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Apply for Honors and Awards

Honors and Awards

2025 Honors and Awards online applications will open by April 30, 2024 and close on November 8, 2024.

Mary Riemersma Distinguished Clinical Member 

This honor is awarded to a clinical member or life clinical member who has given outstanding service in the field of marriage and family therapy, and who at the time of nomination is still engaged in the advancement of this field. Nominees must have been clinical members for at least two years and have had five years experience as an MFT following licensure.  Mary Riemersma Distinguished Clinical Members can be nominated by any CAMFT member.

Honorary Distinguished Clinical Member Award

Only a non-member (not a member of CAMFT) may receive this award for making an outstanding contribution to, or providing an outstanding service for,  the field of marriage and family therapists.

Clark Vincent Award

CAMFT makes this award available to honor a literary or research contribution to the profession.  Nominations must be made by eight clinical members.

Outstanding School or Agency Award

This award recognizes an outstanding school or agency. Any CAMFT member may nominate or recommend a school or agency for their contribution to their community and the practice of marriage and family therapy.

For questions, please contact honors@camft.org.

2023 CAMFT Honors/Awards Winners

SFVCOutstanding School or Agency Award - The San Fernando Valley Counseling Center

The San Fernando Valley Counseling Center (SFVCC) actively serves the San Fernando Valley and LA County community with a wide-range of mental health services and helps pre-licensees through a comprehensive training program. The agency has helped an estimated 1,000 new mental health professionals complete their hours and become licensed. Those mental health professionals provided outstanding care and mental health services to approximately 25,000 individuals in San Fernando Valley on a sliding scale fee structure that makes quality counseling services available to low-income individuals and families. SFVCC’s counselors address a wide range of mental and behavioral health issues including stress disorders, depression, anxiety, grief and loss, suicidal ideation, and substance abuse and treat individuals, couples, and families, and offer domestic violence counseling and parenting classes. SFVCC also receives referrals from the state’s Victims of Crime program as well as from the Department of Child and Family Services (DCFS) for mandated counseling or classes.

Bob  CasanovaMary Riemersma Distinguished Clinical Member – Dr. Robert Casanova

In the last decade no one has provided more years of voluntary service to CAMFT's leadership than Dr. Bob Casanova, PsyD, LMFT. Bob served as President of CAMFT from 2017 to 2018 and will be the President of the Redwood Empire Chapter beginning January 2024. Bob’s long history to both his local Chapter and the State organizations have left a positive impact on the profession. He has a private practice as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, and is an Educational Consultant in Sonoma County. As a first-generation son of immigrant parents, he has always felt conscious of the need to provide mental health services not only to those who can afford them, but to all people who need our care. He believes CAMFT has an obligation to create a more diverse, equitable and inclusive Board and membership. To better serve our members and California’s communities, Bob has worked to help facilitate this lofty goal. His services to the MFT profession and CAMFT are deeply intertwined as a result of his many years on the CAMFT Board of Directors which includes lobbying at both the state and national level for legislation to benefit LMFTs, supporting and guiding CAMFT’s programming to benefit its members, with a special emphasis on serving the pre-licensed membership.

Dr. Laura SiniegoMary Riemersma Distinguished Clinical Member – Laura Siniego

Laura Siniego is a bilingual, bicultural CAMFT Certified Supervisor and EMDRIA Approved Consultant in EMDR therapy, who exemplifies what it means to be a culturally attuned and competent MFT who builds communities and trains the next generation. Laura has helped her colleagues and interns tune into the nuances of culture that are inextricably intertwined with the practice of psychotherapy. She marries the wisdom of her lived experience as a bicultural, bilingual immigrant, with her professional experience as a clinician in Mexico and California to create learning encounters that are absolutely unforgettable. Through her work in community mental health, Laura has demonstrated the humanitarian values of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and benevolence. This is evidenced by the thousands of undocumented victims of crime and domestic abuse, mostly monolingual Spanish speaking women and children, whom Laura has served and supported over the past 20 years. Laura's career is a testament to the transformative potential of the profession of Marriage and Family Therapy, not just in the sphere of the individual, but at the organizational and community level of impact.