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The Redwood Empire Therapist
RECAMFT's Online Newsletter
November 2024
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Save the date! Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, 10 am to 12:15 pm "Affirmative Family Therapy with Gender Diverse People and Their Loved Ones" With Dr. Shawn Giammattei, PhD
|  About our speaker Shawn Giammattei, PhD is a clinical family psychologist in private practice in Northern CA and the Associate Director of Mental Health for the Child and Adolescent Gender Center at UCSF, Benioff Children’s Hospital. He is the founder & CEO of the Gender Health Training Institute, which is dedicated to training providers in culturally attuned, trauma-informed, family-centered gender affirmative care, the TransFamily Alliance, an educational, resource, and support community for parents with gender diverse offspring, and Quest Family Therapy, a group family therapy practice in California. He specializes in family therapy with couples, families, and individuals across the lifespan, with a particular focus on transgender, non-binary, and gender-expansive youth and their families. More.... Coming Fri., December 6th!
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"Are they really SO OCD? Identifying and Treating Obsessive Compulsive Disorder" Save the Date! Fri., Jan. 3rd, 2025
RECAMFT's Golden Jubilee - In-Person at Odd Fellows Hall, Santa Rosa
50th Birthday Celebration!
- In-person at Odd Fellows Hall, Santa Rosa
- Special surprise high profile speaker will be announced soon!
- Annual Members Meeting, Awards, Prizes!
- Lunch will be served
- You will receive an eblast invitation soon!
Join us and your colleagues for a Friday filled with fun enjoying the time together with friends, celebrating our wonderful half-century of community! Save the date!! Friday, Jan. 3rd!
Featured member
Did you miss the BBS-MANDATED 3 CE Telehealth course?
Telehealth: Law & Ethics, Technology, and Best Practices for Connecting with Your Clients with Lisa Wenninger, BC-TMH Catch it on video here, and get your mandated 3 Telehealth CEs. Return to top RECAMFT's Mission Statement The purpose of RECAMFT is to promote and maintain professional competence and integrity with knowledge, innovation, compassion, humor and respect for human dignity and diversity. We do this by providing opportunities for networking, education and community outreach.
Are you creative? Join us for our Bring any craft you like, get on Zoom with us and visit with your colleagues while we knit, sew, paint, draw, cook, create, etc.
RECAMFT's Racial and Social Justice Pledge RECAMFT is committed to equity including addressing structural racism and systemic injustice. We endeavor to be inclusive and value individuals from all ethnicities, ages, races, sexual orientations, genders, languages, abilities, religions, citizenship statuses, and socioeconomic backgrounds into our chapter and into treatment. We strive to advocate, educate, collaborate, and strategize for positive racial and social justice change within our membership and our community. | Dear RECAMFT Members, One of our most important duties as CAMFT and RECAMFT members is to vote in our elections. RECAMFT's election period will start in mid-November and run through December. All clinical LMFT members and prelicensed members will receive an electronic ballot so please be on the lookout for this around mid-November. The ballot notice will go out via an eblast. Your RECAMFT Board has voted in favor of new bylaws which create a new membership class: Emeritus, for our retired members who want to continue as part of our RECAMFT community. The new document also has gender neutral language. We had a comment period for members to review and make comments or suggestions. No members commented during this time, so we have decided to move forward with asking you to adopt the new bylaws. In adopting a new membership class, we needed to change the dues structure. I am asking you to vote in favor of the new dues along with the new bylaws. There is NO dues increase for our prelicensed members. This is our first dues increase since 2015, so after nine years, a dues increase is long overdue. The newly proposed membership dues increases are as follows:
Once our membership approves the new bylaws when we vote in November, the bylaws changes need to be approved by the CAMFT Board. We anticipate the new membership rates will go into effect by February 1st at the soonest, and it could be later. Our Board is excited to be offering this new Emeritus class of membership! Your ballot will also include the opportunity to vote for those running for our board positions. This year we will vote for President Elect, Secretary, and four Director at Large positions. We are looking for volunteers to join our board, and invite you to consider this very important way of giving back to our community. We have an Elections page up, and hope you will review the excellent qualifications of those our Nominating Committee has chosen. It's not too late to be considered for a position. Please send your interest to therapy@recamft.org. Let's keep our chapter strong as we elect leaders, and vote for new bylaws for 2025! Sincerely yours, Bob Casanova, PsyD, LMFT 2024 RECAMFT President 2017-18 CAMFT President
Call for Submissions for the Dec. 2024 Issue of The RECAMFT Therapist! December is HIV/AIDS Awareness Month, National Human Rights Month, and Seasonal Affective Disorder Awareness Month. Dec. 1st is World AIDS Day. International Day of Persons with Disabilities is Dec. 3rd. See more here. We especially welcome submissions where awareness themes intersect with mental health. Please send your submission (500 word max) to therapy@recamft.org by the 15th. Questions? therapy@recamft.org.
