Over the past few years, the Diversity Committee has focused on the following objectives: 

Therapists of Color Monthly Support Group (TOC) 

Therapists of Color Monthly Support Group provides a safe place to receive peer support and process experiences of racism (systemic, social, and internalized), discrimination, implicit bias, racist injury, aggression, and micro-aggressions, along with additional experiences that therapists of color encounter in the field of mental health.

For upcoming meetings, please check out our events page here.

Black Therapists Support Group (BTSG) 

Black Therapist Monthly Support Group provides a safe place for healing, connection, support and building community. In this group, licensed clinicians, associates and students can come together and process experiences of racism (systemic, social, and internalized), discrimination, implicit bias, and micro-aggressions, along with additional experiences that therapists of African descent encounter in the field of mental health. As the late great Maya Angelou once said, “As soon as healing takes place, go out and heal someone else.” May this space, be the support needed to facilitate that journey.

For upcoming meetings, please check out our events page here.

Asian American Pacific Islander+ Therapists Circle (AAPI+)

Asian American Pacific Islander+ Therapists Circle provides safe and empowering place for therapists of the Asian diaspora to experience healing, renewal, and belonging. We will collectively process experiences of racism and internalized oppression. We will also explore the coexistence of privilege and marginalization along with invisibility and hypervigilance. This space will help us appreciate and reclaim what we have in common while honoring our differences. Grace Lee Boggs notes, “The only way to survive is by taking care of one another.” May this circle embody her words.

For upcoming meetings, please check out our events page here.

Middle Eastern North African Therapists Community Group (MENA) 

The MENA Therapists Community Group is a safe place across the Middle Eastern and North African therapist diaspora to build community and a sense of belonging. We hold an inclusive space to process the impact of cultural biases experienced by people of MENA descent and the effect it may have on our work as mental health professionals. Within the process, we will strive to create healing, support, and empowerment. We will collaboratively exchange ideas, experiences and resources while acknowledging cultural differences and shared similarities. As the poet Khalil Gibran states — “The reality of the other person lies not in what he reveals to you, but what he cannot reveal to you.” — our community will create a place to be seen, heard, and understood.

For upcoming meetings, please check out our events page here.

White Therapists Fighting Racism (WTFR) 

The goal of White Therapists Fighting Racism (WTFR) is for white-identified therapists to become effective allies in support of decolonization and racial justice in our clinical practice, therapy association, and community. Recognizing that racism is maintained when whiteness is invisible to white people, White Therapists Fighting Racism provides a forum for white-identified therapists to explore what it means to be white. While this process includes learning about structural racism and deconstructing the false narrative about race, a primary focus in the group is on doing inner work.

For upcoming meetings, please check out our events page here.

Therapists of Color Mentorship Program

Welcome to our ground-breaking LA-CAMFT TOC Mentorship Program. We are excited to offer this program and invite you to participate in our community of mentorship for Therapists of Color by Therapists of Color. Once you have reviewed the Program Overview, click on the link below to review Guidelines for Mentors and Mentees. 

Therapists of Color 2024 Grant Award for Pre-Licensed Members

LA-CAMFT's TOC Grant Award is for Pre-Licensed Members who are Therapists of Color. Every 4 months (3x per year), a grant award will be offered to two applicants who the program's criteria. For more information, click LA-CAMFT Grant Award.

If you are a pre-licensed member of LA-CAMFT, please be sure you are logged in to your account to be able to see the award page above.

Questions? Contact the Committee Chair!

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Diversity Committee Chair

Stara Shakti, LMFT (she/her/hers), has a Master’s in Clinical Psychology and specialization in Trauma Studies from Antioch University-LA. With a private practice in West L.A, Stara works with young adults in their 20s/30s and specializes in: Trauma and Intersectionality, LGBTQIA+ and POC/BIPOC folks, Neurodivergents, and first-generation Americans (especially from East / South Asian communities). Stara also helps survivors of narcissistic abuse heal from their past trauma. A founding member of LA-CAMFT’s Diversity Committee (since its origin in 2017), Stara is excited to be 2024 Chair of the Diversity Committee to highlight intersectionality—the “diversity within diversity.

Contact Information

Phone: 310.694.2396
LA-CAMFT Email: DiversityCommittee@lacamft.org
Work/Private Practice Email: StaraShaktiLMFT@gmail.com
Website: www.starashaktilmft.com