Matthew Evans
President, LA-CAMFT

Dear colleagues,

In the July issue of Voices, I declared my position on racial inequality within the United States and its wrongful entrenchment within our society for centuries. I ended the article with a call for action, a call for equality, and a call for fundamental change within our society. Below are just a few of the steps we are taking towards bringing anti-racism to the forefront of our organization.

In our recent leadership retreat, we brought to the table the goals of becoming intentional toward anti-racism, including discussions and plans of expanding the Diversity Committee’s reach into other sub-committees so topics related to diversity are part of all the workings at LA-CAMFT. We have also explored potential opportunities to collaborate with local law enforcement on mental health trainings, hosting a round-table meeting for the community on the topic of anti-black violence and our role as therapists, and developing workshops specific to this topic, among other things.

The Board of Directors and Diversity Committee of LA-CAMFT have collaborated to plan a roundtable discussion on August 23^rd called "LA-CAMFT Round Table: Antiracism as a Movement, not a Moment." The purpose of the roundtable will be to hear from LA-CAMFT members regarding what issues have not been talked about yet that needs to be and what issues have not been talked about enough. The plan is for the roundtable to be the catalyst for other workshops, panels, and roundtable events on specific issues identified.

In order to have a more direct impact within Los Angeles County, LA-CAMFT is collaborating with My Friend’s House. My Friends' House Inc. is a 501(c)3 organization focused on providing healthy food and services to the underprivileged. Their mission is to provide life-sustaining staples that include food, clothing, toiletries and encouragement to the homeless and economically disadvantaged, regardless of race or religious beliefs. By providing donations, LA-CAMFT aims to support My Friend’s House in continuing their weekly food distribution in urban communities, which helps hundreds of families per week and thousands per year.

If you are interested in donating to My Friend’s House please click the link: https://www.mightycause.com/story/Lacamft. However, this is just the beginning of LA-CAMFT’s plan to connect to local non-profit and community serving organizations. We hope you will join us in these efforts.

Best regards,

Matthew Evans, LMFT

Matthew Evans, LMFT, utilizes Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy in his work as a Primary Therapist in Resilience Treatment Center’s PHP/IOP program for adults.

Matthew may be contacted at president@lacamft.org.