Annual Newsletter - College of Human Ecology - Kansas State ...

Marriage and Family Therapy Newsletter Fall 2012
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
PROGRAM DIRECTOR’S
CORNER
SANDRA STITH, PH.D.
— 1
ALUMNI PROFILES
— 2 & 3
RESEARCHERS &
STUDENTS RETURN
TO CHINA
TO BUILD CONNECTIONS
TO MFTS IN CHINA
— 4
SPOTLIGHT ON FACULTY
—6 & 7
Program Director’s Corner with Sandra Stith, Ph.D.
A
th
nother school year starting! As I write this, I am beginning my 26 year teaching
marriage and family therapy and my sixth year here at Kansas State University.
While last year was a year of transitions with the loss of two revered faculty members
and the addition of two new faculty members, this year has been more stable.
The new faculty members, Jared Durtschi and Amber Vennum, have contributed
greatly to the academic and clinical level of the program in addition to being
important members of the MFT community at Kansas State University. We celebrated
with Joyce Baptist when she received tenure and promotion to associate professor this
spring, and we celebrated with parties when the new semester began in the fall and
when students graduated in December and May.
We believe in community and we love that so many of our students develop
long-lasting relationships with each other and with faculty that will last throughout
their lives. We really want you to keep in touch, and we want to highlight your
accomplishments in future newsletters. Please keep us up-to-date with your progress.
2012 New Doctoral Cohort 2012 New Master’s Students
College of Human Ecology

Ford finds the rewards in helping others
egan Ford is a self-proclaimed helper. She says she is
M inspired daily by the opportunity to help people and
improve their lives.
Ford, who works as a full-time professional at a University
of Georgia clinic, graduated from Kansas State University in
December 2010 with a master’s degree in family studies
and human services with an emphasis in marriage and
family therapy.
“The field of marriage and family therapy views people and
their struggles, which is consistent with my own view: People
don’t exist in isolation; they are impacted by the systems that
surround them,” Ford said. “Marriage and family is a great fit
for me, and my work with individuals, couples and families is
constantly inspiring.”
After graduating from Kansas State University, Ford accepted
a position at the University of Georgia’s ASPIRE Clinic as its
clinic coordinator. The ASPIRE Clinic is a one-of-a-kind, crossdisciplinary
training clinic that brings together professionals
from collaborative disciplines to serve the needs of clients in the
Athens, Ga., area.
“The university setting just feels like a good fit for me,” Ford said.
“The career path that I have chosen allows me the freedom to
practice therapy and to explore new ideas and ways of working.
I am fulfilling my personal career goals as a therapist and
establishing myself as a leader in an innovative, collaborative
clinical environment.”
While a student at Kansas State University, Ford earned an
assistantship with Kristy Archuleta, assistant professor of family
studies and human services and the director of the K-State
Financial Planning Clinic. Ford assisted in the design and layout
of the Financial Therapy Association’s Journal of Financial
Therapy and continues to serve as a copy editor.
Ford’s time at Kansas State University influenced her
professionally and personally, she said.
“I learned more about who I am as an individual and began
to believe more fully in my capabilities as a therapist and
professional,” Ford said. “I feel that through the program, I
developed a tenacity and a greater amount of confidence. I also
began to deal more gracefully with uncertainty and failure, and
am more open and adaptable as a result.”
As the clinic coordinator, Ford has many duties, including
designing effective and collaborative training for interns
and student service providers within the clinic, coordinating
innovative research, and developing and enforcing the clinic’s
policies and procedures. She often works with students and
other professionals.
“The thing I love most about our program at Kansas State
University is how welcoming and helpful everyone has
been. I really enjoy the feel of the classes and clinical
supervision. The feedback that is provided serves to both
advance my knowledge and skills, while also empowering
and encouraging me to follow my own intuitions. As a
result, I have been able to become a more confident and
effective therapist. And I don’t think this would have been
possible without the real sense of community and warmth I
have felt within our program.”
