Two-Day Workshop

Scott Miller is conducting a two-day workshop on February 24-25, 2010.

Click here for more information.

Conference Announcement

VAMFT's Spring 2010 Conference is just around the corner! Learn more about it, or Register here.     (Inova Kellar Center is co-sponsoring this conference.)

Marriage and Family Therapy in Virginia


The Virginia Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (VAMFT) is the Virginia division of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT), an international professional organization which was founded in 1942.

VAMFT is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to promoting the well-being of families, couples, individuals, and businesses through the advancement of the profession and practice of marriage and family therapy in the Commonwealth of Virginia.


VAMFT is a multidisciplinary organization made up of Virginians who are clinical, student, and associate members of AAMFT. They include marriage and family therapists, clinical social workers, clinical nurse practitioners, clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, professional counselors, substance abuse counselors, and other professionals in allied fields.

VAMFT promotes and helps maintain high professional standards of ethics and practice for its members. It encourages continued professional education, and works cooperatively with the Virginia Board of Counseling to upgrade qualifications for licensure.


VAMFT seeks to work cooperatively with other mental health professional organizations in Virginia, and is a member of several multiprofessional coalitions including Allied Professions and Virginians for Mental Health Equity. Caring for the Commonwealth is the official VAMFT newsletter. It is published at least three times a year.

 
 
 
 

Health Net, Inc. Employment Opportunity


Full-Time Positions Available


Arlington/Crystal City or Norfolk


Adult/Family and Child/Youth
Military Family Life Counselors


LCSW, LMFT, LPC or Licensed Psychologist

Immediate opportunities for independently licensed Clinical Social Workers, Marriage Family Therapists, Clinical Professional Counselors or Psychologists to provide information, coaching, training, and education to adults dolescents, children, military families and service members.

The Counselor provides on-site, mobile, and telephonic non-clinical problem solving counseling to families when other resources are not available and makes appropriate referrals and warm transfers to military and community resources according to the needs of families and service members.

Employment Resources

From time to time, VAMFT receives information related to potential job opportunities. They are posted here. If you have information regarding MFT-related job opportunities, please email them to jobs@vamft.org.

Job Opportunities:

JobConnection - AAMFT's employment connection resource

Health Net, Inc. - Full-time Positions available in Arlington/Crystal City or Norfolk

Spring 2010 Conference

 
Holiday Inn Hotel
& Suites Gateway
515 Bypass Rd.
Williamsburg, VA 23185
 
The Family Therapist & the Law: A Guide to Ethical Practice
Anne Marie "Nancy" Wheeler, J.D.
and
Pathways to Change: Collaborative Strengths-Based Brief Therapy with Challenging Children & Adolescents
Matthew D. Selekman, MSW, LCSW
April 23, 2010
8:00am - 5:30pm


 


 

Inova Kellar Center is co-sponsoring this conference.

Workshop Overviews

These workshops provide participants with an opportunity to both complete an ethics training program and learn more about the application of Collaborative Strengths-Based Brief Therapy with Children and Adolescents. The ethics training will provide practical advice concerning how to follow your ethical obligations to clients while conforming to all legal requirements that cover the practice of psychotherapy. The Collaborative Strengths-Based Brief Therapy Approach helps therapists work effectively with children and adolescents who present with oppositional, explosive, self-harming, eating-distressed, school-disruptive and heavy substance-abuse behaviors. Such clients can be a nightmare for even the most seasoned therapists. This “hands-on” practiceoriented workshop will help participants learn how this approach can capitalize on the strengths of clients and family members. A special emphasis in this workshop will be placed on the therapist’s creative use of self and inventiveness.


 

Strengthening Bonds Clinical Trial

Interested couples should call Virginia
Tech’s Center for Family Services:
703-538-8470

Reduced fee couples therapy from licensed therapists

We are conducting a clinical trial for couples who are experiencing problems in their relationship and are committed to trying to improve their relationship in couples therapy. Couples will receive discounted therapy from licensed professionals in exchange for answering questions about their experiences.

Couples will attend therapy sessions at locations convenient to them in therapist offices in Northern Virginia, DC, or Maryland.

Please consider referring couples to the study. For more information, see the Virginia Tech Center for Family Services website (http://www.nvc.vt.edu/cfs).

Research/Clinical Studies

Virginia has several graduate programs that conduct and publish research directly applicable to clinical practice and other issues relevant to our work as Marriage and Family Therapists. This page is for sharing information about clinical studies and to reference helpful literature. Please submit your requests to president@vamft.org.


Virginia Tech: Strengthening Bonds Clinical Trial

How Do I Submit Content?

The vamft.org website is a potential tool for sharing resources with the entire VAMFT community. If you would like to participate in that process, please consider writing an article about MFT-related topics and submitting them to the website. Or, if you've come across interesting web links to important MFT-related content, please consider posting it for others to review.

The vamft.org resources will grow from active users like you!

Here's a step-by-step guide to submitting a VAMFT article (or link) for review:

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Brain Scans Link ADHD to Biological Flaw Tied to Motivation

For decades, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder has sparked debate. Is it a biological illness, the dangerous legacy of genes or environmental toxins, or a mere alibi for bratty kids, incompetent parents and a fraying social fabric?

With 4.5 million U.S. children having received a diagnosis of the disorder -- and more than half of them taking prescription drugs to control it -- the question has divided doctors and patients, parents and teachers, and mothers and fathers.

Scientists maintain that they've been narrowing in on the origins and mechanics of disabling distraction, while gathering increasing evidence that ADHD is as real as such less controversial disorders as Down syndrome and schizophrenia. Their most recent progress is described in a Sept. 9 report in the Journal of the American Medical Association, based on a new study that indicates a striking difference in the brain's motivational machinery in people with ADHD symptoms.