President's Message

back to June 2024 newsletter
Welcome to the June newsletter! June is a month of celebrations – graduations, the end-of-school year, weddings, Father’s Day and many more. We hope that also celebrate Pride Month and Juneteenth. 

In June, we also celebrate Pride Month and Juneteenth! In this month’s newsletter, we have written an extra article to ensure that we honor both important holidays. They both celebrate members of our society who have experienced a long history of inequality. For your reading pleasure and education, we have interesting articles about the LGBTQIA+ community and Pride month. I also want to acknowledge that June is Alzheimer’s Awareness month and Men’s Mental Health Awareness month. In addition World Refugee Day was on June 20^th. Plus, World Refugee Day was on June 20^th.

As we work towards inclusivity, we have been updating the website. You should have received an email that describes the steps we’ve taken in the profiles so that we can better understand who our members are in order to better serve you. We also changed the cultural focus area so that it could become a searchable field. This will allow potential to search for therapists who share a similar cultural background or area of focus. The Board’s desire is for everyone to feel a part of our chapter and to help future clients find a therapist (you) who they feel comfortable with. Thanks to Vidur Malik, Kusum Punjabi, and Nancy Orr for their help in making this happen.

Along with the idea of inclusivity, our poetess, Edna Wallace, wrote a poem about retirement that might resonate with both younger and older adults.

As we enter the summer months, we wish you the best. We hope you and your family and friends stay safe and enjoy time together. Please don’t forget to join your colleagues at events, coffee talk, and the cinema therapy club. You can also find us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook. We look forward to seeing you in person or online.

back to May newsletter
Hello! Welcome to May’s Newsletter! We want to say THANK YOU for being a member of CAMFT and SCV-CAMFT!

The month of May has many holidays. We had Mother’s Day on May 10th for our LatinX members and May 12 for the rest of our members. We had Cinco de Mayo on May 5th, International Day of Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia on May 17th, Vesak Buddha Day on May 23rd, and Memorial Day on May 27th. It is also Asian American Month, the Month of the Child, and Military Appreciation Month. In June, we have Father’s Day coming up. We honor all our members who celebrate any of these events. Our chapter honors all cultures.

We have some sad news. Our Black Therapist and Associate Support Group facilitator, Erika Jenkins, has to stop facilitating the group due to other obligations. We are going to miss Erika. She proposed this group to the board in 2022, and it’s been a wonderful group for Black therapists. We are so grateful to Erika for her contribution to our chapter and members.

You will also see changes on our website when you renew your membership. We have additional choices under gender for our non-binary and trans members. We also added ethnicity. These two areas will not show in your public profile. We are asking for this information so that we can better serve you as members. You can add this information to your profile now. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me via email or phone.

One important note to remember when you renew your SCV-CAMFT membership, the CAMFT bylaws require us to be members of CAMFT for our chapter membership to be valid. Please email us if you have any questions at mail@scv-camft.org.

In this newsletter, you will find the interview titled, “Kids are Superheroes” between our Director-at-Large, Vidur Malik, with Siobhan Cassidy, a child therapist and SCV-CAMFT member who shared her experience and practice with us. You will also find the work of our Director of DEI, Kusum Punjabi, who wrote an article regarding the role of family in the lives of Asian Americans.  She is also responsible for the Cinema Therapy Club.

This month our new Director of Membership, Rachel Costella, held the first Coffee Talk in San Jose. It was a very good one with 11 of us coming together. It was wonderful to see familiar and new faces. We hope to have more coffee talk events at different locations in the Bay Area.

Please check our website to see upcoming events. We have the CAMFT Law and Ethics class on June 5th for 3 CEs. There will be other CAMFT classes in September, October, and November. October, we’ll have Dave Jensen present an in-person, 6 hour law and ethics event. We also have the second part of mother’s series from Jessica Sorci and Rebecca Geshuri, Intimacy with Grief and Shame. Our Director of Programs, Marté Matthews, has lined up some great programs that focus on sex therapy techniques, Brainspotting, and South Asian Mother-In-Law relationship as well as several more topics.

We hope you have a wonderful month. We hope to see you soon at one of our events whether online or in-person.

Liliana Ramos,
SCV-CAMFT President

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back to March 2024 newsletter

Dear Colleagues,

Happy Spring! Spring is a refreshing time of year as we begin to see more sunshine, blossoming flowers, and cherry blossoms. In fact, there are many holidays around this time of year; Ramadan, Spring Equinox, Navroz, Holi, Easter, and Passover. It’s a time to celebrate new beginnings. Whichever holiday you celebrate, we wish you many blessings. 

