February 2018 Minutes - RATIFIED 3/10/2018

  • 29 Mar 2018 8:01 AM
    Message # 6006161
    UMHCA _Administrator (Administrator)

    UMHCA Board Meeting Minutes

    February 10, 2018

    Attendees:  Board members: Ellen Behrens, Scott Carter, Paul Carver, Gray Otis, Julie Tucker, Jason Wagner. Committee volunteers: Terri Elise Goldstein, Jim Macedone, 

    Guest; Rebecca Brocktrup, Westminster student. 

    The meeting was called to order at 9:06 AM.

    Jason Wagner, past-president, conducted the meeting in the absence of board president, Paul Callister.

    A motion was made to approve the Minutes of the January 13, 2018, meeting of the UMHCA board of directors. A motion was seconded and the motion passed. 

    Financial Report 

    Jason Wagner presented the Financial Report. He stated that he did not print the statement, but it is available on the UMCHA shared drive. The report showed a bank account balance of $4,806. It was noted that the revenue was not segmented by the reason for the deposits such as conference revenue, memberships, etc. The method of receipt, such as online, or offline, also was not segmented. Regarding expenses, Jason explained that the majority of expenses were conference related, except for Wild Apricot, the company which hosts the UMHCA website. Several attendees pointed out two charges, which Jason will investigate: (1) disputed items, and (2) Foreign Trans. 

    Jason reported that taxes, state registrations, and other corporate documents and reports are up to date.

    Bylaws Report

    Julie Tucker made the following suggested changes to the Bylaws.

    UMHCA create “Hall of Distinguished Service” to accommodate for an Honorary Members. This membership would be non-voting to keep in alignment with UMCHA’s 501(c)6 standing. Members would need to be past presidents, and suggested by the board and voted on. All members of the Honorary Members would be awarded a life-time membership and be honored with a plaque in our March conference. The two suggested members are Paul Carver and Gray Otis.  The board discussed this issue, motioned to approve this movement, second the motion and approved the motion. 

    Paul & Julie would like to keep Gray on as a voting member of UMHCA. As a result a member to the Executive Committee would be created for Gray and someone like Gray to serve on as a Presidential Advisor. The Executive Committee would add the Presidential Advisor as a member of the Executive Committee. The Presidential Advisor would have to qualify by being a past president, appointed by the President and approved by the Board. The Presidential Advisor would have full voting rights. The Presidential Advisor would be appointed annually every April by the President. The function of the Presidential Advisor is to bring experience, advice and knowledge to the Board and to serve as a confidant to the Board and to the President. At this meeting, Gray nominated to be the Presidential Advisor. The Board discussed this issues of adding Presidential Advisor to the Executive Committee. The Board motioned to accept a Presidential Advisor, seconded and passed. Gray Otis was approved as a nominee and voted in as the Presidential Advisor. Julie was authorized to make the necessary changes to the Bylaws.

    Julie discussed with the Board extending the term of the UMHCA president to two years. This would facilitate UMCHA’s ability to bring in leaders, and to cultivate them, giving UMCHA the benefit of the leader’s experience for a longer period of time. Jim Macedone presented a graphic of the proposed succession plan, which would begin in March 2018 with a new presidential term of 2 years. There was discussion about what would be a feasible expectation for length of service. Pros and cons of implementing the term.  Extension during a sitting president’s term, could cause troubles and it was suggested that an attorney would have to be asked for clarification. Therefore, the Board voted to extend the presidential term to 2 years beginning March 2018.  It was further decided that that, in the March meeting the Board could discuss with Paul Callister his thoughts on leaving his presidency, serving for another two years etc. Regardless, it was determined, in order to avoid any conflicts of interest that Paul would have to be voted in again if he were to serve.  The Board voted to accept the presidency as a two year term starting March 2018. Julie was authorized to make Bylaw changes.

    The discussion of the future president was tabled for March.  Julie stated that she was not available to serve for a further term as a time constraint that long was difficult to handle. Regardless, with the new presidential term, a new presidential elect will need to be elected next March of 2019. 

