Today’s blog is personal.

Recently I had an issue with a client’s insurance, and I requested the assistance of the Connecticut Attorney General’s Office. After the review was completed, I received an email from Tom (a rep in the AG’s office) stating they were going to take my case and he would be in touch. Weeks later I received a notice from Tom, along with a letter from the insurance company stating the issue had been resolved in my favor – well, really my client’s favor.

It was at this point I realized Tom’s name looked very familiar to me. I called to thank him for his assistance and inquired if he had been with the Attorney General’s Office in July of 1999 — his reply was yes! I told him this was the second time he had assisted me.

In 1999, my son, David, was scheduled to have experimental open-heart surgery at Michigan Children’s Hospital. Three days before we were scheduled to fly to Michigan, our insurance company informed us they had found an “in-network doctor” in Boston who thought he could do the procedure, and they would not cover the surgery in Michigan. Frantic, I took to the Blue Pages of the phone book and called the Attorney General’s Office. We were assigned to Tom. He was very kind to me back then, the issue was resolved and within 24 hours, we were off to Michigan. He remembered my story and was happy to find my son doing well, married with a son of his own. I was able to thank him again!

It is strange how things come full circle. I went into this field because of my experience as a mother of a child with a life-threatening illness. In 1999, there were no therapeutic services for our family after we were discharged from the hospital. In my early years as a young family therapist, I tried to bring this service to families but was unable to get a program up and running, so I gave up. Although, in my practice at THE FAMILY THERAPY CENTER LLC,  I always have one or two families with this issue, and I also follow a few families on social media and find this venue to be very therapeutic for them.

Recently, a local pediatric office became very interested in the TFTCC and wants to collaborate with us. As luck would have it, the Director for The University of Saint Joseph’s Marriage & Family Therapy program is launching a Medical Family Therapy component to the program, and I happen to have two interns from this program. I’m not sure where this is all going as we are just in the “talking phase” of this project; however, it seems that now, 20 years later and at the end phase of my career, things are coming full circle!