— Lisa Blohm
2011 Master’s Cohort
2

Olson leads behavior medicine unit in Texas
As an undergraduate student,
Michael Olson knew he wanted to
become a healer.
He majored in pre-med but soon
switched to family science. He then went
on to Kansas State University, where he
earned his Ph D. in marriage and family
therapy in 2001.
“Once I realized that I could be connected
to individuals and families in a healing
way interpersonally, I was inspired to
follow that path,” he said. “Marriage
and family therapy provides a lens and
approach for working with individuals
and family systems that is unique in the
mental health field.”
Olson is now the director of behavioral
medicine and an associate professor at
the University of Texas Medical Branch.
He designs and implements educational
curriculum, supervises students, develops
protocols for patient-centered medical
home care, conducts research, and sees
clients at the ambulatory medical clinic
and hospital.
“I enjoy working with and developing
relationships with bright students and
seeing the applications of knowledge in
a medical patient care environment,” he
said. “I love being a part of a diverse and
respectful faculty that values the skills
and knowledge I bring to the table.”
of an extramarital affair, which led to
a publication in a top-tier journal. He
started working in medical family therapy
at Mercy Regional Health Center.
After graduating from Kansas State
University, he completed a post-doctoral
fellowship in behavioral medicine at
the University of Texas Medical Branch
and was hired as an assistant professor
in family medicine there. He later took
a position in family medicine at the
University of Nebraska Medical Center
and returned to Texas after four years.
Olson said he is a proud K-Stater.
“I’m very proud to have been affiliated
with the great people and program at
K-State,” he said. “They continue to have
a national reputation for being one
of the strongest training programs in
the country.”
For future students considering the
program, he offers this advice: “Find
and work closely with a mentor that
you match up well with. Use that time
to foster and facilitate your professional
goals and ideas.”
“What I appreciate most about being
at KSU – I appreciate the caring, yet
challenging environment in the
MFT program. The individuals in this
program, both faculty and students,
stimulate growth personally,
academically and professionally.
The faculty’s passion for developing
us into proficient therapists and
researchers is evident.”
— Kaleb Beyer
Olson prepared for his professional life
while a Ph D. student at Kansas State
University.
As a student, he worked as a contractor
for the state of Kansas to provide in-home
family therapy for those most at risk, and
he conducted research on the nature
of relationships following disclosure
2010 Master’s Cohort
3

Researchers and students return to China
Back row, left to right: Rachael Rutter, Jared Anderson, Nathan Hardy, Drew Vennum, Amber Vennum,
Front row, left to right: Rachel Lindstrom, Sharon Luu, Cole Ratcliffe, Caitlin Pixler.
To build connections to MFTS in China
by Jared Anderson, Assistant Professor
I
returned to China for the sixth time
in May, accompanied by colleague
Amber Vennum and her husband, Drew,
and six graduate students: Cole Ratcliffe,
Caitlin Pixler, Rachel Lindstrom, Nathan
Hardy, Sharon Luu and Rachael Rutter.
Also tagging along was my mom, clear
evidence of our family environment at
Kansas State University! The trip was the
best yet related to our continued effort to
establish relationships with universities
and to support the development of the
field of family therapy in China.
During our trip we developed a
relationship with the oldest family
therapy program in Asia, at Hong Kong
University. The faculty at HKU recently
established the Academy of Family
Therapy as a way to link family therapists
across Asia. I gave a presentation to the
academy related to working with couples
on the brink of divorce, and their program
director, Wai-Yung Lee, did a live case
consultation as part of our crosscultural
exchange.
We again visited our colleagues at
the branch campus of Beijing Normal
University in Zhuhai. Amber gave a
presentation on trends in emerging adult
romantic relationships, and then we
provided an afternoon focused on case
consultations. The department head, Liu
Jianxin, is very interested in developing
a family therapy program in that region
starting in 2013, and we talked about
both research and clinical collaborations
that could develop as a result of our
ongoing relationship.
