciate your reference to the miracle of 12 and your

years of dedication to the field. Having been on the Boards of a number of

organizations, I know how hard it is to get people to do the work. It would

help, though, if those of us who are out-of-the loop, whether we volunteer our

services or not, could be better informed about NYCCAT's to do list. If that

were the case, miscommunications like the one we just had would be less likely

to occur. Also, more people might want to get involved. A monthly announcement

would suffice.

Sincerely,

le

__________________________________________________

le Fraenkel,

Ph.D., BC-DMT, NCC, LCAT, LMHC, CGP

Director,

Kinections

at Imagine Square

718 University

Avenue

Rochester, NY

14607

USA

Tel:

FAX:

www.kinections.com

le,

-The satellite

chapter in Rochester exists because I, with the support of the Board " down

state " initiated an outreach to certain locations in NY and was fortunate

to connect with CATs in Rochester who were willing to start a Chapter. This is

no time to start creating a competition between upstate and downstate which

your comments encourage.

-The decision to

reschedule the NYCCAT conference in NYC was not because something went

" wrong " but because something(s) went right for the Board and NYCCAT

in general. With the organizational and LCAT information that is going to be

presented at the NYC conference, it would not have made sense to hold both

conferences on the same day and ask CATs to choose between the two. Since we

are new at having a satellite chapter, this is something we learned along the

way which is part of the process of expanding from a handful of Board members

to as it stands, 12 currently, which in itself is a miracle.

We are aware of

the current amendment and have been aware of the make-up of the State Board

however, without a lobbyist, our needs as a profession are going to require to

effort of a small army of CATs to ensure the standardization of Creative Arts

Therapy as a Master's level profession, potential development of continuing

education standards, and the qualification of those who supervise CATs. I can

assure you, this is the short list of things we must accomplish to move forward

and be on par with other licensed professions in NY State. Our actual to-do

list is very long so may I suggest that you either actively and directly get

involved with helping NYCCAT or that you take the time to ask for clarification

from the Board before publicly criticizing those who are the few working on

behalf of the many CATs in NY State.

Chriss Berk, MA, ATR-BC, LPC, LCAT

NYCCAT President

On Apr 18, 2010,

at 2:41 PM, le Fraenkel wrote:

The question of CEUs is important. They demonstrate the importance of keeping

up with the literature. That NYS does not require them makes me question

the

State Ed's supposed concern for the consumer. That along with the

reality that the Regulatory Board has proposed an amendment to lower the

academic requirements for the LCAT shows even less concern for the clients we

serve.

When we asked about the lack of CE requirements in the original

LCAT legislation, Hamilton repeatedly stated that the State does not care

what the national organizations require or approve. A look at the make-up of

the three CAT representatives on the regulatory board suggests otherwise. Two

are music therapists. One is an art therapist.

Admittedly, I have not been involved in this process. I would not

even know about the proposed amendments were it not for a well meaning music

therapist who did her duty and posted the message from the National Association

of Music Therapists (NAMT) on her FB page.

NAMT is a large organization with a paid Executive Director. With

people paid to look out for their own and a major imbalance on the regulatory

board that favors music therapists, we need to look into the process that led

to this denigrating proposal. It panders to the one national organization that

certifies people at the BA level and comforts people involved in regulation who

have never understood the depth of our work.

If you care about our standards, the depth of the work we do, and

the quality of services we offer the consumers of NYS, let's get busy, create

letters together that we can send to our legislators, write to the media, use

social networking, and everything else we can find, to address this insulting

proposal — one that hurts providers and clients alike.

NYCCAT Board members: The Rochester Chapter has managed to get a

conference going for next week. Apparently, that was not true for folks

downstate. Something went wrong. Also, you did not keep us informed about the

amendment process. If you have been working on it, you did not share any of

that with us. So let's turn the corner and work together. Let's organize and

get down state CATs working as hard as those of us in western NY. We have

shared concerns. with the protection of NYS residents being our highest

priority.

