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Merrilee Esther Stucke was a long time member of the SCV-CAMFT chapter and she will be greatly missed. She was a musical child and studied at San Francisco State College (now University), and became a professional singer at Calvary Presbyterian Church. She also worked as a secretary and then as an analyst for the Civil Service Commission of the City of San Francisco. She married Tom Nolan and moved to San Jose, making her living as a piano teacher. After Tom died, she met and married Warren Gibson in 1984 and they lived in a house he built in Belmont until her death in 2021.

After the tragic loss of her mother in 1993, Merrilee was inspired to begin a career as a psychotherapist.  She earned an MA degree in counseling psychology from the College of Notre Dame in Belmont.  She added a Psy.D. degree from Ryokan College in 2011 and in recent years had contracted with San Mateo County to provide therapy services.  In the months leading up to her death, she held sessions entirely online, continuing until just one week before her death.

Merrilee fought a number of illnesses with aplomb. She passed away peacefully in her sleep, at home.  Merrilee is survived by her husband Warren Gibson, her brother John Stucke of Pacheco, two nieces and one nephew.

No services are planned.  You may contribute to your favorite charity in her memory.

Merrilee Nolan Gibson, LMFT, Psy.D.
April 18, 1941 – January 23, 2021

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by Cathy Haur, LMFT

Cathy Hauer, LMFT, has been in private practice since 1990. She served on the SCV Board 20 years ago, and then was a part of the Committee on Therapist Well-Being for several years after that, editing the Committee's newsletter column.  Cathy is currently a Board member of CoastPride, an organization she helped found for the LGBTQ Community on the Coast of San Mateo County.  Although she continues to work part time with clients, she recently closed down her office suite, inspiring this creative piece, and acknowledges how familiar this unexpected change has become for so many therapists.

Not just the four walls                     
Not just the rooms                            The trees, the sky

The sense of place                  
The sense of home                            The heart, the soul

……. 

Letting go of this,
My professional oasis                        Honor the serenity

The world I built,
To heal and to hold

Precious lives,
Precarious psyches                            Release the need for permanence            

Lives were touched
Insights gained

Pain expunged
Love renewed                                    Remember all the good

Fold it up
Like an origami dream

Tuck it tightly

Into my broken heart                         This will be enough

By Cathy Hauer, October 2020

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Stephanie Iles, LMFT

I graduated from Western Seminary in 2018.  I will continue to work at Counseling Dynamics in South San Jose.  It is a small private practice and I am still accepting new clients.  I meet in person with clients of all ages, but specialize in working with teens and young adults. I work with both individuals and families.  I have worked a lot with anger, grief, anxiety and OCD.  Some areas of my personal life that influence my practice are I successfully homeschooled my kids, I've been married 26 years, and I mentored teens at my church for 12 years before getting my degree. Our website is counselingdynamics.com

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Moitreyee Chowdhury, LMFT

Hello Friends, I have enjoyed being part of this wonderful community of therapists in our community for a while. I have been working as a therapist in the intensive outpatient program for children and youth at Gardner Health Services. I recently moved to a new position as a supervisor for the Cal WORKS program. Soon I will be joining Jim Arjani, LMFT at https://www.mtnviewtherapy.com/. My therapeutic belief is grounded in helping my client find their self-determination and their underlying strengths. I am interested in integrating in my practice the intersection of the cultural and familial dynamics, the stories of immigration, grief, loss, and self-worth, with a trauma-centered lens. I use TF-CBT, CBT, feminist theories, strength-based therapy, and family systems work. I provide services in additional languages of Bengali and Hindi. 

Kevin Cornelius, LMFT

I’m in private practice at The Feeling Good Institute, currently doing all sessions with online video sessions. I work with teens and adults on healing from Depression, Anxiety, Relationship Problems and Habits/Addictions. I’m a Level 3 Certified TEAM-CBT Therapist. My website is www.Tools4Change.me. I can be reached at kevin@feelinggoodinstitute.com and 650-206-9049. Thank you!

