LA-CAMFT Diversity Committee
Presents:

Black Therapist Support Group

First Saturday of this Month

Next Meeting:
Saturday, May 6, 2023
12:00 pm-1:30 pm (PT)

Online Via Zoom

Black Therapist Support Group

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.

Open to LA-CAMFT Members and Non-Members

First Saturday of Each Month

Location: Zoom Meeting

For more information contact Akiah Robinson Selwa, LMFT at aselwa@sunrisetherapycenter.org.

Event Details: 

For:
Licensed Therapists, Associates, and Students

Event Details: 
Saturday, May 6, 2023, 12:00 pm-1:30 pm (PT)
Time of Check-In: 11:50 am

Where: 
Online Via Zoom

Once you have registered for the presentation, we will email you a link to Zoom a few days before the presentation.

Cost:

No Charge

Online Registration CLOSES on the date of the event.

(Registration is open and available until the group ends.)

Questions about Registration? Contact  Diversity Committee, diversitycommittee@lacamft.org.

Register Here

How Badly Do You Want It?

“Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.”

                           — Pablo Picasso  

Alice Kahn wrote an article in the in which she told of walking on a beach on a cold winter’s day. A chill was in the air, fog and mist dampened her clothes as she trudged through the wet sand. There were no lifeguards on duty, and the lifeguard stations stood empty sentinels surveying their deserted kingdom.

As she passed one lifeguard station, she noticed there was a sign posted on the side of it. Curious, she detoured over to it so she could read what was written there:

Air Temperature: 58 degrees

Water Temperature: 55 degrees

Swimming Conditions: It’s there if you want it—but you gotta want it bad!

Why does success elude so many talented people? Because they don’t “want it bad” enough. There are risks to take; challenges to overcome. There are discomforts to be endured. Without a clear vision of a goal that they must have and very strong desire and will to achieve it, they will falter along the way.

One of my acting teachers years ago told me that the key to analyzing any character in a play was to ask two questions: “What do they want?” And, “What are they willing to do to get it?”

This test has served me well throughout my business career as well. There are people who are consistent and persistent in achieving their goals and others who give up when it gets difficult. Some people are even willing to commit crimes in order to get what they want. (Shark warning… Aaoougha!…Get out of the water.)

What do you want? How badly do you want it?

Today’s Affirmation:
“I am strong and confident and I always get my goals.”

People have often asked me how I kept going when times got tough, when the world seemed dark and cold, when the living definitely wasn’t easy. What gave me the courage to continue to follow my dream?

In 1988, I bought my partners out and my bookkeeping service was going great. Then the biggest client we had—a $300,000 account -left with two weeks notice. I borrowed heavily to save the company, but the interest of 19.8% ate me alive. In 1989, my mother, uncle, aunt, and cousin’s baby died, along with two of my clients and a good friend. In 1993, I filed bankruptcy, lost my home to foreclosure, and went to Alcoholics Anonymous to stop drinking.

I started teaching Financial Stress Reduction® Workshops in 1990, and helping others helped me in my own recovery. I saw the good that I was providing to myself as well as to my students, and I was determined to keep it going, no matter what my outer circumstances were. I vowed to not only survive, but to thrive.

My bookkeeping service was my day job—we were a smaller company, but still profitable. But teaching the workshops was my dream job and I longed to go full-time with that. But it was hard to give up the regular income of the day job…

Then a client who had been with me for 13 years left, saying that I didn’t really care about the bookkeeping service any more. That hurt. Because it was the truth.

So I made the leap, and in 1995 I sold the bookkeeping service, determined to make the workshop business my full-time profession. At the time, I didn’t know if I could make it or not. I just knew I had to try.

One night, I had a very powerful nightmare. I had failed at the workshop business and had to take a job. The job I got was being the secretary to my attorney, and all day long I was getting her coffee while she was doing important things. In this dream, I was very sad and miserable.

I woke up in a cold sweat. I hated that dream. I hated that alternate reality that could be mine if I didn’t make a go of my business.

So that fear is what drove me to go to the next networking meeting when I was tired, didn’t want to be charming, and didn’t want to talk to people I didn’t know. Fear is what made me pick up the phone and make another gold call when I was afraid to hear another “no.”

The fear of the future I didn’t want was what made me grit my teeth in determination and do everything I could think of to make my business work. That plus some righteous indignation and anger at the fates for my misfortunes and that I was due some really good fortune in return!