We lead a discussion on family therapy
at South China Normal University hosted
by our old friend Dr. Zheng Fuming and
met with students interested in our
graduate programs in family studies and
human services. We ended our trip at
Beijing Normal University-Beijing and
met with faculty Fang Xiaoyi and students
of the only established family therapy
program in mainland China. We had an
excellent exchange of ideas and potential
collaborative efforts.
4
While at BNU we met with our friend and
colleague Liu Wenli and her graduate
students to map out manuscript ideas
for the next year. In conjunction with Dr.
Liu and her students, we collected survey
data from 200 young adults and their
romantic partners — 400 individuals —
to study the factors that are associated
with young adult romantic relationship
development and success in China.
Finally, I gave a lecture on family
formation trends, young adult romantic
relationship development, and family
therapy for faculty and students at BNU.
As a result, I’m in discussions with several
students about a career in family therapy.
During our two weeks in China, we also
found time to take in the sites, from
Victoria Peak in Hong Kong, to the Sun-Yat
Sen memorial in Guangzhou, to the Great
Wall, Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven
and Tiannamen Square in Beijing. We
met a lot of great people and ate a lot
of great food!
As you can see, we had a busy and very
productive trip (and I didn’t even mention

the orphanage that we had a chance to
visit and spend a morning playing with
kids waiting to be adopted). We continue
to develop great contacts and to support
the development of family therapy in
Hong Kong and mainland China. Our
research projects are collaborative
efforts with our Chinese colleagues that
will result in research experience for
undergraduate students at Kansas State
University, as well as graduate students
at Kansas State University and Beijing
Normal University.
The six graduate students who traveled
with me were involved in all phases
of the trip — teaching, research and
networking — and they served as
excellent representatives of Kansas State
University. They were a joy to travel with!
We appreciate the continued support of
our school director, Maurice MacDonald,
and Dean Virginia Moxley in helping make
these trips possible for our students. We
hope to go back in May 2014.
Recent Grad Corner
Jennifer Vitas, M.S. lives in Peoria, Ill., and
works as a foster care therapist with the
Children’s Home Association of Illinois.
Jurdene Ingram, M.S. lives in Manhattan, Kan.,
and works as a therapeutic case manager at
TFI Family Services in Topeka, Kan.
Matt Johnson, Ph.D. lives in Edmonton, Alberta
Canada. He is an assistant professor at the
University of Alberta.
Laura Irwin, M.S. is the juvenile justice foster
care case coordinator at DCCCA Inc. in
Lawrence, Kan. She lives in Olathe, Kan.
Michelle Grozek, M.S. is a wellness guide at
Meadowlark Hills Retirement Community in
Manhattan, Kan.
List of Incoming Students
Masters:
Kaylee Andsager: Kansas State University;
Jennifer Brown: Truman State University;
Prerana Dharnidharka: Mumbai University and
Bangalore University;
Maria Sol Erdozain: Kansas State University;
Nicole Lawson: University of Oregon;
Stacy Schuster: Kansas State University; Justin
Spiehs: Washburn University;
Heidi Swanke: Mount Marty College;
Jenna Tripodi: Oklahoma State University;
Sarah Webb: Kansas State University;
Megan Stout, M.S. works for Orchard Place
as a school-based therapist working in two
elementary schools in Des Moines, Iowa.
Aaron Norton, M.S. is working toward his
doctorate at Kansas State University.
Chelsea Madsen, Ph.D. works for Wasatch
Family Therapy in Salt Lake City, Utah as a
specialized couples therapist.
Rachel Lies, M.S. lives in Manhattan, Kan.
Jeremy Boyle, Ph.D. lives in Manhattan, Kan.
and is a therapist at Pawnee Mental Health.
Cristine Glendening, M.S. lives in
Manhattan, Kan.
Elisabeth Ruby is a therapist at North Pines Mental
Health Center and lives in Long Prairie, Minn.