Liliana Ramos, LMFT

I am proud to join this amazing group of licensed healers. I am a bilingual (Spanish and English) marriage and family therapist, who is an immigrant and a military veteran. During the past three years, I have worked at school-based, community health, and private clinic settings. Today, I offer an integrated therapy to adults, children, couples, and families, who are experiencing trauma, grief, acculturation challenges, anxiety, depression, and other mental health needs. As part of the therapy, I explore with clients their emotional, physical, and spiritual parts through a culturally-sensitive lens. I continue to train in trauma treatment, sensorimotor psychotherapy, psychodynamic therapy, military psychology, and play therapy. In the future, I hope to train in immigration evaluation. If you would like to connect, I can be reached at llramosmft@gmail.com.

Claire V. Thomas, MA, LMFT

I opened my practice, Claire Thomas Psychotherapy, in Los Altos in July 2020. I enjoy working with children, teens, and adults with a focus on healing from losses of all kinds and trauma. I am a strength-based therapist. I believe that each one of us has the potential to change, heal, and grow, no matter what we have endured. I take a collaborative and nurturing approach to help people reconnect with their innate resilience, develop new coping skills and find more meaning and joy in their lives. I am currently offering both teletherapy and in-person services. I can be reached at clairethomastherapy@gmail.com. 

back to the Winter 2020 Newsletter

back to the Winter 2020 Newsletter

On Saturday, November 14, 2020, Carol Hadlock died peacefully holding her daughter’s hand. Carol was a founder of Process Therapy Institute along with her husband Don Hadlock who passed earlier this year in January. She was a major influence on the San Francisco Bay Area therapy world and ran Process Therapy Institute (PTI) for over 30 years. Carol and Don were groundbreakers in their approach to therapy. She brought an ability to be whatever the client needed at any moment that was charming and so simple in appearance, and yet brilliant when you witnessed the depth of her vision.  

Carol’s approach benefitted clients and other therapists alike in that she fundamentally changed their view of their world and relationships in them. Hundreds of clients and therapists are forever touched and changed because of Carol’s vision of healing.  

The Board at Process Therapy wants to acknowledge that we lost not only an integral part of PTI, but a giant in her own right in the therapy world. Carol and Don both shunned the limelight, but rather worked on creating their own army of Process Oriented therapists and in that they both succeeded. We wish to extend our condolences to their daughter Danyle, son-in-law Peter Johansson, as well as her son David and her three grandchildren, AnaLisse, David, and Linnae.

Memorial Ceremony to be named at a later time.

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by Rowena Dodson, Director at Large

We have the pleasure of honoring two long-time board members who will be departing (mostly) at the end of this year. Debra Rojas began serving on the board in 2010 and Nancy Andersen has been serving since 2013. Nancy will be ending her current term as board secretary this month, although she has agreed to stay on until a new secretary is seated. Debra, who has most recently served as CFO, will continue on for now to serve as historian. This will be tremendously helpful to the current and incoming board, made up mostly of newer members and recently licensed therapists. Both Debra and Nancy have been mentors to me in my first year on the board. Their knowledge and experience after such long service is deep and wide. And they are both very generous in offering their counsel on matters relating to the chapter.

We asked both of them to share some thoughts and memories of their time on the board, which they have graciously done.  See below to hear each of them in their own words.

We as a chapter want to express our deep appreciation for their stewardship and careful leadership during this past decade. Many many thanks.

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

back to the Winter 2020 Newsletter

Jia Rebecca Li, LMFT, MA, JD, feels honored for the opportunity to support the important causes for which SCV-CAMFT stands and advocates, and to be more involved with the Bay Area therapist community. She believes that the professional resources and networking opportunities made available by the SCV Chapter are invaluable and would love to help more local therapists benefit from them. In her private practice, Rebecca specializes in grief work (having trained at Kara), couples therapy (Gottman level-II, Couples Institute), and culturally informed psychotherapy with Asian clients. Her clinical work is also informed by her significant prior experiences working in the competitive settings of large law firms, an international investment bank, and multiple startups in the U.S. and Asia, which have helped her appreciate the demand and complexity of the work/life dynamics facing her clients. Additionally, as a bilingual therapist (English and Mandarin), she hopes to find more ways to support minority therapists and generally enhance cultural competence in our work. Rebecca holds degrees in psychology (B.S., Beijing University, China; M.A., The University of Chicago), counseling (M.A., Palo Alto University) and law (J.D., The University of Chicago Law School). She enjoys reading, morning walks, contemplative and mindfulness practices, and volunteering in the community.

back to the Winter 2020 Newsletter

Back to the Winter 2020 Newsletter
Claire V. Thomas, MA, LMFT

I opened my practice, Claire Thomas Psychotherapy, in Los Altos in July 2020. I enjoy working with children, teens, and adults with a focus on healing from losses of all kinds and trauma. I am a strength-based therapist. I believe that each one of us has the potential to change, heal, and grow, no matter what we have endured. I take a collaborative and nurturing approach to help people reconnect with their innate resilience, develop new coping skills and find more meaning and joy in their lives. I am currently offering both teletherapy and in-person services. I can be reached at clairethomastherapy@gmail.com. 