Sincerely,

Dani Fraenkel

__________________________________________________

le Fraenkel,

Ph.D., BC-DMT, NCC, LCAT, LMHC, CGP

Director,

Kinections

at Imagine Square

718 University

Avenue

Rochester, NY

14607

USA

Tel:

FAX:

www.kinections.com

As Licensed

Creative Arts Therapists we need to recertify every 5 years and obtain 100

CEC/CEU's, you will recieve the paperwork once your 5 years is up with

instructions to keep your license.

You can contact ATCB at for any other

questions.

On Apr 18, 2010, at 12:00 PM, son CAT

wrote:

I believe you are correct, there

is no recertification for the LCAT license, only for ATR-BC.

On Apr 18, 2010,

at 10:33 AM, healgnotes@... wrote:

I wasn't aware of CEUs requirement for recertification. When I

renewed my LCAT in 2009, I just filled out a form and sent a check. I just

checked on the Office of the Professions web site and couldn't find anything.

Please let me know if I'm mistaken!

Thanks.

--

Shoshana Averbach

MSW, LMSW, MA, MT-BC, LCAT, Accredited Healer

healingnotes.com

Hello, Everyone,

I am wondering if anyone knows about where to get ethics CEU for LCAT

re-certification either on-line or a class in NYC or a near by?

It is a bit difficult for me right now to take a course for ethics right now-

but a 1 day or wknd workshops or on line would work for me.

(ATCB offers an on-line ethics CEU- and it is a 1 credit. Westchester's is a

2.5 CEUS. and I need more CEUS ( a total of 6hrs)

Thank you,

[Guest guest]

Hi,

In addition to the information Chriss has shared, I'd just like to add that there are steps toward reciprocity in the current proposed amendments to the regulations, although NYS is referring to it as "endorsement." While it's not an automatic "rubber stamp," this does provide an opportunity that has not been available thus far. I will paste the language below.

In addition, I would like to echo Chriss' comment that, while there are many aspects of the law as well as in the regulations that are not ideal, this is a process - there will always be opportunities for improvement through regulatory amendments and legislative action, such as has been under discussion on this list in recent days.

regards,

Donna W. Polen, LCAT, MT-BC

9. A new section 79-11.7 is added to the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education, effective July 14, 2010, to read as follows:

§79-11.7 Licensure by endorsement of certain licensed creative arts therapists.

An applicant seeking endorsement of a license in creative arts therapy issued by another state, country or territory shall present evidence of:

(a) age, the applicant must be at least 21 years of age;

( licensure by another jurisdiction;

© completion of a graduate degree in creative arts therapy or a related field that at the time of completion qualified the applicant for licensure as a creative arts therapist in the other jurisdiction;

(d) completion of supervised experience in creative arts therapy and psychotherapy that qualified the applicant for initial licensure in the other jurisdiction;

(e) passage of an examination acceptable to the department for the practice of creative arts therapy;

(f) at least five years of experience in creative arts therapy satisfactory to the State Board for Mental Health Practitioners, within the 10 years immediately preceding the application for licensure by endorsement in New York; and

(g) completion of coursework in the identification and reporting of suspected child abuse and neglect or the exemption from such coursework, as specified in 6507(3) of the Education Law;

(h) good moral character as determined by the department;

(i) acceptable licensure and discipline status in each jurisdiction in which the applicant holds a professional license.

Ty,

Thank you for taking the time to share your concerns. If it helps any, you are not alone in these concerns. As far back as before the initial licensing process, we knew that there were certain aspects of the LCAT that were not going to be defined initially and that these were areas we would need to address at a later date. Par for the course in this type of process. The following brief response is based on some of the assessments we are making as a Board and this week we will be sending the e-group more detailed information about our moving forward with addressing these and other issues and a)how we plan to do that and opportunities for CATs to get involved.

-The fees were addressed a while ago and I will try and find the information related to this issue. From what I remember the State gave a response with rationale for the fees and it appeared the fees were unlikely to change.