Jordan Hohl: Drake University;
Nicole Bird: University of Central Missouri
Ph.D.:
Bryan Cafferky: B.A. Walla Walla University/M.S.
Northern Illinois University;
Nathan Hardy: B.A. Brigham Young University/
M.S. Kansas State University;
Una Henry: B.S. Kansas State University and
M.A. at Syracuse University;
Marcie Lechtenberg: B.S. University of
Nebraska/M.S. Kansas State University;
Scott Sibley: B.S. from Brigham Young
University/ M.A. from Southern Utah University
5
“The main characteristic of the
Kansas State University MFT program
that stands out to me is the support
students receive throughout their
training. I received my master’s
degree and am currently a Ph.D.
student in the program, and I can say
that I felt supported every step of
the way ... I don’t think that happens
everywhere, and it has been
extremely helpful to me.”
— Adryanna Siqueira Drake, M.A.,
M.S., LMFT
“I would say that my favorite thing
about being in the Kansas State
University MFT program is its
supportive environment. The people
in my cohort have become my best
friends, and I cannot imagine what
I would have done this past year
without them. Even though this
program can be rigorous, I look
forward to coming to the Family
Center each day because of the
unwavering support I get from
faculty and colleagues.”
— Rachael Rutter

Spotlight on faculty
Sandra Stith
Program Director and
Professor
This has been another great
year for me. I love being
at Kansas State University and cheering on
the Wildcats at football games. I also love
being close to my son, a Ph.D. student at the
University of Colorado, and his wife and two
children; and my daughter and her husband
and their four children in Tulsa. We all got
together for a week in Colorado in June.
Professionally, I presented papers at the
International Family Therapy Conference
in Vancouver, B.C., and the International
Psychology Conference in Cape Town, South
Africa. I co-presented with students at the
American Association for Marriage and
Family Therapy conference and the National
Council on Family Relations Conference
and the International Domestic Violence
Conference sponsored by the University of
New Hampshire.
I continue to manage two large funded
military projects, one focusing on developing
a risk assessment instrument to be used to
assess domestic violence in the military, and
the second involving managing a variety of
U.S. Air Force projects including conducting
a meta-analytic review of risk factors for
domestic violence and a quality assurance
project for secondary prevention of family
maltreatment. My research passion is in the
area of treatment of couples experiencing
domestic violence. My research teams focus
on risk factors for domestic violence, dating
violence, couples treatment for domestic
violence and situational couple violence.
Amber Vennum
Assistant Professor
I can’t believe a year has gone
by! My husband and I (and
our two dogs) have settled in
nicely and are working on personalizing our
new house. We are also working on creating
a nursery for a baby boy we are expecting in
December — if everything goes according to
plan! We have been amazed at how quickly
our new city has come to feel like home.
Professionally, I had a great time developing
and teaching Clinical Theory and Practice
this past year for our master’s students and
am looking forward to teaching our Ph.D.
students advanced statistics this spring. On
the research front, several projects are up
and running. With the help of some great
student researchers, we have presented at
the International Association of Relationship
Research conference and have several papers
that are submitted for publication regarding
the impact of cyclical (on-again/off-again)
premarital relationships on later adult
cohabiting and marital relationships.
I also joined Jared Anderson and a group of
students in May on a trip to China to further
nurture our collaborations and research
projects there. I am looking forward to
expanding my research on young adult
romantic relationships to urban China.
Additionally, I was fortunate enough to
receive two grants this past spring to study
the impact of MFTs working in public schools
on family and academic functioning. We will
be developing and implementing this project
in collaboration with Manhattan High School
and an urban school district in Houston this
school year. I will also be presenting on MFTs
in schools at the annual AAMFT Conference
in Charlotte, N.C. I look forward to another
exciting year here at Kansas State!
Joyce Baptist
Associate Professor
This past year has been a
great one, having attained
tenure and promotion to
associate professor. Other achievements
include five publications in refereed journals,
three presentations at national conferences,
two grants for research on resilience in military
children, and a grant to develop an online
psychopathology class. Together with my
research team comprising faculty, graduate
and undergraduate students, we began our
work on resilience in military children
this summer.