Moitreyee Chowdhury, LMFT

Hello Friends, I have enjoyed being part of this wonderful community of therapists in our community for a while. I have been working as a therapist in the intensive outpatient program for children and youth at Gardner Health Services. I recently moved to a new position as a supervisor for the Cal WORKS program. Soon I will be joining Jim Arjani, LMFT at https://www.mtnviewtherapy.com/. My therapeutic belief is grounded in helping my client find their self-determination and their underlying strengths. I am interested in integrating in my practice the intersection of the cultural and familial dynamics, the stories of immigration, grief, loss, and self-worth, with a trauma-centered lens. I use TF-CBT, CBT, feminist theories, strength-based therapy, and family systems work. I provide services in additional languages of Bengali and Hindi. 

Kevin Cornelius, LMFT

I’m in private practice at The Feeling Good Institute, currently doing all sessions with online video sessions. I work with teens and adults on healing from Depression, Anxiety, Relationship Problems and Habits/Addictions. I’m a Level 3 Certified TEAM-CBT Therapist. My website is www.Tools4Change.me. I can be reached at kevin@feelinggoodinstitute.com and 650-206-9049. Thank you!

Liliana Ramos, LMFT

I am proud to join this amazing group of licensed healers. I am a bilingual (Spanish and English) marriage and family therapist, who is an immigrant and a military veteran. During the past three years, I have worked at school-based, community health, and private clinic settings. Today, I offer an integrated therapy to adults, children, couples, and families, who are experiencing trauma, grief, acculturation challenges, anxiety, depression, and other mental health needs. As part of the therapy, I explore with clients their emotional, physical, and spiritual parts through a culturally-sensitive lens. I continue to train in trauma treatment, sensorimotor psychotherapy, psychodynamic therapy, military psychology, and play therapy. In the future, I hope to train in immigration evaluation. If you would like to connect, I can be reached at llramosmft@gmail.com.

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Natalie Shahar, LMFT

I am grateful and excited to join this wonderful community of licensed therapists. On my path to licensure I have worked in school-base settings and private practice with a variety of populations. In my private practice I work with adults, adolescents, and couples on relationship issues, parenting, and other life challenges such as anxiety and depression. I work with women coping with perinatal anxiety and depression, challenges related to motherhood and life transitions, among other issues. Please consider referring adult and teenage clients who may need support around those areas. I invite you to check out my website https://www.natalieshahar.com/

Peter Cellarius, LMFT

Hi there!  Peter here, so proud and glad to be joining this tribe of healers.  Thank you for taking a few moments to read about me.  I do a lot of work with couples; I have EFT Beyond Core Skills training and see a dozen couples a week.  I am also completing my third year of Somatic Experiencing training which I use in trauma work; as well as ACT (Advanced) training which I love.  Oh, and also – EMDR – I am struck each time how powerful it is with clients – and Intensive Fundamentals in Ericksonian Hypnosis.  Phew! I so look forward to meeting and connecting with many of you.  BTW I am also on the CAMFT State Board, so if I can ever help, just reach out. Please visit my website https://yourgrowthcounseling.com/about/.

back to Fall 2020 Newsletter

back to Fall 2020 Newsletter
Recognizing Mary VanRiper, LMFT!

We want to recognize board member Mary Van Riper, Director of Special Events, for her hard work in bringing the chapter together after COVID hit. Mary brought her research skills to the board and created the survey that we sent out in April. The board received a terrific response to the survey with one quarter of our membership returning responses. Mary and Nancy Orr spent countless hours analyzing the results and following up with members about concerns they had expressed in the survey, COVID-related challenges they were experiencing, and ways that they would be willing to help fellow members. The results were published in the June issue of the newsletter. Mary then went on to help create the monthly social gathering that we have enjoyed in July and August and which we plan to continue. Thank you, Mary!