Dear Members,
Our Annual Conference last weekend was a resounding success, and I hope you had the chance to join us! We kicked off the event with Elizabeth Smart’s keynote speech about the power of resiliency, and closed with Dr. Derald Wing Sue’s insightful session about the impact of microaggressions and microinterventions. In between, we attended dozens of dynamic workshops, mingled at networking events, and toasted CAMFT’s 60th anniversary at the Welcome Reception.
During CAMFT’s Annual Membership Meeting, we heard from representatives from both the BBS and AAMFT, strengthening our relationships with our fellow stakeholders and working together to move the needle forward on important concerns such as license portability and the MFT pipeline. I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone in the CAMFT community who made this year’s conference possible, including our volunteers, staff, speakers, sponsors, members and of course, our 2024 conference planning committee.
Exciting news for MFTs working in the Veterans' Administration! This week, Rep. Julia Brownley introduced HR 8165, a bill that would eliminate the COAAMFTE school requirement for supervisory roles at the VA. This change will open advancement opportunities for approximately 50% of MFTs nationwide and 90% of MFTs in California at the Department of Veterans Affairs. The VA Marriage and Family Therapist Equity Act, will reduce barriers and ensure qualified LMFTs have the opportunity to provide therapy services to our nation’s veterans through removing unnecessary hurdles and easing a pathway to supervision within the VA. We urge you to reach out to your elected officials and ask them to co-sponsor this important piece of legislation for both MFTs and our veterans. Please click here to ask your elected official to help move this bill through Congress.
On the topic of license portability, I invite members to review a few resources, including a webinar which highlights California legislature’s historical stance on compacts, the cost associated with managing a compact, and the time it would take to have a compact passed with many states. For these reasons and others outlined in the webinar, CAMFT is working with AAMFT to advocate for license portability model laws to be introduced by various states across the nation. This is believed to provide state-specific licensure requirement flexibility and expediency to achieve license portability. This initiative started in late 2023 after AAMFT conducted research and gathered their member feedback. Already AAMFT has successfully introduced legislation in a number of states as part of their first phase of their “Access MFT” advocacy initiative. As of May 4th, several states have passed favorable license portability: Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, Maryland, Tennesse, and Virginia.
Here are some additional resources on the matter:
With the Annual Conference in the rearview mirror, we want to make sure members are engaged on two other areas of focus. As a reminder, and per our strategic initiatives to raise funds for CAMFT’s Political Action Committee (PAC), we will be instituting an automatic optional $4.00 PAC contribution charge with your membership renewal to help fund our state PAC. Members have the option of opting out of this contribution or giving more. The average member giving is typically $25. It is extremely important that CAMF’s PAC has the ability to support legislators whose principles align with the needs of MFTs. Please click here for more information about this change.
I also wish to remind you that our Bylaws Committee continues its review of CAMFT’s bylaws to bring them up to date. We want to hear from you, our members, to help guide the committee in their process. Please take this quick survey and weigh in on important matters including pre-license voting rights, dual licensures and board leadership, agency membership and more.
As we head into the warmer months, and the excitement of summer starts to fill the air, I hope that you are able to prioritize self-care and find ways to recharge. At CAMFT, we’ll be preparing for the new Board year and continuing to make progress on our strategic plan for the future prosperity of our organization and for you, our members.
With care,
Joy Alafia, MBA, CAE
Executive Director