    Ellen Behrens initiated a discussion as to whether her licensure as a psychologist is allowed based on the terminology used for professionals. Julie stated the idea behind the way the Bylaws are written is to foster inclusivity by accommodating other licensed mental health professionals. Gray stated that historically, there have been “licensed” mental health professionals from various disciplines who have held board positions. The Board voted to change language in the Bylaws to reflect the rules of DOPL, R156-60 when referring to professionals who may be involved in UMCHA.  Julie was authorized to change the Bylaws to reflect the Boards intention to be inclusive.

    Legislative

    Scott Carter presented the Legislative update beginning with a report of the recent meeting of the Work Force Services Behavior Health Workgroup. Per the January UMHCA board meeting, Paul Callister, Scott Carter, and Julie Tucker attended the meeting with the intent to discuss and gain support for UMCHA’s efforts related to changing CMHC supervision standards.  Scott outlined the primary benefits of changing the standards including (1) increasing CMHC credibility, and (2) increasing the number of graduate students a CMHC supervisor is allowed to supervise. Gray stated that the second factor is no longer relevant. He explained that in order to increase the number of supervisees, clinicians must go to DOPL for an endorsement for the additional permission. Scott explained that the desired outcome for the meeting was not realized due to the unclear parameters of the desired licensing stipulations, particularly related to CMHC supervision by other licensed mental health professionals such as LCSWs. Gray recommended a new strategy to gain support of the Workgroup by seeking feedback from the other fields. There was some discussion about CMHC’s supervising students from other mental health disciplines. 

    Gray opened a discussion about efforts for CMHC’s to gain eligibility for Medicare endorsement by obtaining endorsements from the UPA and the Utah NASW. The endorsements are essential to have the numbers and the clout of the social workers to petition congressional representatives as a bill will be required. Gray stated that he had informally talked with the leadership of the two groups and they responded favorably. 

    The discussion concluded with the goals to become proactive with government/legislative rules and regulations and initiate change, rather than having to react to fix situations like what is occurring with the child custody issue.

    Child Custody

    Attorney Russell Minas, a member of the subcommittee on child and family services has become involved UMHCA’s efforts to initiate the changes to the Rules that will allow CMHC’s to conduct custody evaluations. Minas has experience with legislative issues. He stated his committee would be discussing 4-903 to allow CMHCs to do custody evaluation in his upcoming committee meeting March 16, 2018. In 2016, with the support of social workers and marriage and family counselors, Russell met with state supreme court subcommittee asserting that the current regulation is discriminatory and prejudicial. CMHC has been objecting the ruling of commissioner Tack that CHMC’s were not equal to the LSCW or the LMFT since June of 2016. UMHCA has taken the position that Commissioner Tack’s ruling was prejudicial and discriminatory since Utah legislature has recognized full parity for the mental health professionals including the CHMC, LMFT and LCSW.

    There was also discussion about standards for child custody work. Minas askes if UMHCA would be in support of some standards equivalent to standards set by the Association of Family & Conciliatory Courts (AFCC). Concerns were raised that UMHCA need to ensure that such standardization is not exclusive to the AFCC. UMHCA’s position is we agree there should be standards, but the standards should take into account other experts such as the NBFE and not exclusionary to mandating custody evaluators join or get certified by the AFCC but rather that there should be a minimum standard equivalent to the standards set by the AFCC.   A Motion was made that UMCHA supported CMHCs minimum standards of custody evaluations with the minimum standard being equivalent to the AFCC with the caveat that the AFCC is not a required certification for standardization.

    Health Integration

    Julie started a discussion regarding how we refer to our clients to entities outside of the field such as court systems, physicians (who use patients), etc., This is an issue as we seek greater integration and inclusion with the healthcare system and providers. Having attended an NBFE certification webinar where it was suggested CMHC refer to their clients as patients. At one time it was suggested, by ethics standards that CMHC’s could not use the language of patient.

    Jason suggested the term was dependent on the level of care being provided, who is providing the care, and where the care is being provided.  There was also discussion about using the term client within internal documents, and patient when writing for external sources that follow the medical model. There was no concrete conclusion, other than CMHC’s may need to use both terms and it may no longer be considered unethical.

