President's Column: July/August 2010
Terryann Sanders, M.S., MFT
We recently released a membership survey to get your ideas on how we might better serve you. We had approximately a 30% response from our members! I would like to thank all of you who took the time to respond and let us know your thoughts.
Here are some highlights from the survey:
87.3% of responders are licensed and 83.6% are in private practice
85.1% of responders joined the chapter for information and training, 70.2% for networking opportunities, 70.2% to support the profession, and 53.4% for the chapter newsletter.
In response to what topics you would like to see ad- dressed in the future you ranked the topics as follows:
- Private practice issues – 60.8%
- Couples therapy – 58.2%
- Neurobiology – 54.5%
- Trauma – 43.7%
- Marketing – 39.9%
- Family Therapy –37.3%
- Addictions – 28.5%
- Self care – 25.3%
- Childhood behavior problems – 23.4%
- HIPAA – 21.5%
- Eating disorders – 20.9%
- Technology – 13.9%
92% of responders said they read the newsletter on a regular basis, 82.2% said they are somewhat willing, to very willing, to receive an electronic version in lieu of the printed copy, and 17.8% said they were not very, or not willing at all, to get an electronic version only.
55% of responders said they currently attend luncheons, and 80% had attended workshops in the past.
56% of responders said they could attend SCV- CAMFT events on Fridays, 22% on Saturdays, and less than 10% would be able to attend on other days.
81% responded that they use the SCV-CAMFT website.
Clearly, these results tell us that what’s most important to you are opportunities for educational training and information, and ways to network with your colleagues. While many of you attend luncheons (55% of responders), I would like to see this number higher. Look for some changes in the luncheon program in the future, in an effort to improve attendance and its benefit to members. A recent change has been the move of venue in the Chapter’s north region to the Marriott San Mateo. At the time of this writing, we have not yet attended our May scheduled luncheon there; however, my hope is that this new venue will attract more members.
I am excited to know that 80% of responders have attended our workshops in the past, and 81% use our website! We will continue to offer workshops, and hope to have some exciting offerings based on the topics you have reported as the most meaningful to you.
As you may know, we have recently contracted with Michael Jaret, our new webmaster, who is working hard to improve our current website, based on responder’s valuable suggestions. By the time of this reading, my hope is that most of the bugs have been worked out and we have been able to make valuable improvements.
The good news is that it appears, most of you find value in our current offerings including the newsletter, workshops, the website and luncheons. Now it is the challenge of the board of directors to put some things in place that will make your membership even more valuable to you. In an effort to do this, your board will be holding a strategic planning meeting in July to align our current goals with the needs and desires of our chapter members.
In the May/June 2010 newsletter, I talked about wanting to further our culture of connection. To that end, we have created a new committee devoted solely to reviewing our current offerings, seeing what we are doing well and what we might offer to entice members to spend more time with their colleagues in chapter activities. Pam Milliken, Chair of this committee, along with committee members Carol Marks and Tracy Guglietti, are using the survey results to direct their energies. They are talking with chapter members and members of other regional chapters to determine what would make SCV-CAMFT members feel even more connected and included. Some ideas they are exploring include new member teas, special interest groups, such as hiking, professional book clubs, and movie nights, additional professional trainings, community volunteer opportunities, and more. If you have ideas that you would like the committee to consider, please contact any of the committee members.
Once again I invite you to email me at any time to let me know your thoughts.