I was pleased to teach an introduction
course on Eye Movement Desensitization
and Reprocessing to our MFT students who
are seeing an increasing number of trauma
cases. For the third year, Teri Nelson and I cofacilitated
the Supervisor Refresher Workshop
at the KAMFT. My international work this year
expanded to include training therapists at the
EMMAUS Counseling Center in Malaysia to
do couples therapy and developing a study
abroad program on the sociocultural diversity
across families in Malaysia.
New developments for this year include
serving as chair of the College of Human
Ecology’s Faculty Council, developing a
certificate in MFT through the Great Plains
Interactive Distance Education Alliance,
and welcoming the arrival of Elena Elizabeth
Baptist-Thompson on Oct 13 who weighed in
at 8lbs 3 oz.
Jared Durtschi
Assistant Professor
This first year living in
Manhattan and being a part
of Kansas State University has
been wonderful for me and my family. I have
begun to proudly wear K-State purple! We are
settling into our new home, neighborhood
and the Manhattan lifestyle. My three young
kids are staying busy in first grade, preschool,
and otherwise busy in soccer, T-ball and
gymnastics. My wife, Angela, is enjoying
teaching cake decorating classes, and I’ve
been riding the local mountain bike trails
when things aren’t too busy.
This past year I had the opportunity to teach
a statistics course to the doctoral students
in the MFT program. I taught them how to
use structural equation modeling with large
national data sets to answer their research
questions. I was very impressed with our
students’ ability to quickly grasp complex
6

— Jennifer Vitas, Megan Stout and Elisabeth
Ruby. It was a pleasure to work with each
of you! I look forward to seeing alumni and
friends this fall at AAMFT and next spring at
KAMFT. Have a great year!
Nancy O’Conner
Clinic Director
2011 Doctoral Cohort
topics, run their own models and write solid
empirical papers. They did a really nice job.
Many of their papers have been accepted to
be presented at national conferences and will
soon be ready to submit for publication.
I also had the opportunity to do quite a bit of
clinical supervision this past year. I have been
very impressed with caliber of clinicians in
our master’s and Ph.D. programs. It has been
wonderful to collaborate on research with
a number of motivated and hardworking
graduate students since arriving at Kansas
State University. We have submitted invited
book chapters and articles for publication
this first year.
I look forward to all we can do this next
year as well. I have been awarded two small
research grants to begin a study in early fall.
We will gather longitudinal, dyadic data from
military couples during pregnancy and then
at three follow-up points across the first year
of parenthood. We aim to collect extensive
data from both partners of about 150 couples.
Additionally, I am continuing to use large
national data sets to study couple process
and stability across time.
Jared Anderson
Assistant Professor
This fall I began my sixth year
at Kansas State University and
this marks the longest time
that Stacy and I have ever lived in one place
since we’ve been married. We love Manhattan,
Kansas State University and the MFT program,
so we plan on being here for many years to
come. Kate, 7, is excited to get back to school
and begin first grade, while the boys —
Logan, 4, and Cale, 3, will soon start preschool
again. We’re looking forward to cooler fall
temperatures and football!
This has been a jam-packed year full of fun
projects. I continue to team with Sandi Stith
on several exciting projects funded by the Air
Force, and this year I’m also funded through
the Kansas Department of Children and
Families to identify indicators of family wellbeing
to track both at the county level and
statewide. Other research endeavors include
a joint project with the University of Kansas
Diabetes Institute to better understand the
relationship between marital functioning,
diabetes management and metabolic control;
continued data collection on my newlywed
Army couples study; and in May we returned
from China with data on 200 young adult
dating couples.
In August I returned to China to speak at
and participate in the first Sino-American
conference on family therapy in Beijing.