-The reciprocity issue is not exclusive to NY and appears to be a larger issue in the US. As you probably know, CATs are licensed with different credentials in different States therefore the downside to this is that the requirements for Licensure in one State may not meet the standards of another State. Beyond this issue is one that might need to be addressed sooner - many States are licensing CATs as Counselors (ie. LPC), it would seem important for us to asses if and how this might affect us with the LCAT.

-The Ph.D/SW issue you mentioned is something that has been going on for a while, if you look at the numbers of individuals in these professions, the unity thus influence of the two professions on State and National levels, you might agree that we have some work to do in those areas. We can learn from their success while also recognizing the uniqueness of our own Licensure process. CATs are more likely to be hired in child life/recreational therapy departments and be doing work that either under-appreciates their CATs skills or asks of them to be a jack-of-all trades and extend their practice beyond their CAT knowledge base. From what I can tell, this would be an area that would be in need of immediate attention; that as Licensed professionals, CATs can expect the right(s) to call what they do Creative Arts Therapy (or respectively, an individual CAT modality), have a job description and pay scale that accurately reflects their level of qualification, that they will not be asked to be a jack-of-all trades, and last but I'm sure there are others, not have to call themselves or their services something other than Creative Arts Therapists/Therapy. We also need to examine the issue/ethics of boundaries within our own profession in regards to CATs 'practicing' another individual CAT modality that was not the modality they were licensed as in regards to their educational background, and CATs teaching mental health professionals outside of CAT anything related to the scope of our practice as defined in the Law.

I hope this will provide some clarification. If anyone else has information about these issues please consider sharing with the e-group.

Take care,

Chriss

Dear NYCCAT Members,

Thank you for this opportunity to continue this important discussion RE: NYS Licensure. I am new to this listserve, and don’t even live in NYState (yet) – with any luck, I will within a few more weeks!

I wanted to contribute by discussing a few of my concerns re: the licensing process and the MH Structure in NY (as I am only beginning to see it):

· I feel the application fees and the Creative Arts Therapy Examination pose a serious economic stress (and likely serve as a barrier to some) applicants. I hope that in time, these fees will come to reflect the actual revenue power of a beginning LCAT; currently, I feel the costs are exorbitant and are not reflective of the salaries available in the mental health field to a beginning or relocating clinician.

· I am disappointed that as a licensed clinician in two other states, that NY State did not include reciprocity language in their licensure laws. I have found the bureaucracy & process, relative to other states, rather difficult to navigate (though not due to individual staff – who are most helpful and kind, in my experience). I hope, as already has been discussed, that this can be remedied in order to ensure that CATs from other states and countries remain in the field and are appropriately regulated.

· Finally, I have been surprised and concerned in my observation that the NYS MH System appears to be set-up to benefit specific MH Professionals, while severely limiting to others. Specifically (again, this is only my impression), it seems that Master’s-Level Social Workers have been able to stratify themselves with PhD/PsyD-Level Psychologists and many of the job descriptions reflect this (i.e. Only Master’s in Social Work or Licensed Psychologists may apply). While this is good strategy for SW’s, it appears that the system is somewhat discriminatory toward other professions (LCAT, LMHC) with similar if not more intensive coursework and training. I find this to be troubling, and I need to educate myself more about why and how this was accomplished.

I hope that you will respond and let me learn from your experience. As Chriss Berk suggests, this is something we can choose to be involved it – and I hope that Chriss will give us specific instructions on how and what to do to become involved in the taskforce!

Respectfully Yours,

Ty Tedmon-, MA, LPC, LCMHC, BC-DMT

From: NYCCAT [mailto:NYCCAT ] On Behalf Of le FraenkelSent: Monday, April 19, 2010 1:36 AMTo: NYCCAT Subject: Re: please clarify about CEUs for recertification

I was not thinking competitively. Sorry if you interpreted it that way. I was bothered that you had cancelled your program after our local conference coordinators worked so hard to get the local conference set up for April 24 so that it would mesh with your conference. (I was not part of that amazing work.) The time and energy the conference chairs put into organizing and publicizing the conference was remarkable.