It might be an opportunity for you to try something new like joining one of our new support groups. Have you thought about attending our new cinema therapy club? The next one will be held on March 23rd at 5 pm. It’s going to be a potluck. The theme is on women. You might also try something new by joining the board. We are still looking for the Director of Technology and Communications. There are many more opportunities to contribute to our chapter as board member, committee member, and volunteer. If you want to make a difference, just contact any of the board members.

March is also a month to celebrate women and their accomplishments. When we talk about gender equality and the many issues that women are fighting for, we can also look at the many accomplishments that women have made and continue to make for the good of our world and communities. We as therapist make a difference in people’s lives. To see the accomplishments that women have made in the field of psychology, please read the DEI column.

Something that you’ll see later on this month is a social media post on 3/31/24 on International Trans Visibility Day. It is a day that celebrates the joy, strength, and courage of individuals who identify as Trans or nonbinary. This community deserves to be recognized. They place their lives on the line just to be their true selves. We can stand next to them in support of their journey. 

We hope you enjoy this month’s newsletter with an interview with a fellow therapist, Jeremiah Knight. Also, enjoy a special poem from Edna Wallace, our local chapter poetess, who has been writing a poem for our newsletter for the past three years. The newsletter also lists upcoming events and support groups.

So, no matter what manner you celebrate Women’s month, Spring, and new beginnings, may you find joy and gratitude in your everyday life.

Liliana Ramos,
SCV-CAMFT President

Back to Winter 2023 Newsletter
by Dominique Yarritu, PhD, LMFT

Dear Colleagues,

Today I am writing my last message to you as president of the chapter. It has been quite an adventure, starting with collaborating on the newsletter in 2020 at the heart of covid, moving to chair of the editorial committee, and to the board as president-elect in 2021. My impetus to participate in the newsletter was to write about various topics through the lens of depth psychology and to get published as I was working on my doctoral dissertation. However, I quickly discovered that the juice was to be found in meeting you and share with the membership what I found so inspiring about you, your work/craft, and your approach to therapy. I have thoroughly enjoyed the various positions I have held on the board: it was very exciting to connect with some of you, entice a few members to join me on the board, find new speakers, revamp many areas of our chapter, and finally move it through covid and its aftermath. I have tried my hardest to lead with soul in mind, followed Psyche's vagaries, and hope to have succeeded.

I would not have been able to implement all the new features of our chapter without the members of the board over the past three years (here) and want to thank them wholeheartedly for all their contributions. It would take too long to list all of their accomplishments, but as we transition into 2024, I leave you all with yet another great team. Liliana Ramos, LMFT will be interim president while Ursula Jorgensen will be the president elect. We are welcoming Marté Matthews, LMFT as the director of programs, Kusum Punjabi, AMFT as the director of DEI, and Amanda Cortez, LMFT as the treasurer. Three other board members are completing their terms at the end of the year: Moitreyee Chowdhury, LMFT, Evelyn Lomio, LMFT and Mikella Polito, AMFT.

The board is still looking for a secretary, a director of support groups, a director of membership, and a director of technology and communications.

There will be many new programs and features coming your way in 2024; stay tuned to our website or through our social media feed on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. This is another big transition for the chapter and a new beginning. So, as I turn the page and move to a new chapter of my own, I would like to say goodbye to you all by sharing a few verses of my favorite poet, poetic writer, and philosopher John O’ Donohue from his piece titled
For a new beginning:

Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.

Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life’s desire.

Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.

Have a wonderful holiday and a restful break.

Back to Winter 2023 Newsletter

Back to Fall 2023 Newsletter
by Dominique Yarritu, PhD, LMFT

Dear Colleagues,

I hope you had a nice, relaxing, safe, and cool summer. Depending on where you were, it might not have been so cool (it was exceptionally sizzling in Europe where I spent a few weeks in June-July), not too safe either (riots in Paris, and other weather-related disasters around the world). However, in these challenging and extreme situations, it is heartwarming to see how so many people step up and offer support to those with various needs. In particular, I want to recognize those of you who reached out to us to find legal ways to provide psychological support to individuals terribly affected by the fires in Maui.

For those of you who may not have read our summer newsletter, we are looking for members or non-members to join our chapter and be willing to take on board positions. We, myself and our board members, held a townhall meeting in mid-June: I highlighted HERE the positions to be filled now and starting at the beginning of 2024. I hope you will consider offering some of your free time to this Chapter and decide to be part of a dynamic team of dedicated board members.

