by Debra D. Rojas, LMFT

It was in the newly-licensed group that it happened …. An SCV-CAMFT board member came to the group and announced the chapter was looking for new board members.

I perked up when she said how being a board member helped her build her practice. Isn’t that what every newly-licensed therapist would like to hear? I took the leap and applied for the Secretary position and my tenure began in 2010.

I served as board secretary for 4 years and in subsequent years I served as president-elect, president, past president and most recently chief financial officer. Additionally I was on the Sponsorship Committee with Elizabeth Basile and led by Nancy Andersen.

CAMFT annually hosts a Chapter Leadership Conference (CLC), where board members gather and receive training through a number of workshops on topics such as marketing, financial issues, fundraising, technology and more. I loved attending the CLC because it afforded me the opportunity to meet and collaborate with my counterparts from other chapters throughout California.

At the CLC, awards are given for the Chapter of the Year, and each chapter nominates one of their members for the Chapter Leadership Award. I was honored to receive the award from our chapter. Serving in a leadership role enabled me to become more acquainted with state CAMFT, and I was asked to travel with CAMFT to Washington DC and lobby our legislators, to approve legislation enabling therapists to accept Medicare and for the VA to allow LMFTs to work with their veterans. We thought the Medicare legislation would be approved first, but shortly after returning from Washington I read in The Therapist that they passed legislation enabling LMFTs to work for the VA.

The opportunity was a very rich experience. Although one day, while I was somewhere inside the capitol meeting with Representative Pelosi’s staff, we heard over the PA system that there was a shooter in the building and employees were to shelter in place. Great! What are we supposed to do? I was scared—thinking I had no way to escape, I didn’t know where the shooter was, how long it would last, and a ton of other thoughts that raced through my mind in a nanosecond.

Once the shooter was arrested, we were able to relax. But I must say, there is never a dull moment when you travel with state CAMFT!

Board service was a very rewarding experience for me. I was able to utilize my skills from my prior career for the benefit of the chapter, and I made wonderful friends along the way. Although I would like to tell you that serving on the board did build my practice, the truth is, it built me. I became more comfortable and confident as a therapist and as part of the larger professional organization.

I hope more of you will throw your hat into the ring and volunteer for the board of directors at some point in your career. If you’re interested, you can contact our chapter coordinator, Nancy Orr, or our president, Jacqui Gerritsen.

by Nancy Andersen, LMFT

At some point during my board service, I lost track of when it all began.  A quick look at old newsletters on our chapter website revealed that I joined the board as director of business development in 2013, just months after earning my license.

Like many others, I agreed to try board leadership as a way to get to know other therapists. I was flattered to be recruited and excited to serve with more experienced colleagues. My job was to develop a sponsorship program to fund chapter activities. The idea was to create a way for companies who wanted to talk to our membership to pay for this privilege. I struggled to move forward with this task until I turned to two other board members who were interested in the project and agreed to join me.  

With Debra Rojas and Elizabeth Basile on board, we began to meet regularly, creating policy, dealing with resistance and making progress. We got to know and trust each other. I can’t recall now how much money we generated through these efforts, but I remember that working together is what made our limited success possible. Two years later, it was time to find a new task.

Eagerly I moved into the ethics seat on the board. This was an easy job after the first – mainly lining up Michaels and CAMFT’s Dave Jensen for the annual law and ethics presentation—and attending board meetings. I am wrapping up my final year of service as secretary, joining the executive committee and taking minutes.

Perhaps the best part of serving in any capacity on the board is the opportunity to participate freely in everything that comes before us as chapter leaders. We get to weigh in, consider and ultimately make decisions that determine what services, programs, topics and benefits the chapter will provide to members and the manner in which these will be provided. We get to decide how our chapter deals with CAMFT leadership and policies.

What a way to make our chapter relevant to yourself and others!  

As I end my time, I want to express my appreciation to the colleagues who served alongside me—working with each of you is what makes this so rewarding.

And to any of you who want to influence and guide our chapter through the next two years, I invite you to begin your own journey of SCV-CAMFT board service.

back to the Winter 2020 Newsletter