Considering all the Rochester conference committee had done to parallel the NYC conference, I was surprised by the recent announcement relaying the downstate cancellation. I recalled that a call for presentations for the NYC conference had appeared on the list only a few days before the cancellation. With the request for presentations being relayed so late in the game and the cancellation happening so soon after, I assumed that something had gone awry. Apologies, if I was wrong. I understand now that you cancelled the NYC conference because of a conflict, but I am not sure to what conflicting event you are referring. Do you mean the Rochester conference or is there a conflict with another organization in NYC?

I appreciate your reference to the miracle of 12 and your years of dedication to the field. Having been on the Boards of a number of organizations, I know how hard it is to get people to do the work. It would help, though, if those of us who are out-of-the loop, whether we volunteer our services or not, could be better informed about NYCCAT's to do list. If that were the case, miscommunications like the one we just had would be less likely to occur. Also, more people might want to get involved. A monthly announcement would suffice.

Sincerely,

le

__________________________________________________

le Fraenkel, Ph.D., BC-DMT, NCC, LCAT, LMHC, CGP

Director,

Kinections

at Imagine Square

718 University Avenue

Rochester, NY 14607

USA

Tel:

FAX:

www.kinections.com

le,

-The satellite chapter in Rochester exists because I, with the support of the Board "down state" initiated an outreach to certain locations in NY and was fortunate to connect with CATs in Rochester who were willing to start a Chapter. This is no time to start creating a competition between upstate and downstate which your comments encourage.

-The decision to reschedule the NYCCAT conference in NYC was not because something went "wrong" but because something(s) went right for the Board and NYCCAT in general. With the organizational and LCAT information that is going to be presented at the NYC conference, it would not have made sense to hold both conferences on the same day and ask CATs to choose between the two. Since we are new at having a satellite chapter, this is something we learned along the way which is part of the process of expanding from a handful of Board members to as it stands, 12 currently, which in itself is a miracle.

We are aware of the current amendment and have been aware of the make-up of the State Board however, without a lobbyist, our needs as a profession are going to require to effort of a small army of CATs to ensure the standardization of Creative Arts Therapy as a Master's level profession, potential development of continuing education standards, and the qualification of those who supervise CATs. I can assure you, this is the short list of things we must accomplish to move forward and be on par with other licensed professions in NY State. Our actual to-do list is very long so may I suggest that you either actively and directly get involved with helping NYCCAT or that you take the time to ask for clarification from the Board before publicly criticizing those who are the few working on behalf of the many CATs in NY State.

Chriss Berk, MA, ATR-BC, LPC, LCAT

NYCCAT President

The question of CEUs is important. They demonstrate the importance of keeping up with the literature. That NYS does not require them makes me question the

State Ed's supposed concern for the consumer. That along with the reality that the Regulatory Board has proposed an amendment to lower the academic requirements for the LCAT shows even less concern for the clients we serve.

When we asked about the lack of CE requirements in the original LCAT legislation, Hamilton repeatedly stated that the State does not care what the national organizations require or approve. A look at the make-up of the three CAT representatives on the regulatory board suggests otherwise. Two are music therapists. One is an art therapist.

Admittedly, I have not been involved in this process. I would not even know about the proposed amendments were it not for a well meaning music therapist who did her duty and posted the message from the National Association of Music Therapists (NAMT) on her FB page.

NAMT is a large organization with a paid Executive Director. With people paid to look out for their own and a major imbalance on the regulatory board that favors music therapists, we need to look into the process that led to this denigrating proposal. It panders to the one national organization that certifies people at the BA level and comforts people involved in regulation who have never understood the depth of our work.

If you care about our standards, the depth of the work we do, and the quality of services we offer the consumers of NYS, let's get busy, create letters together that we can send to our legislators, write to the media, use social networking, and everything else we can find, to address this insulting proposal — one that hurts providers and clients alike.

