California Association of Marriage & Family Therapists

East Bay Chapter
2021 Annual Report

This year started strong with nine board members who were committed to providing a full calendar of events for our chapter. Since we did not have a President Elect for 2021, I continued as President, as per the chapter bylaws. John Kravitz was elected as President-Elect and spent the year helping in various committees and learning the ins and outs of the EBCAMFT board. Jennifer Brookman did an amazing job as Secretary, keeping the meeting minutes and setting up surveys, in addition to posting regular news and information on all of our social media sites. Susan Kelsey held two positions; she has been the Treasurer, keeping track of our chapter’s finances and managing our administrative assistant, Sandy Smith, while also serving as Co-Program Director with Aliss Wang. Nanci Finley became the Membership Director this year. Tanya Jacobs continued as Pre-Licensed Director - Student Representative and Nalini Calamur continued as Pre-Licensed Director - Associate Representative, though she later had to step down. Khea Gumbs joined the chapter in January as Member-at-large.

As usual, the year started out with the Board Retreat and the Chapter Leadership Conference, though this year, they were both held via Zoom, as were all of the continuing education events we provided over the year. We had a clear objective in 2021 to provide a full roster of CE events to our members with a focus on racial justice. Our first CE event was Suicide Risk Assessment and Intervention, presented by Judy McGehee, LMFT and Sherry Shockey-Pope, LMFT. This is a newly required training for MFT license renewal, so we made sure to provide this early in the year and it was well attended. The next event was a member presentation, Zooming with Kids: Helping Kids Heal Via Telehealth and Beyond, by Susan Kelsey. In April, in collaboration with CAMFT, we provided both a Law and Ethics Workshop, presented by the CAMFT staff attorneys, and the State of the Profession presentation by the CAMFT Executive Director, Nabil Hassan El-Ghoroury, Ph.D. In July, Dr. Maryam Jernigan-Noesi presented a training on Racial Trauma: Assessment and Treatment Across the Lifespan. In October, the Road to Licensure, a guide for pre-licensed members, was provided in conjunction with CAMFT. And finally, we finished the year with a training that was free of charge to chapter members on Implicit Biases: What They Are and What We Can Do About Them by Dr. Julie A. Garcia.

As things began to feel safer with the Pandemic, our Membership Director, Nanci Finley, hosted an in-person outdoor networking brunch. It was clear that members were eager to meet with one another in person. We are grateful that there is at least one therapist networking group that continues to meet monthly and has moved it’s meeting to a restaurant with outdoor seating. Thank you to Annia Raysburg for keeping this going. We welcome anyone else who may wish to start a networking group to let us know, as we post these events on our website. The E-tree continues to be a great resource for networking and finding resources.

We are currently in the process of redesigning the EBCAMFT website and the EBCAMFT logo. We are excited about the progress toward freshening up our site and attracting new members to the chapter. We also want to provide an attractive site for prospective clients to find our talented east bay therapists. A survey monkey has been sent out to get member feedback on the new logo and we look forward to hearing your suggestions.

Financially, our chapter is doing well, with approximately $53,500 in assets. A formal reserve account is in the process of being established. Due to the ongoing Pandemic, we have not been able to return to in-person CE events and have found that the video presentations are often more highly attended than previous in-person events and more cost effective. We are saving money on venues and food needed for in-person events, which allows our financial resources to be used to pay for the cost of updating the website, hiring professional speakers and providing events to members at a lower fee.

Goals for the 2022 year include providing more programming and support for pre-licensed members, launching the new website, providing great programming, and possibly having more in-person networking and social events. However, we are still in need of Program Directors for the coming year, as well as multiple other important seats on the board. If you are interested in sitting on the board and giving back to your east bay therapist community, please contact me or incoming President, John Kravitz at president@ebcamft.org.

It has been a pleasure to serve you as the East Bay Chapter President this year and I am proud of all that we accomplished. I look forward to continuing to serve on the board in the coming year.

Thank you,

Beth Hermosillo, LMFT

President, East Bay Chapter of CAMFT 2021

Call For Presentations

2021 East Bay CAMFT Member Peer Presentations

East Bay CAMFT Members are invited to present peer trainings with up to 2 CEUs sponsored by EB CAMFT. Zoom facilitation, evaluations and certificates will be provided by EB CAMFT. These trainings will be a free offering for EB CAMFT Members.

• Course must meet the qualifications for continuing education credit for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs and/or LEPs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences.

• East Bay Chapter of CAMFT is approved by the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (Provider #52488) to sponsor continuing education for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs, and LEPs.  East Bay Chapter of CAMFT maintains responsibility for this program/course and its content. 

• CAMFT CEPA Manual

• Applications will be screened and Presenters will be notified for next steps.

EB CAMFT Solidarity Statement

June 23, 2020

Dear EBCAMFT Members,

As a local Chapter of CAMFT, your Board of Directors is in support of state CAMFT’s message disavowing racial injustice as an organization. We also felt compelled to speak out as a Chapter. Your Board of Directors supports and stands in solidarity with all Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) and deplores systemic racism in our local community and our country. We feel the anger, the grief, and the urgency that you do. We understand that words are not enough, and we want to be thoughtful about what steps we can take now and moving forward as a Chapter in our commitment to combating racism. 

First, as mental health clinicians, our community has a unique perspective on, and a responsibility to address, the mental health impacts of racial injustice and discrimination. As such, we have begun to compile a list of Resources to Combat Racial Injustice for Mental Health Professionals for our members, with the intention of making this list an evolving community resource for learning. With the creation of this living Google document, we invite our EBCAMFT members to contribute their own suggestions and share resources. We hope this list will help our local CAMFT Community remain engaged and educated about racial injustice and mental health.

Next, the Board has changed the focus of the remainder of this year’s workshops and trainings to topics that can bring a deeper understanding of how we can use our profession to address and facilitate systemic change to dismantle racism. In addition, we recognize ongoing self-inquiry to confront implicit biases and racism within ourselves is required to provide better services for BIPOC clients and to create a community in which our BIPOC clinicians feel included and supported. We are open to your recommendations for potential speakers, who can share relevant and powerful messages with us. Please send your ideas for speakers to ebcamftpresident@gmail.com.

Respectfully,

THE EAST BAY CAMFT BOARD OF DIRECTORS

For Psychotherapists

We are an association of licensed and pre-licensed Marriage and Family Therapists (MFTs) and mental-health professionals with related licenses. We are dedicated to supporting one another's professional lives through opportunities for continuing education, networking, consultation, social connection, increasing public awareness of who we are and what we offer, and participating in legislative efforts to advance our profession.

East Bay CAMFT serves its members as a comprehensive source of quality information and training for best practices that include the most current clinical, marketing and business practices; and a compelling on-line presence for professionals and the public. It is our aim to be known for extensive community building and networking.  East Bay CAMFT is an efficient and transparent organization that uses its financial resources for maximum benefit to its members. And finally, because of the way we conduct our chapter, East Bay CAMFT is a model that provides leadership to our parent organization, CAMFT, and to other state and national organizations."  -

East Bay CAMFT Vision Statement    Adopted June, 2011

Not Yet a Member?

The California Association of Marriage & Family Therapists (CAMFT) is the professional organization for Marriage & Family Therapists and allied professionals in the State of California.  East Bay CAMFT (the largest CAMFT chapter in California at this time) serves both Alameda and Contra Costa Counties.  We began as a network in 1980 and received our charter from CAMFT in 1985. The Chapter is active in providing training, social and networking events, and public services to the community. We welcome your participation!