This month featuring

By Marge Riley, MFT

When I first met Sally McIntyre ten years ago, she was already an active member of the Program Committee that plans our chapter’s speakers presentations. She became the chair of the committee shortly after that time, and continued to serve in that capacity until 2002. We have Sally (and the Board) to thank for ten years of stimulating programs that have offered our members the opportunity to keep learning. She recalls beginning with EB-CAMFT as member-at-large, which she describes as an opportunity to attend board meetings and “get your feet wet in the organization.” When asked how many board meetings she has attended over the years, she can’t begin to count. Sally still attends as a liaison from East Bay Counseling Choices. Combining those two memberships has provided her with a valued support system that includes an active consultation group.

The view of a cypress-covered park from Sally’s home office window in Alameda inspired a discussion of those EB-CAMFT retreats she attended for several years in the’90s, in other natural settings. She found them to be an enjoyable experience where brainstorming ways to advance what EB-CAMFT has to offer became more fun than work.

Always intrigued by how the mind works and what people think, Sally obtained her BA in psychology at an early age from Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania. A native of Massachusetts, she and some friends decided after graduation, to “see the world,” at least the West, and drove together to California. While her friends returned home, Sally fell in love with California, found that bigger world she’d been searching for right here, and has been here ever since. Drawn to social service, she spent some years working for Social Security. That’s where she met her husband, who was a probation officer at the time. When her first daughter was born, Sally devoted herself to child- rearing, which brought her a lot of pleasure and meaning. She and her husband entertained thoughts of opening a home for troubled teens, which in turn led her to enter graduate school and obtain a masters degree in counseling. The home didn’t materialize but Sally loved the counseling program, got her license and has been working in the field ever since. “My practice adds so much to my life,” she says, “ it’s exciting watching people grow.”

Sally is looking forward to becoming a grandmother for the first time; her older daughter is expecting a boy at the end of September (Ed. Note: the baby was born on schedule, and Sally is a very happy grandmother.) Her other daughter has just finished graduate school in Boulder CO in—you guessed it—counseling, and has begun an internship with Fred Finch Youth Center. It’s easy to imagine that the positive influence Sally has had with EB-CAMFT and her clients has been prominent at home too. Thanks a million, Sally.