You may notice that we are becoming more present on our social media. We have hired a social media campaign/marketing specialist to help us create a greater presence on two main platforms: Instagram and Facebook. We will continue to increase our presence to LinkedIn and provide you, members, and also potential new members, with more dynamic and current information about what we are up to. We hope that you will find it all interesting and stimulating. Stay tuned to see the changes!

I wish you a beautiful autumn. Stay safe.

Dominique

Back to Fall 2023 Newsletter

Back to Summer 2023 Newsletter 
by Dominique Yarritu, PhD, LMFT

Dear Colleagues,

On Monday 12 June at 7pm, your chapter board members and myself held a virtual town hall meeting. In the two weeks prior to this event, we sent email blasts calling your attention to the fact that we are looking for you, members and non-members, to participate in this ongoing conversation regarding our need for volunteers and to urge you to pass on the message to those who may be interested in volunteering their time and expertise. Not only for events and other punctual missions, but also to replace board members whose term is ending in the last quarter of this year. Here are some bullet points of what I shared during that meeting.

• We have three open positions at the moment, president-elect, director of programs and director of technology and communications,
• Between October and December 2023, five more board members will step down from their position (see the list here),
• In April 2024, the director-at-large position will be open as well,
• Remaining on the board will be the treasurer and the director of support groups.
• For those of you who have been following us in the last 2.5 years, you may know that when I joined the board, first as president-elect and then as a president, part of my vision for the chapter was to build a board that would do its best to energize the chapter, organize and strengthen various processes to leave a place that would be easy to take over. I was very lucky to meet some fantastic colleagues who shared that vision and joined me in this adventure. During that time we have done quite a lot of work. (If you are interested in knowing what we did, you can access a PowerPoint HERE).
• The fundamental piece of our vision was to ensure that board members (and committee volunteers) would not stay longer than their one term: 2 years. It seems only fair to volunteer our free time to this and any other organization for the time one has contracted for and not stay for the simple reason that nobody else is coming forward to take the baton. A new board could decide to shorten the terms if necessary by updating the by-laws and making sure that their position would be filled at the end of their term.
• Although we have made many efforts to find volunteers over the years through coffee talks and other events and yet, we are still in dire need of some of you to take the lead.

Our chapter is in a good financial position, our program schedule is on its way to be confirmed for 2024, we have great speakers willing to talk for us, and the new board will have much of the processes already set up in place to come in and start work with few glitches. There will be punctual support from past members when necessary and very possibly from State CAMFT.

As a board director, you do not need to do the work on your own: enroll your friends, colleagues, and maybe even students/supervisees, who can support you and have them be part of a committee. This is a teamwork endeavor: the more the merrier and the more people to share the work, the less is left on the shoulders of one volunteer.

We are doing well and yet, the life of the chapter is at risk if we cannot find new board members. I have myself loved this adventure, getting to know many of you, seeing a different aspect of the field of mental health, and working with my boardmates over the last couple of years, but I will step down from my position of president at the end of 2023. I hope one of you will be willing to take up my or any other role at the board.

Wherever you are when you read this newsletter, I wish you a very happy summer. I hope you will find time to rejuvenate, build memories with family and friends, and enjoy some free time.

Best wishes from a sweltering Paris .

Dominique

Back to Summer 2023 Newsletter

by Dominique Yarritu, PhD, LMFT
Back to Spring 2023 Newsletter

Greetings!

I start this message to you by making amends: throughout the past year, our board has welcomed a new members and it was brought to my attention that I did not welcome them officially in any of the 2022 newsletters. It is high time to change this and I want to apologize for such an oversight. Early in 2022, Moitreyee Chowdhury, LMFT, joined as the director of DEI and as you may see on our home page, she was instrumental in our chapter being recognized as a second best cultural awareness program. Liliana Ramos, LMFT, became our director-at-large; Liliana took on many volunteering opportunities, has been very active with our newsletter articles, and of great help at in-person events. Ursula Jorgensen, LMFT, mentor-at-heart, came aboard as our director of support groups in late spring 2022, and has also taken on various volunteering activities, one being the revamping of our mentoring program. You may remember that we had been looking for a treasurer for a while and we were grateful to have Mikella Polito, AMFT, accept to join us to fill this open position in the fall. Mikella brings to our chapter her past experience in real estate and her dealings with that business financial requirements. Finally, I am delighted to introduce our new president-elect: Janice Hoscan, AMFT, who joined early this year, has since been shadowing me and taking on various tasks as she is learning the intricacies of her position. We are now looking for someone to join us to fill the position of director of programs, which has opened up early this year. You can see everyone’s bios here. Last thing about volunteering: I want to personally thank all of you who have responded to our call for help. We are all grateful to have a growing list of members willing to participate in our events and be of service. However, we still continue to need help for various aspects of this business of running an association. You can reach out to any of us at the board if you are interested in volunteering in a particular area or you can reach Nancy Orr, our chapter coordinator, if you are open to helping where the urgent need is.