Clinically, I’m working with two doctoral
students to develop a project at the K-State
Family Center, focused on working with
couples who are on the brink of divorce
and are ambiguous about the future of
their relationship.
Finally, several of my students graduated this
year, including newly minted PhD’s Jonathan
Swinton, Matt Johnson and Jeremy Boyle,
and three who obtained their master’s degree
7
So another year has gone
by. It hardly seems real that
I am marking my 23 rd year
at K-State. There are so many wonderful
experiences that keep my work fresh and
exciting. I continue to manage a contract
with the State of Kansas training homebased
family therapists. This past year the
new project in this contract was developing
an application for smart phones to monitor
self-care. It is in the production phase now and
should be ready for use this year. I am teaching
a play therapy course for master’s students,
which is tremendously fun, and I continue to
have the opportunity to supervise students’
clinical work. Quite some time ago I also
became a member of the Conflict Resolution
unit and teach the Family Mediation class.
Two years ago I was able to go to Northern
Ireland with students to study the peace and
conflict process. This past March several of us
traveled to South Africa to develop a similar
study abroad program studying the peace and
conflict process in this country. We will return
with students in May 2013 and I am looking
forward to that experience.
Personally, my husband I celebrated our 28 th
year of marriage and are still looking forward
to our honeymoon in Rome! We have a
daughter with her seven children living nearby
and a son living in Florida with his wife and
young son. I continue to feel blessed to be
part of a great family and to work with such
great colleagues and students at Kansas
State University.
For more information visit
he.k-state.edu

Fall 2012
Stay connected
We love to hear from our alumni. Contact Amanda Bender at (785) 532-6984
to keep us up to date. Send us your email address and photos for future
newsletters to ksumft@k-state.edu
Partner with the program
If you would like to support the work of the Marriage and Family Therapy
program by contributing to the Marriage and Family Therapy Excellence Fund,
please contact Jennifer Rettele-Thomas, director of development,
at 800-432-1578 or jenniferr@found.k-state.edu.
Kansas State University
Family Center
139 Campus Creek Complex
Campus Creek Road
Manhattan, KS 66506
(785) 532-6984
family@k-state..edu
www.he.k-state.edu/familycenter
www.he.k-state.edu
MFT Program Faculty
Sandi Stith
Professor/ Program
Director
(785) 532-4377
sstith@k-state.edu
Nancy O'Conner
Clinic Director
(785) 532-2220
noconner@k-state.edu
Jared Anderson
Assistant Professor
(785) 532-4198
jra@k-state.edu
Joyce Baptist
Associate Professor
(785) 532-6891
jbaptist@k-state.edu
Jared Durtschi
Assistant Professor
(785) 532-1488
jadmft@k-state.edu
Amber Vennum
Assistant Professor
(785) 532-1489
avennum@k-state.edu
We are saying goodbye to a research faculty member this year, C.R. Macchi. After
completing his doctorate degree in 2006, C.R. began working with the home-based
family therapy training contract through the state of Kansas. In addition to leading this
effort, C.R. also taught in the MFT program and the School of FSHS as well as provided
supervision for our students. After nine years at K-State, C.R. has taken a faculty position
in the doctor of behavioral health program at Arizona State University. As part of his
responsibilities, C.R. is teaching courses on ethics and clinical theories and will serve as
the internship coordinator overseeing student placements. The students are required to
complete a 400-hour internship working on integrated health care teams as behavioral
health providers in primary care, clinics and hospitals. Scottsdale is where he and his
wife, Marti, were planning to retire and this position is such a great fit for his interests.
We wish C.R. and his family well and look forward to seeing him at conferences and
visits back to Kansas. C.R.’s email is crmacchi@asu.edu if you would like to contact him.
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Responsibility for coordination of compliance
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and the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, has
been delegated to Clyde Howard, Director of
Affirmative Action, Kansas State University, 214
Anderson Hall, Manhattan, KS 66506–0124, (Phone)
785-532-6220; (TTY) 785-532-4807.
College of Human Ecology