NEW! RECAMFT On-Demand Programs: https://recamft.thinkific.com NEW! RECAMFT discount codes are posted for members only here: https://www.recamft.org/member-discount-codes (requires sign-in using your RECAMFT member email/password) NEW! Law & Ethics: How to Write a 10-Minute Treatment Plan, 3 CEs, with Barbara Griswold, LMFT. https://recamft.thinkific.com/courses/2022-law-and-ethics-treatment-plan NEW! Law & Ethics: What Should be in Your Notes, But Probably Isn't, 3 CEs, with Barbara Griswold, LMFT. https://recamft.thinkific.com/courses/2022-06-15-law-ethics-progress-notes NEW! Three Underlying Beliefs That Cause Anxiety and How to Change Them, a CBT Approach, 2 CEs, with Jennifer Shannon, LMFT https://recamft.thinkific.com/courses/2024-06-3-Beliefs-Cause-Anxiety NEW! Attachment Infused Addiction Treatment Theory, 2 CEs, with Mary Crocker Cook, PhD, LMFT https://recamft.thinkific.com/courses/attachment-addiction-2024-01 Members can watch the video, pass the test, fill out the evaluation, and download your certificate. It's that easy! You can earn CEs for any recorded event if you didn't already earn CEs from the live event. Return to top |
Members - you can access recordings of our zoom events from 2023, 2022, and 2021 in our new on-demand library which has been migrated over to Thinkific (
Welcome back, RECAMFT community! We are so excited to share some of the upcoming monthly CE events coming this fall. RECAMFT Zoom presentations
Are you interested in seeing what we have coming up? Consider microvolunteering with the Programs & Conferences Committee! Microvolunteering opportunities: screening speaker applications; providing support at in person CE events; monitoring Q&A for speakers during monthly Zoom presentations. We are especially looking for a Programs Committee Chairperson.
Featured member |
Please look for your electronic ballot in mid-November. Read about the candidates running for positions on the RECAMFT Board of Directors here.
Hello to all RECAMFT clinicians, and a special welcome to all our Prelicensed members! My name is Nicolette Gottuso. I am an LMFT and a Substance Use Counselor. I have recently joined the Board as a Director at Large and the Prelicensed Chair, and wanted to introduce myself. I have been a substance use counselor since I was in my early 20s. I slowly grew in my education and pursued a B.A. in psychology from Sonoma State University. I went on to get my masters in Counseling Psychology with an emphasis in Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute. During my undergrad and graduate programs, I worked full time. I worked initially with the houseless population in Marin County for 4 years, and then spent time at Lifeworks of Sonoma County doing in-home therapy. I finally landed at Muir Wood Adolescent and Family Services and eventually became the Clinical Director there for the boys facility in Petaluma. I have since left that role to pursue private practice. I have an office in Petaluma one day a week and see clients virtually on all of the other days. I specialize in addiction, adolescents and attachment disorders. I wanted to join the Prelicensed Committee to help prelicensed folks feel that they are not alone in what feels like a heavy, scary time when licensure feels so far away and sometimes unattainable! The one thing graduate school does not teach most of us, unfortunately, is how to be in the world as a therapist, and how to start a private practice. I am excited to help, however I can, in my new role, as a member of the RECAMFT Board, and the Chair of the Prelicensed Committee. You are welcome to contact me with your questions and concerns about the road to licensure. Please send me an email via therapy@recamft.org. I look forward to connecting with you! Nicolette Gottuso, M.A., LMFT, SUDCC IV-CS |
Members! Your SHORT DESCRIPTION is the most important thing on your profile. Why? Because that shows in our 
ELECTIONS ARE COMING! 