As you may see at the end of this newsletter, we have a busy schedule of events, starting with an outdoor workshop today, Nature as Co-Therapist: An introduction to ecotherapy, just two days before the Spring Equinox with Rev. Connie L. Habash, LMFT, at Hidden Villa in the beautiful hills of Los Altos. We have not offered outdoors events for quite some time and I am delighted that Connie accepted to lead this eco-psychotherapy event. In April, we have a new type of event coming to you: a mini day retreat! No CEs, no lecturing, just a few hours of self-care and reconnecting with self through Somatic IFS and authentic movement, with Jaclyn Long, LMFT and LaDonna Silva, LMFT. This particular event will be capped at 40 participants, so I recommend you register soon. Another aspect of somatics therapy will be touched upon by Jyoti Nadhani, LMFT, in April as she gives us an overview of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, in-person at Michael’s in Mountain View.

I want to bring your attention to the new BBS requirement that mental health providers servicing patients via telehealth complete a telehealth/law and ethics training. We are working on confirming a 3-CE webinar/workshop presentation on 20 May that will meet this requirement. It will soon be advertised and I hope that many of you will find it helpful to have it offered right here. Finally, we will have a host booth at the CAMFT conference on 5-6 May in Santa Clara. We are looking forward to seeing and connecting with you there.

I wish you all a beautiful and fulfilling spring!

Dominique

Back to Spring 2023 Newsletter

by Dominique Yarritu, PhD, LMFT
Back to Winter 2022 Newsletter

Dear colleagues,

As the year draws to an end, I am grateful for all that has happened here at SCV-CAMFT in these last few months. Although we were not able to meet as often in person as we would have liked to, it was very nice to have the opportunity to be in the same physical space as many of you and enjoy a long list of interesting presentations. We have worked very hard to fulfill many of our intentions for 2022 and have a few other projects in the works for 2023. If you are interested in getting a clearer picture of what we accomplished and what we are working towards, you can access the slides of my presentation at our annual membership celebration in November, here.

I hope that in these last few weeks of the year, you will have many occasions to slow down and enjoy the holiday season. It may also be, like it is for me, a time to reflect on what has been some of the most important themes of the year. What has come to the forefront for me is the concept of home: not only the geographical place or the structure that houses the home, but also that which provides a feeling of deep and unwavering belonging. It is a "haven of memory, history, and grounding, an oasis of individual taste and culture" (Hill, 2022, p. 9). As I write this message to you from my French hometown, I wish you all to experience this time as an oasis of joy and peaceful moments making new memories with your loved ones.

Be well,
Dominique

Back to Winter 2022 Newsletter

by Dominique Yarritu, PhD, LMFT
Fall 2022 Newsletter

Dear Colleagues,

Yesterday (22 September) was Fall equinox, that second time in the year when day and night are of equal length and in perfect balance, very temporarily. I was inspired by Rev. Connie Habash's newsletter speaking of the impermanence of that balancing act we expect to create and sustain in our lives. It reminded me, after a very busy and work-oriented summer, that "we are not intended to be in perfect balance all the time." After a couple of months of unusual heat it feels good to be on the other side of summer and feel the sun at a lower angle. I hope you had a more relaxing summertime and you will have plenty of quality time to enjoy the cooler weather.

Last month, Jacqui Gerritsen, our Past President elected to step off the board and I would like, here, to thank her for five years of unwavering commitment to our chapter. We are still looking for volunteers and board members so we hope that you will consider joining our team! When I finally got my MFT license, I thought I would never volunteer: the practicum and internships had felt like I had given my time and energy away. However, there is something very nourishing and rewarding to be of service and part of a group of like-minded individuals who are offering the most precious commodity they have: time. 

The overall theme of this issue is diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) as well as social justice. Our community focus is Perry Clark, LMFT who tells us about his experience working with men, the LGBTQ+ community, as a black male therapist. We have a new (DEI) column featuring Ellie Vargas, LCSW who speaks about her work doing immigration evaluations. On the topic of social justice, we are featuring Dr. Sherry Wang sharing her views on how clinicians can include social justice and advocacy into their clinical work.

We hope that you will enjoy these offerings! Please check our next presentations here. 
As usual, we look forward to hearing from you and getting any feedback.

Be well,

Dominique

Fall 2022 Newsletter