TABLE of CONTENTS

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Did you miss the BBS-MANDATED  3 CE Telehealth course? 

Telehealth: Law & Ethics, Technology, and Best Practices for Connecting with Your Clients with Lisa Wenninger, BC-TMH

Catch it on video here, and get your mandated 3 Telehealth CEs.           Return to top

RECAMFT's Mission Statement

The purpose of RECAMFT is to promote and maintain professional competence and integrity with knowledge, innovation, compassion, humor and respect for human dignity and diversity.

We do this by providing opportunities for networking, education and community outreach.

Are you creative? Join us for our Crafting Group. 

Bring any craft you like, get on Zoom with us and visit with your colleagues while we knit, sew, paint, draw, cook, create, etc. 

• Fri., Oct. 11th, 11:30 am
• Register here                       Return to top

Have you written a book? 

Be sure to let us know so we can include it on our Library page. Email therapy@recamft.org. 

RECAMFT's Racial and Social Justice Pledge

RECAMFT is committed to equity including addressing structural racism and systemic injustice. We endeavor to be inclusive and value individuals from all ethnicities, ages, races, sexual orientations, genders, languages, abilities, religions, citizenship statuses, and socioeconomic backgrounds into our chapter and into treatment.

We strive to advocate, educate, collaborate, and strategize for positive racial and social justice change within our membership and our community.

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Dear RECAMFT Members,

I am writing to discuss some important news with you, our members, from our September 13, 2024 Board meeting. The Board voted for some needed changes that will affect our members, and require your vote for approval. 

There are two issues: an increase to our annual membership dues (does not apply to Prelicensed members), and creation of a new membership category: Emeritus, for retired members age 65 and older who still want to remain part  of our RECAMFT community. Creating this new membership class requires a RECAMFT bylaws change. 

Our CFO, Tara D'Orazio, and Secretary, Dr. Laura Strom, worked together as the Bylaws Committee to craft the changes needed to create the new Emeritus membership class. The proposed bylaws are on our website, and can be seen here. I encourage all our voting members (LMFTs and Prelicensed) to review the proposed changes, and provide feedback for the Board to consider at the October 11th board meeting. You are invited to attend our Zoom board meetings where you can give feedback on these proposals in person, in addition to the feedback form located on the proposed bylaws page. 

The proposed membership dues increases are: 

• Clinical (LMFTs) was $75, now $95. 
• Affiliates (other licensed professionals, i.e. LCSWs, LEPs, LPCCs, RNs, JDs, MDs, Licensed Psychologists, etc.) was $75, now $95.
• Prelicensed was $25, remains $25
• New Emeritus category proposed at $45.

Once our membership approves the new bylaws when we vote in November, the bylaws changes need to be approved by the CAMFT Board. We anticipate the new membership rates will go into effect by February 1st at the earliest.

We ask you to vote in favor for the dues increase. Our bylaws committee calculated a 2.6% annual cost of living increase over the nine years since 2015, and based on this, recommended a dues increase to $99 (for Clinical and Affiliates). However, the Board felt that was too large a jump, and decided to increase the dues by $20 for both Clinical and Affiliate members. All members of the Board were concerned about not making membership any more difficult for our Prelicensed members, therefore no dues increase was suggested for them. We have had multiple requests for Emeritus membership over the years, and are pleased to be welcoming this new category..  

The proposed bylaws are changed in one other important way: the new language throughout the document has been written with gender-neutral terms. The old language was limited to "he/she" and "his/her". The Board was very pleased with this update to the language, and hopes you will be, too. 

Because of the pandemic, and the movement of our field into holding online meetings, we all needed to tighten our belts. No one wanted to increase dues during a pandemic. As we move past this crisis, I personally believe RECAMFT needs this dues increase to help ensure we remain viable now, and into the future.

It has been a privilege to serve as your President. Please consider Board service. I have seen many other CAMFT chapters, and I believe we are one of the very best CAMFT chapters. RECAMFT is very special, and we are all fortunate to be part of this wonderful organization. 

Sincerely,

Bob Casanova, PsyD, LMFT

2024 RECAMFT President

2017-18 CAMFT President

Dr. Bob Casanova, PsyD, LMFT is the President of RECAMFT's Board of Directors. He has a private practice in Windsor, CA. Dr. Casanova served as state CAMFT's President in 2017-2018. 

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Members - Check out our CE Library! 

Four brand new ONLINE offerings including

SIX (6) CEs Law & Ethics! 

Members - you can access recordings of our zoom events from 2023, 2022, and 2021  in our new on-demand library which has been migrated over to Thinkific (https://recamft.thinkific.com/).

NEW! RECAMFT On-Demand Programs: https://recamft.thinkific.com

NEW! RECAMFT discount codes are posted for members only here: https://www.recamft.org/member-discount-codes (requires sign-in using your RECAMFT member email/password)

NEW! Law & Ethics: How to Write a 10-Minute Treatment Plan, 3 CEs, with Barbara Griswold, LMFT.  https://recamft.thinkific.com/courses/2022-law-and-ethics-treatment-plan

NEW! Law & Ethics: What Should be in Your Notes, But Probably Isn't, 3 CEs, with Barbara Griswold, LMFT. https://recamft.thinkific.com/courses/2022-06-15-law-ethics-progress-notes

NEW! Three Underlying Beliefs That Cause Anxiety and How to Change Them, a CBT Approach, 2 CEs, with Jennifer Shannon, LMFT https://recamft.thinkific.com/courses/2024-06-3-Beliefs-Cause-Anxiety

NEW! Attachment Infused Addiction Treatment Theory, 2 CEs, with Mary Crocker Cook, PhD, LMFT https://recamft.thinkific.com/courses/attachment-addiction-2024-01

Members can watch the video, pass the test, fill out the evaluation, and download your certificate. It's that easy! You can earn CEs for any recorded event if you didn't already earn CEs from the live event. 

