Our Significant Challenge
AAMFT’s restructure, combined with light attendance at our recent conferences, have left NJAMFT-IA with a significant financial challenge. Meeting this challenge will enable NJAMFT-IA to continue to build on the significant achievements of the last four years
advocating for you in Trenton.
Nothing impacts your professional practice more, for better or worse, than your state laws and regulations.
No one, other than NJAMFT-IA, is there to advocate for you
. We need to keep this in place!
Value of a Lobbyist
Four years ago, when the Legislative Committee retained the services of a professional lobbyist, we found that
none of our state legislators had ever heard of the NJAMFT! They had little to no awareness of what a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist was or did.
That problem has been resolved. Our lobbyist now gets calls from our legislators as they consider and write new bills. Even the Office of Legislative Services contacts us now as they review newly written bills before they are introduced on the legislative floor!
The primary goal of local advocacy is to
maintain and expand the scope of your professional practice.
We have worked hard to make sure that LMFTs are included as recognized providers in relevant legislation. There have been
over 30 instances in which we were able to have bills amended to include LMFTs as recognized providers
when they were initially excluded.
None of this, or the passage of our Associate License bill, could have been accomplished without our lobbyist.
Advancing MFT
All of this, as well as new initiatives such as introducing legislation to statutorily reaffirm LMFT’s right to diagnose, have been put in serious jeopardy by the financial challenge that NJAMFT-IA faces.
At present, we cannot afford to keep our lobbyist
, thus we must raise significant funding.
While our fee for a monthly lobbyist is a significant expense, it is well below their customary fee. Additionally, he has agreed to be very flexible as we try to address our financial situation.
The situation is urgent and immediate
.
How We Can Meet This Challenge
Together we can meet this challenge by
donating the hourly rate we charge for one session.
We really need to have 100% participation
by all NJAMFT members for this to work but think of the return you get for just one hour of investment. This one-hour donation protects all your hours of professional practice. We have achieved so much to risk losing what has been gained and what lies ahead. If you or your agency charges $75.00 for a client hour, please donate $75.00. If your fee is $150.00 for a client hour, please donate $150.00, and so on. We need you to be as generous as you can be but most importantly, we need you to participate in this.
Please don’t set this aside without donating!
This is our opportunity to give back to help sustain our profession and continue to have a viable professional organization in New Jersey. Please click on the image below to make your 1-hour contribution.
