Kelly Kilcoyne MFT Public Comments to the California MFT Board
My Name is Kelly Kilcoyne MFT.
I am here to endorse the points made here today by Mr. Rick McCarthy, and to respectfully request the board’s consideration for reinstating the oral examination as a component of the MFT licensure process.
Background: Kelly Kilcoyne MFT
For thirty-one years, it has been an honor and privilege to provide mental health services for the people of California, and including working as:
- a crisis counselor and volunteer coordinator at San Francisco suicide prevention,
- a counselor in long-term residential treatment of severe mental illnesses,
- a counselor in court-mandated DUI counseling programs,
- a child trauma therapist helping youth impacted by domestic violence and abuse
- a child counselor at a head-start school in Richmond, CA
- an on-campus counselor at a high school in Palo Alto during a cluster of teen suicides
After licensure, I served on the Board of the Santa Clara Valley chapter of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists and facilitated consultation groups for pre-licensed associates and newly licensed therapists.
As Clinical Coordinator for a Master of Counseling Psychology program, I advised students navigating practicum and postgraduate clinical training placements, and the MFT associateship registration, examination and licensure processes.
Since 2012, I have operated a full-time private practice, supervised MFT associates, trained in Control-Mastery, CBT, EMDR, obtained Ecotherapy certification for integrating nature-based approaches into counseling, and co-facilitate two therapist consultation groups.
Raise the Bar of Competency!
Here are just a few of the many reasons why I recommend considering restoring the Oral exam:
Assessment of Communication and Interpersonal Skills: Effective communication is paramount in therapy. Oral exams offer a direct way to assess a candidate's verbal communication skills, their ability to build rapport, express empathy and engage in therapeutic dialogue.
Exploration of Knowledge and Understanding: Oral exams allow for a more dynamic and interactive assessment where examiners can probe deeper into a candidate's responses, clarify their understanding of complex concepts, and observe their critical thinking in action. This can differentiate between superficial and substantive knowledge more effectively than multiple-choice questions.
Preparing for Real-World Scenarios: The ability to articulate a diagnosis, crisis management strategies, theoretical approaches, and treatment plans verbally, as practiced in an oral exam, can better prepare candidates for the pressures and demands of real clinical situations.
Public Protection: Reinstating the oral component could be viewed as adding an extra layer of protection for the public by allowing for a more thorough and personal evaluation of a candidate's readiness to practice independently, maintaining professional and ethical boundaries and management of countertransference, so as to prevent unethical ‘colonization’ of clientele, where the therapist’s own personal religious, cultural or political beliefs are not imposed upon clients.
Summary
Candidates for MFT licensure should be allowed the opportunity to demonstrate these basic therapeutic skills, in the format of an oral, case-presentation/interview styled component of the MFT exam. Raising our standards with reinstatement of the oral examination in the MFT licensure process, is a necessary step towards improving and safeguarding high-quality mental health care services for all Californians.
Thank you,
Kelly Kilcoyne MFT
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