LA-CAMFT’s Declaration
of Inclusion, Diversity, and Anti-Racism

Psychotherapy can be transformative in a democratic society, and can open intellectual inquiry that, at its best, influences and results in lasting positive change. In recognition of our shared humanity and concern for our community and world, LA-CAMFT loudly and overtly disavows all racism, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, classism, ableism, ageism, and hate speech or actions that attempt to silence, threaten, and degrade others. We in LA-CAMFT leadership hereby affirm our solidarity with those individuals and groups most at risk and further declare that embracing diversity and fostering inclusivity are central to the mission of our organization.

As mental health professionals, we value critical reasoning, evidence-based arguments, self-reflection, and the imagination. We hope to inspire empathy, advocate for social and environmental justice, and provide an ethical framework for our clients, our community, and ourselves.

We in LA-CAMFT leadership are committed to:

(1) the recognition, respect, and affirmation of differences among peoples

(2) challenging oppression and structural and procedural inequities that exist in society, generally, and in local therapeutic, agency, and academic settings

(3) offering diverse programming content and presenters throughout our networking event calendar, as well as in our workshops, trainings, and special events

While we traverse the turbulent seas of the important and necessary changes taking place in our country, in order to form a “more perfect union.” we wish to convey our belief that within our community exists an immense capacity for hope. We believe in and have seen how psychotherapy, therapeutic relationships, and mental health professions can be agents of positive change, without ignoring or denying that the practice and business of psychiatry, psychology, and psychotherapy have historically been the cause of great harm, trauma, and emotional toll, particularly for people of color and other marginalized groups. We are committed to doing our part to help remedy that which we have the position, privilege, and/or resources to do so.

At LA-CAMFT events, all members are welcome regardless of race/ethnicity, gender identities, gender expressions, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, disabilities, religion, regional background, Veteran status, citizenship, status, nationality and other diverse identities that we each bring to our professions. We expect that leadership and members will promote an atmosphere of respect for all members of our community.

In a diverse community, the goal of inclusiveness encourages and appreciates expressions of different ideas, opinions, and beliefs, so that potentially divisive conversations and interactions become opportunities for intellectual and personal growth. LA-CAMFT leadership wants to embrace this opportunity to create and maintain inclusive and safe spaces for all of our members, free of bias, discrimination, and harassment, where people will be treated with respect and dignity and where all individuals are provided equitable opportunity to participate, contribute, and succeed.

We value your voice in this process. If you feel that our leadership or programming falls short of this commitment, we encourage you to get involved, and to begin a dialogue with those in leadership. It is undeniable that the success of LA-CAMFT relies on the participation, support, and understanding of all its members.

Wishing good health to you and yours, may you find yourself centered in feelings of abundance, safety, belonging, and peace.

Standing together,
The LA-CAMFT Board of Directors and Diversity Committee

How to Survive the Holidays During Covid: 
My 2-Step Plan to Stay Sane this December

The Holidays are always stressful—for clients and therapists!

First there’s the question of infection. Who might have Covid-19? Who might give it to grandma, or to immuno-compromised Uncle Joe? How long should everyone quarantine before getting together, and if and when should everyone be tested?

That alone is enough to tap out your ability to handle logistics.

Then there’s the usual holiday stuff. How long are the adult children going to stay? Where will everyone sleep? How much food to buy? It goes on and on and on . . .

But this year the issues are different. This holiday season we are also dealing with Covid-19.

This year many of us have family we won’t be able to see. Either they are worried about exposure during traveling or they are worried about exposing other family members if they do come. Some of us have loved ones who are sick at home or in the hospital. This can make all the other holiday issues pale in comparison.

As therapists, we have an additional challenge. Our emotional reserves may already be tapped out by now. Even those of us who work mostly with clients who are not deeply distressed have seen our clients’ anxiety levels skyrocket. This can suck the emotional energy out of anyone, and every therapist I have spoken to these days is suffering from some stage of burnout.

As I try to serve my clients, take care of my family, and keep my own sanity, I find it’s absolutely necessary to whittle down my expectations.

Here are the two things I find to be most helpful to remember—my success rate varies, and yours will, too!

1. Get Enough Sleep

It’s such a simple thing, and so easily discounted.

Without enough sleep, there is no way I can successfully regulate my emotions. When I haven’t had enough sleep, I don’t always feel tired—I feel cranky. I snap easily, and I can’t focus or think clearly. It’s a recipe for disaster.

