LMFT

Here's how it works, for your and others' information:

http://www.ct.gov/dph/lib/dph/practitioner_licensing_and_investigations/plis/mft/mft_statute.pdf shows how one such as me, a Licensed Marital and Family Therapist (LMFT), gets licensed and what I can do.  The "assessment" & "evaluation" is the diagnosing end of my work, which my [2nd or 3rd year of] graduate schooling trained me on.  We also had a mandatory Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV) class, which some other therapists do not have (such as in some social work and counseling programs). 

The codes that the state of CT insurance plans (Medicaid & Charter Oak) and most other insurance plans (Blue Cross, United, Aetna, Tricare [a federal plan], etc.) approve for LMFTs to use for these assessments are 90801 & 90802.  These are psychiatric codes, directly out of the American Medical Association's code book "CPT Coding 20XX), hence I am doing psychiatric assessments in order to determine the diagnoses of individuals.  As an added specialty, as interpreted from the state's definition on my license, I do and can understand an assessment through the lens of how a person is affected by their family, which is very useful for treatment in most cases. 

Additionally, it is by law that mental health parity must include LMFTs as being included to:

"

Provider reimbursement. The act mandates individual insurance policies provide insurance reimbursement to certain allied health care providers’ authority to diagnose and treat mental or nervous conditions, which already exists under group policies. This includes:

• licensed clinical psychologists;

• licensed clinical social workers;

• social workers certified as independent before October 1, 1990;

• licensed marital and family therapists or those certified before October 1, 1992; and

• licensed or certified alcohol and drug counselors (extended to both group and individual policies in this act)."

http://www.cga.ct.gov/2005/pridata/Studies/Mental_Health_Parity_Briefing.htm

I look fwd. to seeing how this pans out w/the school, assuming Dean even has the suspected diagnosis.  We can retain Tracy for her doctoral "blessing" if need be, but hopefully given all of the above, that won't be necessary. 

FYI: LMFTs were not allowed to be directly employed by the schools until 2 or 3 years ago.  They were still there as contractors doing in some cases the same things, but now are allowed to be there (there may be a # of school-specific courses required 1st).  For the most art, it is all political and not especially related to the professional's true qualifications. 

S