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Thank you for your interest in the CAMFT Honors and Awards Program. Our Honors and Awards Committee will begin reviewing nominations after the deadline date of November 7, 2025. Recipients will be notified April 1, 2026.
A Distinguished Clinical Member is a clinical member or Life clinical member who has given outstanding service in the field of marriage and family therapy and the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists. The recipient muse be engaged at the time of nomination in the advancement of marriage and family therapy. Nominees are required to have been clinical members of CAMFT for two years. In addition, nominees are required to have five years of experience following licensure as an LMFT. NOTE: the Honors Committee prefers that candidates have a minimum of 10 years as a clinical member of CAMFT. The longevity, complexity, depth and number of years providing service will be strongly considered. It is also strongly encouraged by the Honors Committee that Distinguished Clinical Members be nominated by any CAMFT member. If a candidate self-nominates, they will need to have a letter of recommendation from an active CAMFT member that addresses the criteria of the application.
CLICK HERE TO APPLY OR NOMINATE
CAMFT makes this award available to honor a literary or research contribution to the profession. Nominations must be made by eight clinical CAMFT members.
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. CLICK HERE TO APPLY
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.
For questions, please contact honors@camft.org.
For over 25 years Mat Chirman, LMFT, LPCC, NCC has worked primarily with clients who have Borderline Personality Disorder. As an intern in a county mental agency he researched BPD treatment protocols and discovered the STEPPS Program (Systematic Treatment for Emotional Predictability and Problem Solving), a group therapy program designed specifically to treat clients with BPD. In his 11 years at the county using the STEPPS curriculum, he saw that it was learning to identify and change the maladaptive schema-based ways of thinking that brought about powerful change. As he moved into private practice, Mat continued offering the BPD treatment group and expanded on the STEPPS program with techniques from Schema Therapy, becoming a Certified Individual Schema Therapist. He began offering a BPD Family Support Group to help family members understand BPD and learn to respond to the clients in ways that supported their progress in treatment. In private practice he supervised interns and helped them learn how to work with BPD clients individually and in group. In addition to schema change, the other powerful concept from Schema Therapy that has had a profound impact on his clients is that of limited reparenting. Limited reparenting is the heart of the treatment in schema therapy. It involves the therapist acting as a "good parent" to provide the client with the nurturing, guidance, and acceptance they may have lacked in their childhood and that foster secure attachment. For Mat this has included going to client homes during a crisis to help them regulate their emotions, accompanying clients to the hospital during a 5150 process, having extremely flexible boundaries that revolve around client safety, being available at all hours by phone to support clients through crises, and recognizing that clients are going through an often frustratingly slow developmental process. It often involves co-regulating his clients’ emotions, modeling how to respond calmly and appropriately to challenging situations. His clients have been his most influential teachers, helping him understand how, as therapists, we can unintentionally create an invalidating environment for our clients. He is committed to reducing the stigma around the BPD diagnosis and volunteers with the National Educational Alliance for BPD to advocate for clients with BPD.
Rajani Levis has done extensive work EMDR Therapy, and was instrumental in the creation of the San Francisco-South Bay EMDR Regional Network which helps support local EMDR Therapists through ongoing workshops and trainings on trauma-related topics. She is an EMDRIA Approved Consultant in EMDR Therapy and a certified EMDR therapist. She is approved by ATSS as a certified trauma specialist and she is also a CAMFT Certified Supervisor. Rajani won the 2015 CAMFT Educational Foundation Grant for her proposal to create a daylong event entitled "The Business of Psychotherapy." Over 150 participants came together to benefit from multiple workshops, a private-practice panel, resources and community-building activities. Out of this, emerged the 'Talking About Therapy' website, which creates community support for therapists in private practice around the world. Rajani also helps to train graduate students in trauma work and is also devoted to community- building activities, so that therapists can be supported in their trauma work. Rajani is a generous community member, therapist, supervisor, teacher, innovator, and role-model who demonstrates intelligence, passion, vision, thoroughness, and sensitivity, and aspires to expand the effectiveness of community mental healthcare.
In Love by Design, Dr. Sara Nasserzadeh unveils a groundbreaking framework for understanding and cultivating thriving relationships. With over 20 years of clinical experience and extensive research involving individuals and couples from 40+ countries, Nasserzadeh offers a profound critique of conventional love paradigms. This model, characterized by intense initial attraction that often leads to enmeshment and eventual dissatisfaction, fails to sustain long-term fulfillment. Dr. Nasserzadeh's evidence-informed approach promises to reshape how we think about love and partnership, providing a transformative perspective on building enduring, meaningful connections inclusive of all sexual and relational orientations. Dr. Nasserzadeh's contributions not only advance the field of couples therapy but also hold the promise of positively impacting lives on a global scale. Her extensive accolades, including recognition by the British Council for social impact and AASECT's Award for Professional Excellence, coupled with her esteemed board positions at multiple professional organizations such as California Psychological Association and World Association for Sexual health, further solidify her status as a trailblazer in the realm of love and relationships.