NYCCAT Board members: The Rochester Chapter has managed to get a conference going for next week. Apparently, that was not true for folks downstate. Something went wrong. Also, you did not keep us informed about the amendment process. If you have been working on it, you did not share any of that with us. So let's turn the corner and work together. Let's organize and get down state CATs working as hard as those of us in western NY. We have shared concerns. with the protection of NYS residents being our highest priority.

Sincerely,

Dani Fraenkel

__________________________________________________

le Fraenkel, Ph.D., BC-DMT, NCC, LCAT, LMHC, CGP

Director,

Kinections

at Imagine Square

718 University Avenue

Rochester, NY 14607

USA

Tel:

FAX:

www.kinections.com

As Licensed Creative Arts Therapists we need to recertify every 5 years and obtain 100 CEC/CEU's, you will recieve the paperwork once your 5 years is up with instructions to keep your license.

You can contact ATCB at for any other questions.

On Apr 18, 2010, at 12:00 PM, son CAT <jacobsoncatearthlink (DOT) net> wrote:

I believe you are correct, there is no recertification for the LCAT license, only for ATR-BC.

On Apr 18, 2010, at 10:33 AM, healgnotesgmail wrote:

I wasn't aware of CEUs requirement for recertification. When I renewed my LCAT in 2009, I just filled out a form and sent a check. I just checked on the Office of the Professions web site and couldn't find anything. Please let me know if I'm mistaken!Thanks.-- Shoshana AverbachMSW, LMSW, MA, MT-BC, LCAT, Accredited Healerhealingnotes.comHello, Everyone,I am wondering if anyone knows about where to get ethics CEU for LCAT re-certification either on-line or a class in NYC or a near by?It is a bit difficult for me right now to take a course for ethics right now- but a 1 day or wknd workshops or on line would work for me.(ATCB offers an on-line ethics CEU- and it is a 1 credit. Westchester's is a 2.5 CEUS. and I need more CEUS ( a total of 6hrs)Thank you,

[Guest guest]

