Dear Friends and Colleagues,

LA-CAMFT’s 2019 Annual Leadership Retreat is complete! This event is very personal and important to me. The anticipation leading up to it left me excited, yet nervous and stressed. That’s how you know something is important to you, when both sides of that spectrum clash together in a fun way. As much as I wanted to make sure that we had good attendance and everything ran smoothly, I also knew that I had a great team to lean on. “Teamwork” was the main theme of the entire event, and if I’ve learned anything over my years at LA-CAMFT, it’s that you are not alone.

Having attended two previous retreats, I was most excited about meeting the new emerging leaders and getting to know Matthew “Matt” Evans, LA-CAMFT’s current president elect, and his leadership style much better. We need motivated people to move our initiatives forward, and there were so many LA-CAMFT members not only willing to participate, but spearhead causes that they feel passionate about.

Matt started the retreat by asking each person to share a time in their lives when they’ve been a part of a team and what strength they could bring to ours. Everyone shared personal stories about learning the importance of collaboration, whether it be through sports teams, debate teams, academic teams, and even families that they see as their teams.

As I stood in the main area of Clearview Treatment Center about halfway through the event, I paused to look around the room at everyone in attendance. We had invited at least a dozen potential new leaders who had expressed interest in getting involved, and to see them all there, with each of their unique strengths, was such a proud moment.

So, what came out of this retreat? There were several initiatives that came about which will be focused on revitalizing the Special Interests Groups or “SIGs.” The Somatic group and Expressive Arts group, as well as new initiatives like the upcoming Meditation and Experiential groups are some examples. There will also be a new support group for LGBTQ+ therapists that will mirror the existing Therapist of Color (TOC) Support Group offered through LA-CAMFT’s Diversity Committee (DC). Outreach to schools and community mental health agencies will be a big focus, as well as initiatives to develop more special events. We’re looking into planning an all-day retreat, and we will continue to expand our DC initiatives by broadening constructive conversations around race and ethnicity in our community.

Since June is Pride month, the LGBTQ+ group ideas were especially exciting for me to see! This initiative hits close to home, since I am the first openly gay president of LA-CAMFT. I know that this is a safe and brave space to have honest conversations, and these values are vital to the well-being of LGBTQ+ therapists as much as any other. I actually marched in West Hollywood’s Pride Parade the day after the retreat, and it was a great feeling knowing that this organization is developing support for this community.

At the end of the event, I reflected on all the great ideas that were brought up and what the next steps should be to make sure that all of our leaders are successful. The stress I initially felt disappeared thanks to the hard work and support of the LA-CAMFT board members, the incredible volunteers, and the amazing people at Clearview Treatment Center that helped to make this whole thing happen. I’d like to particularly thank our Special Events Chair, Randy Gottlieb, for facilitating the development of the agenda and for helping to drive the discussions on the day of. Another special thanks to the Presidential team (Shelley Pearce, Matt Evans, and myself) and to all of you for reading.

If you’d like to see pictures from the event, follow our Instagram account by downloading the app and search for @lacamft and/or by visiting: https://www.instagram.com/lacamft/.

Best Regards,
Christina Castorena, LMFT

Christina Castorena, MS, LMFT, worked in community mental health before starting her private practice, Castorena Therapeutic Services, in 2016. She passionately serves adults, couples, and members of the LGBTQ+ community who are dealing with life transitions, parenting, relational conflicts, and anxiety. She employs family systems and mindfulness-based CBT. As president of LA-CAMFT, Christina strongly advocates for her professional community and celebrates the hard-working clinicians that facilitate healing. Her website is castorenatherapeutic.com. Christina may be contacted at president@lacamft.org.