So I did my affirmations, sent out my ships, and counted my money. I set my goals, weathered the storms, and sought balance and enlightenment along the way. I spoke, I wrote articles, I networked. As I improved, I raised my prices. I wrote a successful book, and then another. I made more money and had more fun than ever before in my life.

And 31 years later, here I am, still speaking and writing and teaching workshops (now as Zoom classes with participants from all over the world). And making lots of money. And loving my life!

Chellie Campbell, Financial Stress Reduction Expert, is the author of bestselling books The Wealthy Spirit, Zero to Zillionaire, and From Worry to Wealthy: A Woman’s Guide to Financial Success Without the Stress. She has been treating Money Disorders like Spending Bulimia and Income Anorexia in her Financial Stress Reduction® Workshops for over 25 years and is still speaking, writing, and teaching workshops—now as Zoom classes and The Wealthy Spirit Group on Facebook—with participants from all over the world. Website: www.chellie.com.

Keeping a Dream Journal Can Speed
Eating Disorder Recovery

Dream Journal Value
Keeping a written record of your dreams is often part of eating disorder recovery work. Clients do it dutifully, resentfully, awkwardly, enthusiastically. They forget to do it. They can't do it because they can't remember their dreams. They are embarrassed to do it because the dreams are embarrassing. Or they refuse to do it because the dreams are frightening. Yet any of these experiences add value to the recovery process. 

Dreams are a living communication from your unconscious. Eating disorders and binge eating are attempts to bypass the internal unconscious and let your body carry the burden of coping with intense challenges.

Recognizing and honoring dream content gives you an opportunity to free your body of needing to carry the burden of your emotional life.

How does a dream journal work?
Keeping a dream journal lets you write down the content of your dreams. When you keep a dream journal you write your feelings, life issues, denied awareness, memories and life forces coming forward in a disguised language. Dreams use symbolism in an attempt to slip pass your personal censors to deliver needed and valuable information to your conscious mind. Your dream journal allows your conscious mind to take in what your unconscious is telling you. Your body becomes less necessary to shield you from that information. 

Understood, your dream images are powerful aids in affirming who you are, what you want and believe. They show you the challenges you face as well as your strength and power to cope with them. 

What do eating disorders have to do with dreams?
Eating disorders block this inner awareness and prevent you from knowing who you are and what your authentic goals and experiences are in life. But your dreams keep pushing against the eating disorder barrier. Binge eating, purging, and starving require a tremendous amount of energy. Your life force energy is diverted into the eating disorder. Dream information is continually blocked more effectively.

As you move more into recovery your dreams can become more intense. Eating disorder recovery weakens your internal barriers to the authentic self-knowledge within you. More of your truth is attempting to get through.

Keeping a dream journal can be enormously helpful. Because your dreams use a disguised language, you may find it helpful to work with a psychotherapist who understands both dream therapy and eating disorders. 

In reading "Interior and Exterior Landscapes" by Leslie Marmon Silko, I found this passage, like an exploding nova of brilliant articulation. Silk answers the dream question.

 "[Dreams] have the power to seize terrifying feelings and deep instincts and translate them into images — visual, aural, tactile - and into the concrete where human beings may more readily confront and channel the terrifying instincts or powerful emotions into rituals and narratives that reassure the individual while reaffirming cherished values of the group. The identity of the individual as part of the group and the greater whole is strengthened, and the terror of facing the world alone is extinguished."

When you find yourself too busy or reluctant to write down your dreams reread this article. Encourage yourself to see your path to inner treasures you may be denying yourself. Your dreams and the whole of your dream journal can show you more openings into your eating disorder recovery and a better, more authentic life.

Keep a dream journal and read it weeks or months after you had the dreams. You'll see patterns. You'll see messages you couldn't see when you were too close to the experience. You'll discover wisdom and guidance to help you cope with the world without an eating disorder.

Joanna Poppink, LMFT, psychotherapist, speaker, and author of Healing Your Hungry Heart: Recovering from Your Eating Disorder, is in private practice and specializes in Eating Disorder Recovery for adult women and with an emphasis on building a fulfilling life beyond recovery. She is licensed in California, Florida, Oregon, and Utah. All appointments are virtual. Website: EatingDisorderRecovery.net

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

Voices Publication Guidelines for 2023

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 2023 calendar year to Voices, LA-CAMFT's monthly newsletter:

Upcoming Voices Newsletters	Submission Deadlines
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.