Ty,Thank you for taking the time to share your concerns. If it helps any, you are not alone in these concerns. As far back as before the initial licensing process, we knew that there were certain aspects of the LCAT that were not going to be defined initially and that these were areas we would need to address at a later date. Par for the course in this type of process. The following brief response is based on some of the assessments we are making as a Board and this week we will be sending the e-group more detailed information about our moving forward with addressing these and other issues and a)how we plan to do that and opportunities for CATs to get involved. -The fees were addressed a while ago and I will try and find the information related to this issue. From what I remember the State gave a response with rationale for the fees and it appeared the fees were unlikely to change. -The reciprocity issue is not exclusive to NY and appears to be a larger issue in the US. As you probably know, CATs are licensed with different credentials in different States therefore the downside to this is that the requirements for Licensure in one State may not meet the standards of another State. Beyond this issue is one that might need to be addressed sooner - many States are licensing CATs as Counselors (ie. LPC), it would seem important for us to asses if and how this might affect us with the LCAT. -The Ph.D/SW issue you mentioned is something that has been going on for a while, if you look at the numbers of individuals in these professions, the unity thus influence of the two professions on State and National levels, you might agree that we have some work to do in those areas. We can learn from their success while also recognizing the uniqueness of our own Licensure process. CATs are more likely to be hired in child life/recreational therapy departments and be doing work that either under-appreciates their CATs skills or asks of them to be a jack-of-all trades and extend their practice beyond their CAT knowledge base. From what I can tell, this would be an area that would be in need of immediate attention; that as Licensed professionals, CATs can expect the right(s) to call what they do Creative Arts Therapy (or respectively, an individual CAT modality), have a job description and pay scale that accurately reflects their level of qualification, that they will not be asked to be a jack-of-all trades, and last but I'm sure there are others, not have to call themselves or their services something other than Creative Arts Therapists/Therapy. We also need to examine the issue/ethics of boundaries within our own profession in regards to CATs 'practicing' another individual CAT modality that was not the modality they were licensed as in regards to their educational background, and CATs teaching mental health professionals outside of CAT anything related to the scope of our practice as defined in the Law. I hope this will provide some clarification. If anyone else has information about these issues please consider sharing with the e-group. Take care,Chriss Dear NYCCAT Members, Thank you for this opportunity to continue this important discussion RE: NYS Licensure. I am new to this listserve, and don’t even live in NYState (yet) – with any luck, I will within a few more weeks! I wanted to contribute by discussing a few of my concerns re: the licensing process and the MH Structure in NY (as I am only beginning to see it): · I feel the application fees and the Creative Arts Therapy Examination pose a serious economic stress (and likely serve as a barrier to some) applicants. I hope that in time, these fees will come to reflect the actual revenue power of a beginning LCAT; currently, I feel the costs are exorbitant and are not reflective of the salaries available in the mental health field to a beginning or relocating clinician.· I am disappointed that as a licensed clinician in two other states, that NY State did not include reciprocity language in their licensure laws. I have found the bureaucracy & process, relative to other states, rather difficult to navigate (though not due to individual staff – who are most helpful and kind, in my experience). I hope, as already has been discussed, that this can be remedied in order to ensure that CATs from other states and countries remain in the field and are appropriately regulated.· Finally, I have been surprised and concerned in my observation that the NYS MH System appears to be set-up to benefit specific MH Professionals, while severely limiting to others. Specifically (again, this is only my impression), it seems that Master’s-Level Social Workers have been able to stratify themselves with PhD/PsyD-Level Psychologists and many of the job descriptions reflect this (i.e. Only Master’s in Social Work or Licensed Psychologists may apply). While this is good strategy for SW’s, it appears that the system is somewhat discriminatory toward other professions (LCAT, LMHC) with similar if not more intensive coursework and training. I find this to be troubling, and I need to educate myself more about why and how this was accomplished. I hope that you will respond and let me learn from your experience. As Chriss Berk suggests, this is something we can choose to be involved it – and I hope that Chriss will give us specific instructions on how and what to do to become involved in the taskforce! Respectfully Yours,Ty Tedmon-, MA, LPC, LCMHC, BC-DMT From: NYCCAT [mailto:NYCCAT ] On Behalf Of le FraenkelSent: Monday, April 19, 2010 1:36 AMTo: NYCCAT Subject: Re: please clarify about CEUs for recertification I was not thinking competitively. Sorry if you interpreted it that way. I was bothered that you had cancelled your program after our local conference coordinators worked so hard to get the local conference set up for April 24 so that it would mesh with your conference. (I was not part of that amazing work.) The time and energy the conference chairs put into organizing and publicizing the conference was remarkable. Considering all the Rochester conference committee had done to parallel the NYC conference, I was surprised by the recent announcement relaying the downstate cancellation. I recalled that a call for presentations for the NYC conference had appeared on the list only a few days before the cancellation. With the request for presentations being relayed so late in the game and the cancellation happening so soon after, I assumed that something