Please introduce yourself. What would you like everyone to know about you professionally and personally?
I operate a private group practice and a nonprofit where I recently hired my first two therapists. I love the work I get to do. I look at therapy as a privilege. People entrusting their lives to me is like being given a precious, rare, delicate gift that I must manage with care. In my practice, I have a contract with UMass Global and its Master of Social Work practicum students. I enjoy working with students and associates as I help mold future clinicians.

In my personal life, I’m a widow who has gone through a healing journey and found love on the other side: I’m engaged to be married this July. I’m super excited and cannot believe that I am living my life right now. I was raised as an only child in Toledo, Ohio, but I actually have two sisters and a brother—a long story for another time. I have many interests and sometimes pursue most of them at once! I’m sure it’s my ADHD, which I think is my superpower. I have a lot of energy for my age, 64, which I’m not ashamed to share because I think it’s a beautiful thing: At this age, I’m certain of who I am, and I have no desire to apologize for it.

How did you become involved with the San Fernando Valley Chapter, and what growth have you experienced as a chapter leader?
I think my first awareness of the SFV Chapter was when I decided to go to a law and ethics training while I was in graduate school. I was fascinated because somehow the presenter turned The Chronicles of Narnia into a therapy presentation, and I was blown away that someone used such creative means to present an otherwise boring topic. I continued to come to meetings and officially joined the chapter as a registered intern, as we were called back in the day. I became a chapter leader in 2017 after being invited by the president at the time, Curt Widhalm, to attend the Chapter Leadership Conference in San Mateo. I enjoyed meeting people from different cities and learning what they were doing in their chapters, and it piqued my interest in seeing how I could influence our chapter.

As a chapter leader, I am growing in patience and diplomacy. I’m working on being more organized so I can stay on top of all my duties and not cause struggle for others having to wait on me. I recognize it boils down to being more considerate of the tasks that need to be completed by everyone for the chapter to run like a well-oiled machine. I’ve improved in my time management, too.

What led you to create the chapter’s diversity committee?
I noted that there were very few people of color in attendance and mentioned it to the president, who suggested I start a diversity committee. I wanted to see people who looked like me or who did not look like most of the meeting attendees. When I started the committee, the idea was to create a safe space for people of color and other minority people to feel comfortable and welcome in an environment where traditionally they were not represented. I also am a huge advocate for people of color breaking into the mental health field to help erase the negative connotation around therapy in communities of color.

I believe that increasing diversity starts with the chapter, and it will then trickle down to our therapy practices. I want to see programing that addresses hard topics related to our differences, and I want to promote ways to look at these issues through a clear lens that allows us to see our bias, confront ourselves, and minimize microaggressions we may be unaware of. I believe this is important because we take an oath to do no harm. As clinicians, we must deal with our own issues so we can best serve our clients. Ignorance is not an excuse. So it’s important that diversity is prioritized when educating non-people of color about people of color and others with a “differentness” factor so they better understand what treatment of these populations should look like.

Is there anything else you would like members to know about serving in chapter leadership?
Well, I would say that lending your ability to the board is a wonderful way to give back and support the chapter. I believe that serving helps us take the focus off ourselves and become more outwardly focused toward the greater good of the profession and the chapter and its members. Serving also allows us to learn what new and important topics are relevant to the field and to weigh in on some issues.