CANDIDATE FOR ClINICAL DIRECTOR-AT-LARGE

Cindy Pile, LMFT

Hello. My name is Cindy and I hope to join CAMFT’s Board of Directors as a Director-at-Large.

I have been a therapist for nine years, working extensively with trauma survivors, especially survivors of sexual abuse and assault, and trafficking. Because of this work, and in this time of COVID, I have seen the importance and effectiveness of trauma-focused therapy. Since part of CAMFT’s mission is to, “anticipate and meet the professional needs of its members,” I hope to facilitate MFTs continual training in such therapy. And, after offering numerous in-services to fellow staff members, I have also seen the necessity of tending to ourselves so we don’t develop compassion fatigue. I hope to support CAMFT members in taking good care of themselves.

With the passage of S.B. 801, CAMFT’s scope of practice bill, I am also excited to assist potential clients, and the public at large, in understanding all that MFTs have to offer, letting them know that we provide skilled, accessible, culturally competent services and are able to reimagine these services as needed to fit the needs of diverse individuals and communities. I believe it is important to highlight creative mental health solutions such as mobile response teams that respond to nonviolent crisis calls instead of the police.

I am drawn to seeking a CAMFT Board nomination because of its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and the values of integrity, accountability and inclusiveness. I’m writing this in the aftermath of the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict. How, as CAMFT, do we respond? How do we help our clients of color navigate the ongoing dismissal of their rights and their lives? How do we encourage white members to examine their own biases in order to become better therapists? I hope to build on this foundation, initiated by the Board, by ensuring that CAMFT provides more DEI trainings and encourages the organization of white affinity groups among members and the examination of hiring practices and infrastructure in our places of work. Are we supporting BIPOC-, women- and LGBTQ+-owned businesses? Are we using services, such as AT&T, whose values are antithetical to CAMFT’s?

Before I became a therapist, I was a community educator and activist. I would bring these organizing and marketing skills to CAMFT. I started a nonprofit, a house of hospitality for houseless women and children, organized low-income seniors to tell their stories to legislators and authored a small-group process manual on women’s spirituality and peacemaking which I used in prison, shelters and transitional housing. I would use the experience and skills I have gained to raise the visibility of our profession and to lobby for the passage of bills that impact our profession, as well as ones CAMFT identifies as furthering DEI and supporting the mental health of marginalized communities.

Thank you. I look forward to, hopefully, serving you.