had gone awry. Apologies, if I was wrong. I understand now that you cancelled the NYC conference because of a conflict, but I am not sure to what conflicting event you are referring. Do you mean the Rochester conference or is there a conflict with another organization in NYC? I appreciate your reference to the miracle of 12 and your years of dedication to the field. Having been on the Boards of a number of organizations, I know how hard it is to get people to do the work. It would help, though, if those of us who are out-of-the loop, whether we volunteer our services or not, could be better informed about NYCCAT's to do list. If that were the case, miscommunications like the one we just had would be less likely to occur. Also, more people might want to get involved. A monthly announcement would suffice. Sincerely,le__________________________________________________le Fraenkel, Ph.D., BC-DMT, NCC, LCAT, LMHC, CGPDirector,Kinectionsat Imagine Square718 University AvenueRochester, NY 14607USATel: FAX: www.kinections.com le, -The satellite chapter in Rochester exists because I, with the support of the Board "down state" initiated an outreach to certain locations in NY and was fortunate to connect with CATs in Rochester who were willing to start a Chapter. This is no time to start creating a competition between upstate and downstate which your comments encourage. -The decision to reschedule the NYCCAT conference in NYC was not because something went "wrong" but because something(s) went right for the Board and NYCCAT in general. With the organizational and LCAT information that is going to be presented at the NYC conference, it would not have made sense to hold both conferences on the same day and ask CATs to choose between the two. Since we are new at having a satellite chapter, this is something we learned along the way which is part of the process of expanding from a handful of Board members to as it stands, 12 currently, which in itself is a miracle. We are aware of the current amendment and have been aware of the make-up of the State Board however, without a lobbyist, our needs as a profession are going to require to effort of a small army of CATs to ensure the standardization of Creative Arts Therapy as a Master's level profession, potential development of continuing education standards, and the qualification of those who supervise CATs. I can assure you, this is the short list of things we must accomplish to move forward and be on par with other licensed professions in NY State. Our actual to-do list is very long so may I suggest that you either actively and directly get involved with helping NYCCAT or that you take the time to ask for clarification from the Board before publicly criticizing those who are the few working on behalf of the many CATs in NY State. Chriss Berk, MA, ATR-BC, LPC, LCATNYCCAT President The question of CEUs is important. They demonstrate the importance of keeping up with the literature. That NYS does not require them makes me question the State Ed's supposed concern for the consumer. That along with the reality that the Regulatory Board has proposed an amendment to lower the academic requirements for the LCAT shows even less concern for the clients we serve. When we asked about the lack of CE requirements in the original LCAT legislation, Hamilton repeatedly stated that the State does not care what the national organizations require or approve. A look at the make-up of the three CAT representatives on the regulatory board suggests otherwise. Two are music therapists. One is an art therapist.Admittedly, I have not been involved in this process. I would not even know about the proposed amendments were it not for a well meaning music therapist who did her duty and posted the message from the National Association of Music Therapists (NAMT) on her FB page. NAMT is a large organization with a paid Executive Director. With people paid to look out for their own and a major imbalance on the regulatory board that favors music therapists, we need to look into the process that led to this denigrating proposal. It panders to the one national organization that certifies people at the BA level and comforts people involved in regulation who have never understood the depth of our work. If you care about our standards, the depth of the work we do, and the quality of services we offer the consumers of NYS, let's get busy, create letters together that we can send to our legislators, write to the media, use social networking, and everything else we can find, to address this insulting proposal — one that hurts providers and clients alike. NYCCAT Board members: The Rochester Chapter has managed to get a conference going for next week. Apparently, that was not true for folks downstate. Something went wrong. Also, you did not keep us informed about the amendment process. If you have been working on it, you did not share any of that with us. So let's turn the corner and work together. Let's organize and get down state CATs working as hard as those of us in western NY. We have shared concerns. with the protection of NYS residents being our highest priority. Sincerely,Dani Fraenkel__________________________________________________le Fraenkel, Ph.D., BC-DMT, NCC, LCAT, LMHC, CGPDirector,Kinectionsat Imagine Square718 University AvenueRochester, NY 14607USATel: FAX: www.kinections.com As Licensed Creative Arts Therapists we need to recertify every 5 years and obtain 100 CEC/CEU's, you will recieve the paperwork once your 5 years is up with instructions to keep your license.You can contact ATCB at for any other questions. I believe you are correct, there is no recertification for the LCAT license, only for ATR-BC. I wasn't aware of CEUs requirement for recertification. When I renewed my LCAT in 2009, I just filled out a form and sent a check. I just checked on the Office of the Professions web site and couldn't find anything. Please let me know if I'm mistaken!Thanks.-- Shoshana AverbachMSW, LMSW, MA, MT-BC, LCAT, Accredited Healerhealingnotes.comHello, Everyone,I am wondering if anyone knows about where to get ethics CEU for LCAT re-certification either on-line or a class in NYC or a near by?It is a bit difficult for me right now to take a course for ethics right now- but a 1 day or wknd workshops or on line would work for me.(ATCB offers an on-line ethics CEU- and it is a 1 credit. Westchester's is a 2.5 CEUS. and I need more CEUS ( a total of 6hrs)Thank you,