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Colleagues,
Please read the announcement below from the American Counseling
Association. ACA has been lobbying for years to have LPCs included as
Medicare providers, and this announcement provides instructions as to
how to contact our elected officials to urge their support of HR 3200,
which contains the hoped for goal of including LPCs as Medicare
providers. Passage of the bill would benefit all art therapists who are
also licensed as professional counselors.
ACA’s “internet action center” is very impressive!
Regards,
Sarah Deaver, ATR-BC, LPC
On July 14th, U.S. House of Representatives leaders introduced H.R.
3200, the “America’s Affordable Health Choices Act,” a slightly updated
version of major healthcare reform legislation developed and released
jointly by the three House committees with jurisdiction over the issue.
The legislation includes provisions to update and strengthen the
Medicare program, and as with the earlier version of the bill, the new
version includes language establishing Medicare coverage of mental
health services provided by licensed professional counselors.
Inclusion of the counselor coverage provision at the beginning of its
journey through the House significantly improves the odds of its
adoption as part of broader healthcare reform legislation. ACA President
Lynn E. Linde has written to the members of the House committees with
jurisdiction over healthcare-the House Ways & Means Committee, the House
Energy & Commerce Committee, and the House Education & Labor
Committee-to express support for the legislation. Information on the
healthcare reform legislation is available at
http://waysandmeans.house.gov/MoreInfo.asp?section=52
<http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102646706356&s=9500&e=001nV4a1oJuyt2a3yzVw_xs
WuCUTUgY9zDana4I8TBkJdKg1w2D5IZkotS6FRI3an1oNo9FiZkszg1a3gJ40yyytK98Sph7
6orx4qMWmyaX4ERybCdKVmiowK1jfv3oPRwlz_hjzgE2kwFAsHtBJhU9cFjYNuyGnGue> .
Mark-up of the legislation is the next step. Counselors are strongly
encouraged to contact their Representative to ask them to vote for H.R.
3200, and to support its inclusion of Medicare coverage of licensed
professional counselors. You can use ACA’s internet action center
<http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102646706356&s=9500&e=001nV4a1oJuyt277Bwjp5Ol
qfQwsmb8yl0AtuLkEEH-Z_vNl7Y_yu1AJTstEfG63eqAqselmw637mRkJPy_YL-Ov63dfgNW
XfrxLHx0IkHTNvbuyuPgnY5z7A==> to identify your Representative, and see
suggested message text.
Contacts are especially needed for members of one of the committees with
jurisdiction over healthcare. A list of House and Senate members on
healthcare committees, by state, is available on the ACA website at
http://www.counseling.org/PublicPolicy/Key_Medicare_Members_of%20Congres
s-By_State.pdf
<http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102646706356&s=9500&e=001nV4a1oJuyt0f8J_T7c0F
ahynvYXPRBg4E3UbPn1IFaCrW6LEvG0Zow4Ezs3Ag1JYFybwQ5v-ff1jlI7uRlj67lrfEEkV
GapSSGhioZO5dhGgddez8SLNkhwA3vlpABGJS9ewJoCmSJwHNikH7W0EV8Ed3TLRAdZOEMn0
fQ0pmQVlqXKzy7l6VskaX0UrJDPF3TqX-XzF5J0=> . If you are a constituent of
one or more of these members, please consider taking a moment to contact
them! If you are not a constituent, please simply contact your own
Representative and Senators.
For more information, contact Scott Barstow at 800-347-6647 x234,
e-mail: sbarstow@counseling.org <mailto:
sbarstow%40counseling.org >
<mailto:sbarstow@counseling.org <mailto:
sbarstow%40counseling.org > > .
I’m reading Sarah Deaver’s article on Children’s Drawings. I appreciate her working toward a better understanding of children’s drawings. As someone who runs a non-profit for children who are victims of violence and who are exposed to violence, we assess all clients coming into our center for trauma related diagnosis, mental health diagnosis, and stressors. Since we see trauma victims, this does not predispose that they are mentally-ill, rather that they may be normal children who have undergone an incredibly stressful event that may bring on mental health issues. Having a current and greater resource for the evaluation of children’s drawings will be a wonderful tool for clinicians in the diganosis of true mental health issues within trauma. We hope that she will include the collection and evaluation of artwork by traumatized children in her sample. Perhaps that is something we can contribute to in teh near future or as she expands this project.
Her article is published in Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, vol 26, #1, 2009
