Back to winter 2021 newsletter
Dominique Yarritu, PhD, MFT, 2022 Board President
Before I reveal to you our vision for the chapter in 2022, I would like to do a quick review of what we have accomplished this year.
There were two priorities: fill out the open seats on the board and getting to know you, the membership. In the last 8 months, we have confirmed five directors and we are still looking to fill out a few more positions, the most pressing ones being treasurer and director-at-large. We have created opportunities to meet with you in person while following CDC and county Covid requirements: we met 4 Saturdays in summer and fall for Coffee Talks, which were quite lovely as we created friendly professional connections. We found out we have poets and writers in our community; some of you have published books, we learned about the diversity of your practices, your ideas, your involvement in various therapeutic activities, and your interests. Many of you offered suggestions for our chapter. These meetings were rich and allowed us to take the pulse of our community. We kept up with the Saturday online socials for those of you eager to network remotely; to these we added art-related activities, which were graciously provided by two of our members. We added one support group for experienced therapists and explored the idea of providing support for owners of group practices. In the background, we started to streamline our processes and brainstormed about what we intend to provide next year in terms of events, support. We continue to look for ways to to enhance our presence in the community, and develop our message and the position of our chapter in terms of diversity, equity, and inclusion. We have reached out outside of our membership to provide you with relevant and engaging online events and articles in the newsletter.
For 2022, we have five main objectives: continue to fill the open positions on the board, incentivize members to take on positions in various committees, increase our membership, offer a wide variety of luncheons, 3hr- and daylong workshops, and expand our outreach in terms of diversity, equity, and inclusion. To increase our membership, we envision creating connections with local universities, agencies, supervisors, and clinical directors. We will reach out to current CAMFT members who are not chapter members through various marketing events. Our aim is to connect with the new generation of therapists and provide them with a place where, outside of school or work environment, they can mix with peers and potentially mentors, create durable connections, and find various types of support. We intend to reach out to the community of therapists at large, currently non-members, and advertise our offerings and the state of our chapter. With time, we plan on providing more support in business development for budding and experienced therapists, for those who decide to make the move to solo or group practice for example.
In terms of programs, we are working on filling out the calendar with luncheons and workshops of various lengths. We aim at promoting the talents of our members: some of you have written books, have various artistic skills, and fascinating therapeutic approaches that others in our group would benefit from hearing about. One goal is for our chapter to become a resourceful place for our membership and offer those learning and growth opportunities right here: your membership dues at work! Any new Covid-restrictions aside, we are planning on resuming in-person programs while following CDC and county recommendations, starting at Michael’s in Mountain View for the first part of the year, and then at Los Gatos Lodge and other venues around the bay starting in the second half of the year. The majority of our programs will be hybrid (in-person and livestream) and recorded for those of you unable to make it the day of the presentation. We are working on adding longer programs on weekends, mostly Saturdays, for those of you wanting to meet in person but working on Fridays. We are brainstorming ideas about other ways to providing means to connect in various settings and other formats. We are looking at ways to incentivize active volunteer participation from the membership. We also welcome your suggestions and will continue to probe you via short surveys throughout the year.
In a nutshell, we are committed to creating more visibility for our diverse community, doing more outreach to various groups, and providing support to those whose voice remains unheard. As an already diverse board in terms of ethnicity, professional, socio-economic, and citizenship backgrounds, we aim at embracing and welcoming members regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender identities, gender expressions, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, disabilities, religion, regional background, citizenship, status, nationality, or any other diverse identities. In doing so, we hope to create a chapter that reflects the beautiful diversity of our region.
Overall, our vision is a dynamic, energetic, and strong chapter in our community offering meaningful ways to connect with colleagues from various horizons.