My own strategy

I’m a night owl— I see clients until 9pm, and then often work or write for a couple of hours after. To wind down, I love to lose myself in a good tv show. It’s the best way for me to get out of my own head and give myself a little reward. This is the story I tell myself, anyway!

What I know is that it is unhealthy to have screen time just before bed; it can upset your circadian rhythm and disturb your sleep. This is the time of year where I try to be really disciplined about nighttime screen time, in the name of pure survival. I make sure I have several good books on hand—something psychology-related, a mystery, historical fiction, light humor. That way I can choose something to read each night that fits my mood. I also have one of those tiny book lights so that I can both set the mood with low light and also turn it off by barely moving when I drop off to sleep while reading!

One of my favorite books this year was local LA therapist Lori Gottlieb’s memoir, Maybe You Should Talk to Someone. It’s both heartwarming and funny—a compelling read!

I also like reading my Kindle paperwhite—even though it’s a screen, it looks like paper, it doesn’t emit the same blue light as a phone or laptop, and I can make the backlight quite low. That way I can order books on the library app, Libby, and not even have to pay for them. If you don’t have this app already, you should check it out!

You can also “take out” audio books on Libby. Audio books can be a great way to end your day as you fall asleep, and they are also helpful if you wake up in the middle of the night. I find that listening to an interesting book when I wake up at 2 am can sometimes be enough to engage my spinning mind on something other than my “To Do” list, or all the things I wish I’d done differently which are my usual go-to thoughts at 2am!

2. Let Go

Plan the things that are important and let the rest go. This works best when you spend some time beforehand really isolating the critical factors for your holiday. Think about your core values, and what best expresses them this month. Keep the list short!

The most important thing for me at Christmas is for the family to feel connected and supported.

I learned long ago that producing a perfect Christmas dinner was not what really made people feel connected. We had a much better outcome when we spent the day cooking together, and some things turned out badly (Mom, I forgot the sugar in the pie!) than we did when I did everything myself in my own overly-detailed way in order to make everything “perfect.” (I also buy frozen pies as a back-up!)

Identify the truly important things, and let everything else happen as it may.

Some of the things that I’ve learned over time are not important:

• Perfect meals
• Perfect decorations
• Perfect wrapping
• Perfect outfit (or hair, nails, etc.)
• Perfect Insta photos

Some of the things that are important:

• Togetherness while doing different things (aka “hanging out”)
• Shared activities
• Traditions—both small and large.
• A couple of candid shots that portray the feeling of the moment.

Keep your list short! When you start to stress about something, remember to ask yourself, “Is it on the short list?”

Trust me—you will be surprised at what you won’t miss if you take a risk and let it go!

Of course, these are all ideas that you can share with your clients. That will not only make them less stressed, but should also translate into an easier job for you in the therapist’s chair this year!

Happy Holidays to All of Us!

This article was previously published in Voices, December 2020.

Amy McManus, LMFT, helps anxious young adults build healthy new relationships with themselves and others after a breakup. Amy’s blog, “Life Hacks,” offers practical tips for thriving in today’s crazy plugged-in world. Learn more about Amy from her website www.thrivetherapyla.com.

LA-CAMFT Online On-Demand CEU Courses from Charter for Compassionate Education

LA-CAMFT is excited to announce new additions to our online on-demand CEU offerings from Charter for Compassionate Education. Starting in April, you can find links to these great online CEU courses on the LACAMFT.org Home Page under the Information tab:

Emotional Intelligence for a Compassionate World (On Demand) (Barbara Kerr) (20 CEUs)

Maybe you’ve thought about how empowering it could be to join with others who are willing to take action for a more compassionate world.

And maybe you’ve recognized that building Emotional Intelligence skills could be helpful to you in your work with clients, your personal relationships, as well as in building a more compassionate community where you live.

Emotional Intelligence skills and competencies can become the fertile ground for a more compassionate world. The skills that contribute to Emotional Intelligence can lead to the development of empathy and compassion—in individuals, in families, in the workplace, in communities, and among the interconnected societies of people throughout the world.

During this course, you will discover your own Emotional Intelligence strengths, learn ways to add to your Emotional Intelligence competencies, and consider practical ways to apply your skills to build a more compassionate world.