Welcome back, RECAMFT community! We are so excited to share some of the upcoming monthly CE events coming this fall.

RECAMFT Zoom presentations

• Oct. 5th -  Phylis Wakefield, PhD, "Breaking Free: A Therapist's Guide to Moving Beyond Insurance Panels", 2 hrs, no CEs.
• Nov. 1st - Dr. Shawn Giammattei, PhD, "Affirmative Family Therapy with Gender Diverse People and Their Loved Ones".  
• Dec. 6th - Dr. Stephen Tsao, PhD, "OCD and Exposure Prevention Response", more information coming soon...
• Jan. 3rd - In-person Annual Members Meeting, speaker (TBD), and 50th Golden Jubilee Celebration Luncheon, Odd Fellows Hall, 545 Pacific Ave., Santa Rosa, 10 am to 2 pm.

Are you interested in seeing what we have coming up? Consider microvolunteering with the Programs & Conferences Committee! Microvolunteering opportunities: screening speaker applications; providing support at in person CE events; monitoring Q&A for speakers during monthly Zoom presentations. We are especially looking for a Programs Committee Chairperson.

We look forward to another year of bringing you quality, enriching presentations which support your professional growth and development.

With gratitude,
The Programs & Conferences Committee

Members! Your SHORT DESCRIPTION is the most important thing on your profile. Why? Because that shows in our online directory. It matters! Please log in and complete yours today! 

Hello to all RECAMFT clinicians, and a special welcome to all our Prelicensed members!

My name is Nicolette Gottuso. I am an LMFT and a Substance Use Counselor. I have recently joined the Board as a Director at Large and the Prelicensed Chair, and wanted to introduce myself.

I have been a substance use counselor since I was in my early 20s. I slowly grew in my education and pursued a B.A. in psychology from Sonoma State University. I went on to get my masters in Counseling Psychology with an emphasis in Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute.

During my undergrad and graduate programs, I worked full time. I worked initially with the houseless population in Marin County for 4 years, and then spent time at Lifeworks of Sonoma County doing in-home therapy. I finally landed at Muir Wood Adolescent and Family Services and eventually became the Clinical Director there for the boys facility in Petaluma. I have since left that role to pursue private practice. I have an office in Petaluma one day a week and see clients virtually on all of the other days. I specialize in addiction, adolescents and attachment disorders.

I wanted to join the Prelicensed Committee to help prelicensed folks feel that they are not alone in what feels like a heavy, scary time when licensure feels so far away and sometimes unattainable! The one thing graduate school does not teach most of us, unfortunately, is how to be in the world as a therapist, and how to start a private practice. I am excited to help, however I can, in my new role, as a member of the RECAMFT Board, and the Chair of the Prelicensed Committee.

You are welcome to contact me with your questions and concerns about the road to licensure. Please send me an email via therapy@recamft.org. I look forward to connecting with you! 

Nicolette Gottuso, M.A., LMFT, SUDCC IV-CS

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We need help with

• Prelicensed Committee!
• Programs Committee
• Racial & Social Justice Committee
• Newsletter Editor Assistant (ideally comfortable with web publishing, blogs, social media, etc.)
• Tech 2 - Social Media Manager

Please send an email to therapy@recamft.org if you can help.       Return to top

Our listserv has around 400 members on it, and is active daily with great conversations, resources, offerings, in search of, books, movies, office rentals, jobs, internships, etc. You can view the home page of our listserv at https://groups.io/g/recamft.

If you are not currently enrolled in the listserv, please email therapy@recamft.org and ask to be added. You have the option of setting up your account to be 

• Read individual emails
• Read a digest of 12 emails
• Or read online only

After you have been added to the listserv, you can change the way you receive the emails to any of the above choices. In Gmail the emails will appear under your Forums tab. To send an email to the listserv, simply address your email to recamft@groups.io

If you do not want to be on our listserv, you can delete your account or write to therapy@recamft.org and ask to not be a part of the listserv. But we urge you to give it a try. You are missing out on a ton of meaningful collaboration with your colleagues. We hope you will enjoy being part of our online community! 

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The Sept. Board meeting

• BIG NEWS! The Board of Directors voted for the first dues increase RECAMFT has had in nine years. The last dues increase was in 2015. They also noted not to wait such a long time for future dues increases. 
• The Board also voted to create a new membership class: Emeritus, defined as members age 65 and older who are retired from our profession. The new Emeritus membership class requires a bylaws change. 
• The dues increase and Emeritus membership class are both subject to approval by the members when we vote in November. 
• The new membership rates are as follows: 
• Clinical (LMFT) was $75, now will be $95. 
• Affiliate (non-LMFT) was $75, now will be $95.
• Prelicensed was $25, remains $25. 
• Emeritus will be $45, and is slated to begin next spring. 

Above pic L-R: Top row: Dr. Bob Casanova (President), Dr. Laura Strom (Secretary), Janice Hoscan, Member visiting;

Second row: Tara D'Orazio (CFO), Gina Culver (Past President),  Pat Hromalik, Director at Large (DAL);

Third row: Cynthia Psaila, DAL, Emily Larkin, President Elect, Reyna Seminara, DAL;

Fourth row: Nicolette Gottuso, Prelicensed DAL, Dr. Jean Hayes, DAL.

Photo of the Sept. Board meeting by Laura Strom.

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Scholarships, Honors and Awards

Link to our Therapy Groups page and a PDF of current offerings - RECAMFT.ORG/Therapy-Groups

CLICK HERE to learn more about local group offerings, and payment to advertise your group. 

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