Please send an email to therapy@recamft.org if you can help. Return to top
If you are not currently enrolled in the listserv, please email therapy@recamft.org and ask to be added. You have the option of setting up your account to be
After you have been added to the listserv, you can change the way you receive the emails to any of the above choices. In Gmail the emails will appear under your Forums tab. To send an email to the listserv, simply address your email to recamft@groups.io If you do not want to be on our listserv, you can delete your account or write to therapy@recamft.org and ask to not be a part of the listserv. But we urge you to give it a try. You are missing out on a ton of meaningful collaboration with your colleagues. We hope you will enjoy being part of our online community! | Upcoming events
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We need help with
Our listserv has around 400 members on it, and is active daily with great conversations, resources, offerings, in search of, books, movies, office rentals, jobs, internships, etc. You can view the home page of our listserv at 
Contact therapy@recamft.org to advertise a job. Featured member | The Oct. Board meeting
Above pic L-R: Top row: Tara D'Orazio (CFO), Dr. Laura Strom (Secretary), Dr. Bob Casanova (President); Second row: Dr. Jean Hayes (Director at Large [DAL]), Emily Larkin (President Elect), Pat Hromalik (DAL); Third row: Gina Culver (Past President), Phone was Laura Strom who was having trouble with computer audio. Photo of the Oct. 2024 Board meeting by Laura Strom. |
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Find out more about advertising with RECAMFT here. | Got a sticky problem? Come discuss it confidentially with your colleagues at our next Ethics Roundtable
Not consultation, just a great way to get some ideas about how to handle your sticky case. Friendly and open group. Learn more here. The following 2025 dates have been chosen for next year's Ethics Roundtable.
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A Lesson in Perseverance: The Long Saga of a Rate Increase Request (Part 1)
By Pat Hromalik, LMFT
President Elect Candidate, Current Director at Large, RECAMFT Board of Directors
I am a practitioner that takes insurance, as many of you do. And, of course, I share the frustration about the low reimbursement rates from many insurance companies. I am also a consumer of Barbara Griswold’s expertise and information on all things insurance related. (see Navigating the Insurance Maze https://theinsurancemaze.com). Early on I followed her advice in trying to seek rate increases on a regular basis from Beacon where I was contracted to offer services for Kaiser Commercial outsourced referrals.
I wrote a factual letter containing the average Master level rate of pay in the Bay Area, included research on the number of therapists in my area takings this type of insurance compared to the high demand, as well as my own credentials, including additional and specialized training. While the process was NOT speedy, I was successful in submitting and getting rate increases approved every 2 years. Their stated service levels are to receive an acknowledgement of the request in 30 to 45 days (yes, I know that sounds ridiculously slow), and to complete the process in 90 days. They met their service levels both times while they were still Beacon. I was able to submit my request via email to their provider relations email and was eventually acknowledged and then assigned to a contract specialist where we negotiated and finalized the increase. They also allowed reprocessing of claims back to the date of the signed new rate increase agreement.
Now here comes the Loooooong Saga…
November 1st 2023 I followed that same process described above, however Beacon was now operating as Carelon Behavioral Health. I heard nothing, and followed up by email, again with no response. I then called the Provider Relations Customer Service line and was told that email address was no longer being used (note there was no bounce back message when the emails were sent) and that contract rate increase requests were being taken over the phone. While that didn’t make sense to me, I followed along and gave the representative the CPT codes and my requested rates for each. They stated the same service levels I described above. I called back after 30 days and was informed the service level was business days not calendar days. I dutifully called back in 30 business days – and was told it was pending and could take 45 days. I called again in February 2024 (way after the 45 business days) and was told it was processing and they had no explanation for why an acknowledgement had not been received. I, of course, was doubting that the request has gone to the Contracts area. I called again and tried to get to talk with someone in contracts but was refused, as well as being unsuccessful in getting to speak with a supervisor. I also tried emailing to a new provider relations email advertised in one the Carelon’s monthly newsletter and again got no response. On April 19th 2024 I wrote a terse paper letter to Carelon regarding my experience to date along with copies of each correspondence (yes copies of all the emails, and each phone calls identification number and who I spoke with). I sent the letter certified. On April 25th 2024 I received an email from a contracts manager saying that my request was assigned to her and she needed me to fill out a form with the CPT and rate increases requested. I did that and returned it the same day, except that the rates I requested were higher than in November as I wanted the Kaiser rates to be on parity with the Medicare rates which had just been increased and announced. I heard nothing. In May and June I emailed this contracts person for follow up and got no response each time.
Now I’m really mad…
The feisty part of me boiled over in August! I was mad! I decided to try to find out who the CEO of Carelon was and write to them. I found the CEO and a VP of Quality and wrote a letter to both of them. I mostly needed to vent but a small part of me thought it might catch someone’s attention and I might get an apology and some action.
My prior careers were working in technology and management and leadership development for 3 different fortune 500 companies in insurance. So, I wrote from the perspective of providers being the service arm of their business, as well as from a quality perspective (I am 6 Sigma trained in quality process improvement). And guess what? I heard nothing!!!! To be fair I had trouble finding a corporate address and did find what I thought was the right address, but who knows if it really was where these two executives worked.