    Membership, Public Relations & Marketing Committee

    Julie reported on continuing changes to the UMHCA website that will support the growing committee structure. Also, she explained that the PRMM Committee “is here to facilitate your ideas.” PRMM is a committee to back up other committees in their advertising, emailers and campaign needs as part of its mandate to increase the membership of UMHCA. PRMM is primarily a support for the “leading” committee who wishes to launch a campaign, not the leader of the campaigns. PRMM has enough responsibilities with maintaining the websites, campaigns, and the digital foot print of UMHCA. The other committee should be suggesting and leading their mandates.  Julie further stated she would return to the Bylaws and further clarify each of the committee responsibilities to help implement a more structured approach with appropriate expectations and boundaries.

    Committee Structure

    The question of committee chairs was raised pertaining to the roles Ellen and Kristine will have. More discussion and a result will take place offline. Julie was to look at the Bylaws and see to the question of Co-Chairs. Gray suggested that Co-Chairs are used by AMHCA. Regardless, Co-Chairs, or not, the Committee retains one vote in the Board. Co-Chairs will need to vote together, if they are used. Gray did not believe the use of Co-Chairs needed to be used in the Bylaws. Julie believes they may not be needed but if UMHCA is going to use them, UMHCA should have the Bylaws reflect how UMHCA runs its operations.

    There was a suggestion that the Education, Conference and Planning Development committee revert to Education, Conference and Professional Development. Julie stated she would review the Bylaws and finalize the committee names and responsibilities to vote for next Meeting.

    Conference Report

    There was a report on the March 2018 Conference. Paul Callister was not in attendance so the Board read his documentation, sent to the Board for the meeting. There were some discrepancies which Ellen pointed out having to do with times, lunches, total CE’s and a missing presenter. The Board was not exactly sure regarding some presenters and the amount of CE’s. Ellen, volunteered to clarify with Paul Callister on the issues discussed during the Board meeting. Julie state that although she talked with Paul regarding some of the finalization of the March 2018 Conference that Ellen, by far was more qualified to head up the finalization with Paul Callister since Jason did not know any of the information in question. 

    The Board discussed the issues of confusions which have arisen due to multiple contacts with various committee members, no contact with people who have needed information, information not getting to the person who has been given authority to act as the representative of UMHCA and the need to have centralized information.  A discussion ensued regarding missing information, an inability to access UMHCA’s linkden account or the ability to post marketing information or contact individuals who have the information. Jason said that Desmond had the linkden account. Jim was concerned Meg did not have the time to get UMHCA the information needed for the March 2018 Conference or how to get Meg to now make the necessary changes to the flyers.  

    It was discussed that although some members of the board have a little bit of the information needed to run an effective single point of contact as to avoid confusion. Jason said he would get Jim the information for Desmond for linkden. Jim said he has the programs and could make the necessary changes for the flyers, and since Meg has been emailed by multiple people, including Jim that the PRMM committee would be responsible to make contacts regarding advertising materials. Ellen agreed, as the Chair of Education, Conference, & Graduate Student Committee(ECGS) she would take the lead and ensure to gather the information from Paul Callister and Jason Wagner to finalize the issues regarding the March 2018 Conference. Julie requested, in order follow proper procedures, that she be cc d on issues dealing with advertising and the PRMM committee so as to help Jim avoid burn out. Julie also requested the ECGS committee submit the proper information to Jim so he can email and manage the mailing lists rather than being the point of contact attempting to “find” the information from the other committees. Julie reminded the board PRMM committee responsibility is to run the campaigns, based upon receiving information from the other committees. It was further discussed the PRMM is not the committee searching or gathering information, rather to promote and disseminate the information it has been given by the Committee Chair. The need for an appointed contact was agreed upon and  Ellen agreed to serve a point person gather information and then send it to Jim, cc Julie as the Chair of PRMM. Julie agreed to further delineate responsibilities in the Bylaws and to present the changes in the March meeting.

    Meeting was adjourned approximately 12:06 MST.


    Last modified: 13 Apr 2018 3:47 PM | UMHCA _Administrator (Administrator)

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