The Utah Association for Marriage and Family Therapy

12/18/2025

🇺🇸 Want a sneak peek into the upcoming legislative session? Join our legislative chair, Sarah Stroup, to learn more about Utah’s session, legislative priorities, and bills we’re tracking. May be applied to general or ethics CEs.

12/17/2025

‼️Presenters needed for our Spring Conference‼️

Part of the mission of UAMFT is to “improve the practice of systemic therapy by providing the best continuing education.” If you have an area of expertise you’d like to share with other clinicians in Utah, apply at the link below by January 16th!

Students are also invited to apply to present during the poster session.

https://forms.gle/rzJ4nhoz25SGnnUC9

12/10/2025

📣 Registration is OPEN for the UAMFT Spring 2026 Conference!

Join us May 7–9 at the Hilton Salt Lake City Center (or attend virtually!) for relationally focused trainings, valuable networking, and updates on the latest mental health legislation in Utah. Earn approximately 19 CEs (exact number TBA).

🎟 Early Bird pricing is live through December 26! UAMFT Members get an extra discount—licensed members pay only $195. Students and associates can email Celeste at uamftadmin@gmail.com for an additional discount code.

🎤 Interested in presenting (including poster presentations for students)? Submit your proposal by January 16. See the link below.

🎁 Want to support the conference with raffle donations, sponsorship, or a vendor table? Email Valerie: valerie@blusprucetherapy.com.

🙌 Want free registration? Volunteer! Email Emily: rice.emilyy@gmail.com.

We can’t wait to learn, connect, and grow with you! 💙

Register here: uamft.org/events
Apply to present: https://forms.gle/rzJ4nhoz25SGnnUC9

12/10/2025

🚨Did you know the State of Utah believes that we are short 8000 mental health therapists and are actively working on legislation to target this? That would nearly double our entire mental health workforce in the state. We’ve been trying to get more information and challenge the data sources for this number, but in the meantime, we have colleagues who are actively working on accurate data collection. Please see below and take a few minutes to fill out the survey.
———————————

If you’re a licensed mental health professional in Utah, your experience matters. We’re conducting a statewide research study to better understand the realities of our practice.

Too often, policy and educational decisions are made without input from us in the field. This is your chance to change that!

✅The survey is anonymous

✅Takes about 15 minutes

✅Results will be used to inform advocacy, education, and policy decisions in Utah

Let’s make sure our profession’s story is told with real data—not assumptions.

https://uvu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_emrZTxC4oE9FRXM

In order to have data available for the upcoming legislative session, data collection will close on Friday, January 2 at 11:59pm. Please complete the survey before that time.

P.S. Everyone should have received an email invitation to this survey today but I'm posting here to help encourage everyone to participate! Plus we all know sometimes emails get lost to the spam or promotions folders or just buried by all the other things that come in!

The most powerful, simple and trusted way to gather experience data. Start your journey to experience management and try a free account today.

12/05/2025

Utah mental health professionals—let’s connect! 💬

Join us on December 12 at 12 PM for a Virtual Town Hall hosted by the Utah Coalition of Mental Health Professions. This open-house style event is a chance to connect, share experiences, and build community across our fields.

✨ Members of UAMFT, UMHCA, or NASW-UT are eligible to receive 1 CE for attending if registered for the event.

Register at the link below! We hope to see you there!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScBTByMka9jyxAJLaoxmqRQ1WQZYcr30hFSkQPaNAB9co8Njg/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=101716315885590132816

12/03/2025

New rules dropped and you want to become a supervisor? Already a supervisor, but now you realize you need to take a 20-hour course to follow the new law?

Our course is what DOPL used as a blueprint for the new rule. Come learn from seasoned experts who have been teaching this course for years!

Our next UAMFT-Approved Clinical Supervision Course is next month, so secure your spot before it’s gone!

📅 January 21-23 | Orem, UT
🧠 Led by Dr. John Robbins & Jennifer Morgan Smith
✅ Meets new DOPL supervision requirements

Limited seats—don’t wait! Register at uamft.org/events.