And then a miracle happened…
In early September, I was looking back over all the documentation I had from this frustrating experience and I noticed in very small print on one of the emails from the contract person there was a phone number. So, I called it. And left a message. A few days later I called again and miracle of miracles – the contract person answered – she had been out of the office! And she was an angel! At first she spouted the party line – ‘we are not processing any commercial rate increases until October.’ When I pushed and said this was a request going back to November of 2023 and she had the request since April, she paused and started to look in her documentation. She found it had been mislabeled as a Partnership Health Plan request instead of a Kaiser Northern Californian Commercial request. As she looked over the letter and documentation she apologized and said I had documented everything and she would work on this request and work on getting it back dated to 11/1/2023! She told me she needed to put it on one of their updated forms and would send the form to me which she did and I returned promptly. She was having some computer problems and set an expectation to have the information reviewed by the next week. Which she did and told me due to the amount I was asking for it would need to be approved by her manager but she was fairly certain it would be and set expectation it would take about 10 days. I followed up with her in mid-September right before I was to go out on a medical leave for surgery. She assured me that the request was sent for approval and was reassuring as well as very concerned about my surgery. We corresponded a few weeks after my surgery and she told me the rate request was approved. YEAH! She also said she could only back date 3 months and had put in a request to her manager to see if she could approve a longer back-date period. Her manager was out traveling and it could take a little time to hear back. That was October 10th.
So, I am cautiously optimistic. I know the rate increase is finally approved – almost a year later – but not sure how far back they will back date it. If they do what she is advocating it will be a miracle and will truly restore my faith that there are some high caliber, quality minded people at Carelon who understand the value of their providers and want to provide good service to us.
So stay tuned for Part 2 – the final result!!!
Pat Hromalik, LMFT, has a private practice in Petaluma, CA working with adults and specializing in couples work, trauma and life transitions.. She currently serves as a Director at Large, and is running for President Elect on RECAMFT's Board of Directors.
Link to our Therapy Groups page and a PDF of current offerings - RECAMFT.ORG/Therapy-Groups CLICK HERE to learn more about local group offerings, and payment to advertise your group.     |
The Passing of a Great Contributor to Psychology and Bay Area Therapists By Patricia Hromalik, LMFT
To many of us who worked and learned from Dr. Billings, he was known as “Chuck.” He grew up in Marin County and graduated from San Francisco State University with a Bachelors and Masters degrees in Education and Psychology. He earned his PhD from the California School of Professional Psychology. He worked in county mental health, was a school psychologist, taught at CSPP, College of Marin, Sonoma State and in 1973 started the Counseling Psychology graduate program at Dominican University. He also started the free student Counseling Services Program at Dominican in 1983. He retired in 2014 as Professor Emeritus. Chuck was a well-known and successful therapist with a private practice and worked with many high-level executives; he was also a very spiritual person and active in the psycho-spiritual community in the Bay Area. Preceding him in death were his parents, Von Dow Billings and Nina Eloise Sanders Billings, and wives Maureen O’Connell Billings Soltero and Naomi Singer Billings. He leaves behind his wife Barbara Rose (nee Thiemann), sons Paul and David (Nicole), and grandchildren Hudson and Addison. This is a link to his obituary. https://www.adobecreekfuneralhome.com/obituary/charles-chuck-billings I had the honor of speaking at Chuck’s celebration of Life on September 14, 2024 at the chapel in Edgehill Mansion on the Dominican campus. These were my remarks:
Photo of Dr. Billings taken from his online obituary found here.
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While many of our members are graduates of our local Sonoma State Counseling program, some of us are graduates of 
It's a mystery! Dear RECAMFT Community: We do not have a record of our first five RECAMFT Presidents, from 1975 - 1979. Does anyone remember who they were? If you do, please let us know at therapy@recamft.org. In the meantime, please enjoy our Past Presidents page here. |  |
Thank you for reading this month's newsletter! RECAMFT is great because of involved members like you!!
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Are you looking for help? Find therapists offering free natural disaster and crisis sessions here. Please check out MySonomaStrong.com. Visit the NAMI Warmline. Take a trauma-informed yoga class. We will recover together! ¿Buscas ayuda? Encuentre terapeutas que ofrezcan sesiones gratuitas de crisis y desastres naturales aquí. Visite MySonomaStrong.com. Visite la NAMI Warmline. Toma una clase de yoga informada sobre el trauma. ¡Nos recuperaremos juntos!
Redwood Empire Chapter of California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists |
