President's Message

Innate Goodness

Jenni J.V. Wilson, LMFT, LA-CAMFT President 2021 & 2026

I’m going to be honest with you. I’ve started and restarted, stopped and deleted this President’s Message for a month. There’s so much to say and I don’t know how to say it all.

And since I’m being honest with you… I’m tired.

For nearly a decade, regulating my nervous system on a daily basis has become a higher and higher priority. This work. This world. This historical time as a whole has impacted me on a deep level - even after I’d already seen and survived some pretty heavy shit by an early age.

Until two years ago, I believed that the innate goodness of people would overcome. In fact, I think I believed it HAD overcome. I wanted to believe it had.

“It’s said that the biggest determinant of our lives is whether we see the world as welcoming or hostile. Each becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.” -Gloria Steinem

For a long time, I’ve held onto my deep belief that people are innately good. Some real Carl Rogers shit. And because I think people are innately good, I believe many cannot conceive of innate sociopathic destructive toxicity in others – especially our leaders. Perhaps they don’t perceive the toxicity as toxicity at all. Perhaps chaotic malignant pandemonium is normal to them, what they expect, and what they “know”.

I am a skeptic by nature. An observer and a reluctant empath. A target, a participant, and a bystander. By circumstance I am situated in the in-between: between the privileged and the disenfranchised, the marginalized and the establishment.

After 8 years of drowning myself in the pain of all of it, Paul Revere-ing daily like a mad proselytizing fanatic, I had to find a way to reduce my emotional investment in what was beyond my control. I knew I had to focus more on a local level. I knew I needed to stop mainlining 24/7 news coverage of the destruction of the world. I had been getting through my days mainly fueled by cortisol, justice-sensitivity, and a refusal to align with the abuser, all of which are still there, but on a more sustainable scale at the moment.

I know that one of the things I can do to help others is vote.

Vote.

Who gets elected impacts the work we do and the people we work with. So exercise your power at the ballot box. Let our leaders know we are invested.

One thing that seems to be coming up a lot in conversation and legislation, is the future of AI and how it is impacting the world at large. The Board of Directors recently approved Bob Roan’s proposal to form a yet-unnamed Special Interest Group (SIG) centered around AI in the therapeutic space: “helping therapists understand the different ways AI will present in their professional lives”. This SIG will bring a much-needed conversation and resources to the LA-CAMFT community. If you are interested in getting involved, email me at President@LACAMFT.org. Bob is looking for collaborators as well as participants who are interested in and enthusiastic about the subject.

The General Mentorship Program Committee is also looking for interested and enthusiastic collaborators, so if you have 5-10 hours a month and want to help make a BIG difference in the community, reach out to Keonna Robinson at TOCmentorshipProgram@lacamft.org or Randi Gottlieb at rgottliebmft@gmail.com for more information.

We’re almost done with the first year of the Financial Committee which meets every second Thursday of the month at 12noon via Zoom, and I hope the committee will grow. Some committee members may be stepping away next year, so it would be great to get some fresh eyes and ideas in the discussions. Together the members of the 2026 Fin Comm have learned a lot and I think we’ve come to enjoy everyone’s company, too. Maybe it’s just me. If you think you’d like to join these conversations, reach out to Di Wilson at CFO@lacamft.org.

Thank you everyone who came to my house on 9/26. I had a blast at the Self-Care Saturday Night Event thanks to the Presidential Team, Ruth Castro, and all the volunteers who helped it run so smoothly. And Lightfully and Clearview for sponsoring! We’ll probably do it again next year. The chapter will be starting a new Meet-Up Committee – maybe as a Special Interest Group? – and that’s where the planning will be for September 2027.

But the September event 2027 won’t be as important as the LA-CAMFT 50th Anniversary Event will be. If it happens. It won’t happen unless y’all want it to happen. The Board has PLENTY to do already. So, if you want to help chapter leaders plan something special for the community next year, reach out to Ruth Castro at LACAMFTvolunteers@gmail.com and tell her “hell yeah I want to help plan a big kick ass party!” And she’ll know what that means. Well, I will tell her what that means.

While we’re giving thanks this month, I want to encourage you to donate on the LA-CAMFT Donations page so the chapter can restart and expand the LA-CAMFT grant awards program for pre-licensed and newly licensed therapists: https://lacamft.org/donations.

That’s ANOTHER thing you could do if you have 5-10 hours a month to donate to the community… help the grant committee revise the grant application process and distribution structure. If you are interested in that, you can reach out to Tina Cacho Sakai at TOCgrants@lacamft.org

If you’re a member with questions for me or other LACAMFT leaders and Board Members, come to “Meet LA-CAMFT” via Zoom at 11am on 11/21. You can register here: https://lacamft.org/event-6804636.

Finally, I want to remind you to mark your calendars for the Annual LA-CAMFT Holiday Party at Clearview in Venice, Sunday 12/13. If you want to volunteer, again, reach out to Ruth Castro at LACAMFTVolunteers@gmail.com. **And if you’re newly licensed, be sure to let the Special Events team know when you register at: https://lacamft.org/event-6622541.**

Okay. So. As I gather my chosen family around me this Thanksgiving, I am giving thanks for all the lessons I have learned and all the new people I have met. I am grateful for all the support the board and the LA-CAMFT community have given me as I navigated some unexpectedly heart-breaking experiences this year. I am hoping by the time I am carving the tofurkey on the 26th, I will once again be confidently affirming my belief in the innate goodness of humans. Help me to do that.

Vote.

As the late great Gloria Steinem said, “we have to behave as if everything we do matters. Because it might.”

Paz y Amor,

JJVW - Jenni June Villegas Wilson

Jenni J.V. Wilson, LMFT (she/her): As a collaborative conversationalist passionate about empowering and advocating for marginalized groups and underrepresented voices, Jenni uses an integrative approach based on post-modern principles to provide culturally-mindful and trauma-informed therapeutic services and clinical supervision. She works with creative, anxious, mixed race/culture, and co-dependent clients on improving and eliminating toxic relationships, while increasing authentic expression. She has a BA in theatre from Occidental College, an MA in Clinical Psychology from Antioch University LA, and is trained in EMDR, Brainspotting, and certified in Narrative Therapy. She is an accomplished writer, has produced/co-hosted multiple podcasts, worked in addiction treatment for nearly a decade, and sees the “worried well” in her private practice in Sherman Oaks. Website: www.JenniJVWilson.com