12/02/2025

The second part of rules has been posted. The link below has more information on how to access them, provide public comment, and suggested talking points for you to consider as you reflect on your own public comments. We encourage everyone to submit public comment and attend the public comment hearing. This is your chance for your voice to be heard regarding regulations governing our field.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qw_iDI6cwRN15xj6TV66UmP7YPjyEMlILGoHjGYCNAI/edit?usp=drivesdk

11/21/2025

🚨 Urgent Federal News: New Law Threatens Financial Aid for Future MFTs, counselors, and social workers.

The student loan system for MFTs, social workers and counselors is in immediate danger due to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), which became law in July 2025. This bill eliminates the Grad PLUS Loan (which currently covers full program costs) and establishes strict new caps on what graduate students can borrow starting July 2026. The OBBBA created a small exception with higher loan limits for "professional student" degrees (like medicine). However, the Department of Education, in writing the rules for the OBBBA, created a very narrow definition that excludes all MFTs, social workers, and counseling master's and doctoral programs.

🛑 The Financial Impact:
By being excluded from the higher loan category, MFT, social work, and counseling students will be restricted to the lowest federal loan caps (around $20,500 annually). Worse, these limits are not just annual but are prorated per semester or term, making financial planning highly restrictive and forcing students to rely on much more expensive private loans to complete their degree. This change dramatically increases the cost of entering our profession, ultimately threatening the supply of mental health professionals needed to serve our communities. However, this is not a done deal.

📣 Your Action is Needed:
While the Department of Education’s negotiating committee proposed this damaging definition, it is not yet final. The Department of Education will soon publish a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), which opens a critical 30- to 60-day Public Comment Period. This is our only chance to overturn this definition. All members, students, and program faculty must prepare to submit comments detailing the essential role of MFTs, social workers, and counselors, how this rule creates an unbearable financial barrier, and why it works against federal efforts to address the mental health crisis.

Please monitor UAMFT communications as we will be tracking the official launch of the comment period and providing template letters. Your voice is essential for the future of our field.

11/21/2025

📢Update on the proposed AI executive order!

We did it! In collaboration with other professional organizations in Utah, our collective voices were heard and noticed. The EO was not published and we are hearing that the federal administration is pausing to at least continue the conversation.

However, we have won the battle but not the war. We have been told that the draft language in the federal defense appropriations bill will eviscerate any AI regulations and will be much worse than the EO would have been. We MUST continue reaching out to our federal representatives and demand appropriate AI regulation, especially in healthcare.

Don't know who your member of congress is? Click the link below and enter your address. We'll post a sample letter in the comments that is character limit friendly as some of the congress people impose character limits on their emails. Please ensure that you personalize this template with your name, credentials, and a bit of information about why this is important to you. https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member

The government has until the end of January to work out the language of the appropriations bill but it could be done sooner so please reach out to your federal representatives today.

Find your members of Congress by typing in your address on Congress.gov.

11/20/2025

🚨 URGENT ACTION NEEDED! Today, UAMFT was provided a draft of a Federal Executive Order that aims to dismantle state-level AI safeguards, including Utah's H.B. 452. This critical state law is currently our only guardrail in mandating clear AI disclosure, ensuring patient privacy when interacting with AI mental health chatbots, and requiring licensed therapist involvement in AI mental health chatbot development. It also impedes future legislative efforts to ensure AI in mental health care is used ethically and safely. This executive order will give the tech companies much more control and we will lose our ability to legislate best practices for AI in healthcare at the state level. Read our full opposition and contact your Members of Congress BEFORE FRIDAY to advocate for the protection of vulnerable Utah users from unregulated AI. Not sure who to contact? Search find my congress member to locate your congress representatives by address.

11/17/2025

🚨Attention UAMFT Members!🚨
Board elections are NOW OPEN through 11/21 at 11:55 PM. If your membership is active, you should have received an email from ezVote Support that looks like the one below.

Please check your Promotions, Updates, and Spam folders to make sure you find it—and don’t forget to VOTE for our new Communications Chair, Continuing Education Chair, and Conference Committee Member (who will step into the Chair role after one year).

Your vote matters, so make it count!

11/06/2025

📢 Ready to lead? UAMFT Board nominations are open!
Roles: Continuing Education Chair, Communications Chair, Conference Committee Member, Elections Committee Member, Associate Representative, & Student Representative.
Election: Nov 17–21, 2025.
Nominate yourself or a colleague by Saturday, November 8: liza@ustherapygroup.com