Robbin Miller

1) Locate an office site so you can start the process of applying for insurance panels. Whether you use your home or pay rent for space, all health insurance providers need your address to start the ball rolling. If you just want to do private pay, you still need an office location to start your marketing plan and networking with others.

Dr. Wayne Dyer, notable Psychologist and author of many best seller books, talks about this notion in several of his writings on finding inner wisdom and peace as a human being. When I think of these two terms and how they apply to our profession, I believe they may be two opposing forces facing us as counselors. I went into the profession in 1989 to serve my clients and to make a difference in their lives. I was always interested as a young child on “what makes people tick” as I read many books on Psychology during my teenage years.

I am now a trained mediator for community mediation issues such as small claims and for parent-child disputes. I participated in a long and intense thirty hour training at my current place of employment. One day a month for a year, I will be spending my afternoon in court to see if any parties are interested in having their cases mediated or being heard in front of a judge. The time commitment is due to having the costs waived for this mediation training.

Congratulations to the graduate students from the Social Work and Mental Health programs across the program. Your hard work and dedication will pay off as you enter the “real world.” Here is the top ten list from a seasoned professional of fourteen years in the trenches:

I love when Spring arrives in New England. "It comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb" as the saying goes. I have good news to report in my neck of the words. I wrote in the past about the inequities in the mental health system for children on commercial health insurances who need intensive services and can't access them. I am glad to hear that there is proposed legislation in Massachusetts to mandate that commercial insurance cover children who need intensive care coordiation for their mental health needs. What this acutally means is that counselors and social workers would get paid for doing collateral services such as going to school meetings and calling primary care doctors on behalf of their clients. At the present time, providers are unreimbursed for their time if they conduct these extra services outside of the counseling parameter for their clients. Over one thirty five organizations co-sponsor this legislation. The state chapter of the National Social Work Association is one the organizations co-sponsoring this bill. However, I don't know if the state chapter for Mental Health Counselors Association is co-sponsoring this bill as there is no information on their website (www.mamhca.org) that says they do. If anyone who belongs to this organization knows, please email me privately. If the bill passes, all children and not just those on Mass Health (medicaid) will receive due diligence for their mental health needs.