Compassionate Integrity Training (CIT) (10 Week Live Course) (30 CEUs)

Have you ever wondered how you could cultivate the compassion called for in the world or help others cultivate that compassion? Compassionate Integrity Training (CIT) is a great place to start!

CIT is a resiliency-informed program that cultivates human values as skills, so we can thrive as individuals, and a society, within a healthy environment. By learning skills to calm our bodies and mind, becoming more emotionally aware, learning to practice compassion for ourselves and others, as well as engaging with compassion in complex systems, we can build towards compassionate integrity: the ability to live one’s life in accordance with one’s values with a recognition of common humanity, our basic orientation to kindness and reciprocity.

Attention LA-CAMFT Members!
2022 LA-CAMFT Board Meeting Dates

Ever wonder what goes on behind the scenes at a LA-CAMFT Full Board Meeting? LA-CAMFT members are invited to attend monthly Full Board Meetings hosted on Zoom.

January 7
February 11
March 11
April 8
May 13
June 10
July 8
August 12
September 9
October 14
November 11
December 9

Online Via Zoom

Voices Publication Guidelines for 2022

Calling all community writers and contributors!

Are you searching for a unique platform to express your passions and showcase your expertise in the Marriage and Family Therapy field? Look no further, as we welcome your input!

Following are the due dates and publication guidelines for submitting articles and ads for the 2022 calendar year to Voices, LA-CAMFT's monthly newsletter:

Upcoming Voices Newsletters	Submission Deadlines
February	January 1
March	February 1
April	March 1
May	April 1
June	May 1
July	June 1
August	July 1
September	August 1
October	September 1
November	October 1
December	November 1

 

 

LA-CAMFT Publishing Guidelines for Voices

• All submissions are DUE by the 1ST of each month.
  • Around the 15th of each month, you will receive the editor’s call for articles for the next edition of VOICES.
  • This editor’s call will allow contributors to have up to 2 weeks to put together all the material for submission by the 1st of the month.
  • Around the 25th of each month, you will receive the editor’s second and last call for articles, reminding contributors to submit completed articles by the first should they wish to be included in VOICES.
  • In this last call for submissions, the editor will include a list of the content planned for the next edition of VOICES. This editorial list will note submissions received as well as submissions expected but not yet received and which must be received by the 1st in order to be included.
  • Any submissions received after the 1st, will be included in the following month's edition of VOICES.
• ARTICLES are 500–1000 word submissions by LA-CAMFT members, sponsors, speakers, or recognized experts in their field. Only universal file formats, like Word (.doc and docx.) will be accepted as submissions. If an article is submitted in a “.pages” format, it will be returned to the submitter.
• HYPERLINKS in articles must be individually typed into the body of the article by the writer and must be included at time of submission. It is the responsibility of each writer to “type in” the hyperlink(s) in their own work when the article is submitted. Putting “LIVE LINK” in the body of an article won't work. When multiple links are being included, this must be made clear by the writer as to where each link is to be featured.
• IMAGES: All personal headshots or images must be attached to an email as either a JPEG, PNG or TIF. Images pasted into an email are not acceptable since the quality of such photos is diminished. Any images received in the body of the email may result in delayed publication of the submission.
• AUTHOR TAGLINES: Author taglines are a short paragraph of 50 to 75 words after the end of the article in which the author is identified. It includes the author's full name, pertinent professional credentials, a short business description, and website address with a HYPERLINK. Email addresses and phone numbers are not included — the only exceptions are lacamft.org emails. All taglines are limited to 75 words, MAXIMUM. This word count includes the author's name and website.
• IMAGES OTHER THAN PERSONAL HEADSHOTS. There is an issue about images. When you submit an image other than a personal headshot, you must provide proof of how you obtained that photo. Following is a link that covers the importance of copyright issues, but especially so when it comes to anything “Internet.” (Sued for Copyright Infringement)
• AN ARTICLE MAY CONTAIN:
  • Helpful tips, strategies, analysis, and other specific useful clinical, educational, business or professional marketing or networking information.
  • A review of literature or arts (reviewer not related to or in business with the creator of the item being reviewed).
• AN ARTICLE MAY NOT CONTAIN:
  • Reference to commercial products or services being sold or distributed by author;
  • Information that is only useful if the author’s book or other materials are purchased
  • Suggestions that the reader attend the author’s workshop, conference or podcast for more information;
  • Any other material that could be construed as an advertisement, rather than an article;
  • Language that could be construed as defamatory, discriminatory, or offensive