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The Redwood Empire Therapist
RECAMFT's Online Newsletter
March 2025
Coming IN-PERSON March 7th! Law & Ethics, 6 CEs Dust off your skills!
"Refreshing Your Law & Ethics Closet of Knowledge" Kristin Roscoe, JD, CAMFT Staff Attorney
| Coming Fri., Apr 4th!
There is an increasing need and demand for therapists to understand the Neurodiversity Paradigm and to implement neurodiversity-affirming care in practice. Increasing numbers of clients are being diagnosed and/or self-identify with Autism and/or ADHD, but most therapists have had little (or no) training in accurately identifying and supporting these clients. Katy Higgins Lee, LMFT is a multiply neurodivergent therapist and clinical supervisor in private practice in Northern California. She has been in private practice for nine years and has been a supervisor at the Lomi Psychotherapy Clinic for five years. She is a CAMFT-approved Continuing Education Provider and offers trainings on neurodiversity, with a focus on Autism, ADHD, and Giftedness. MORE.... |
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Featured member
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. March 7th - Save the Date!
Our Annual Law & Ethics will be presented. 6 CEs, IN PERSON. Save the date - March 7th! REGISTER HERE. | Dear RECAMFT Community: In early February, three of our board members had the privilege of attending CAMFT’s 2025 Chapter Leadership Conference (CLC) in San Jose. Past President Dr. Bob Casanova, President Elect Pat Hromalik, and I were grateful for the opportunity to connect with fellow chapter leaders, exchange ideas on strengthening our support for members, and learn from the successes of other chapters. We returned home inspired and energized, with a renewed passion for making RECAMFT even stronger. Photo below of us at the CLC was provided by CAMFT.
This experience led me to reflect on how we, as your Board of Directors, are serving you? Are there needs we may be overlooking? Where can we improve? Our role is to support you, so you can continue your vital work in guiding clients on their paths to healing—ultimately fostering a healthier, more connected community. We want to hear from you. Your insights help shape our chapter’s future, and we welcome your feedback at therapy@recamft.org. In recent weeks our team has been hearing from members concerned about the current political climate and the deep uncertainty it has created. We know that many in our community—our friends, families, colleagues, clients, and those within our own organization—are experiencing fear. Fear of being unable to exist authentically. Fear of being targeted. Fear of being denied rights. Fear of deportation. During such a divisive time in the history of our country, I feel it is necessary for RECAMFT to affirm that our organization stands on the side of empathy and love. Our profession is built on the values of compassion and ethical responsibility. As an organization, we are committed to actively supporting marginalized communities, and to upholding the ethical principles that are foundational to our work. We value diversity, we strive for equity, and we are committed to inclusion. Now, more than ever, we are here for you. Warmly, Emily Larkin, LMFT President, RECAMFT.org
Call for Submissions for the April 2025 Issue of The RECAMFT Therapist! April is Earth Month and April 20th is Earth Day. It is also Arab American Heritage Month, and Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month. See more here. We especially welcome submissions where awareness themes intersect with mental health. Please send your submission (500 word max) to therapy@recamft.org by the 15th. Questions? therapy@recamft.org. Return to top
Are you creative? Please 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.
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RECAMFT's Racial and Social Justice Pledge
We strive to advocate, educate, collaborate, and strategize for positive racial and social justice change within our membership and our community. |
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.
FREE to Members - Visit our On-Demand CE Video Library! Multiple new ONLINE offerings! Find all the latest here (including 6 CEs Law & Ethics) Check it out! RECAMFT's On-Demand CE Library link: https://recamft.thinkific.com/ Featured On-Demand CE Video of the Month FREE to RECAMFT members! Do something radical. Learn more about gender-affirming care.
Presented by Dr. Shawn Giammattei, PhD Many clinicians report struggling with how to approach working with gender-diverse youth and their families, especially when caregivers are having difficulty understanding or possibly accepting their child’s gender diversity. Clinicians also report struggling with how to work with couples or relationships where a partner is on a gender journey. Given the current focus on gender-affirming care and the push to restrict its access in many locations, the expanding restrictions around access to bathrooms, athletics, and safe spaces, as well as the limited number of clinicians who feel competent to work with these clients, it is important that all mental health care providers have a basic understanding of the issues at hand and how to collaboratively work with gender diverse people and their families. This training will help providers who work with gender-diverse clients across the lifespan understand the basics of gender affirmative care using a collaborative developmental model for working with transgender, non-binary, gender-expansive children, adolescents, young adults, and their families that is inclusive of the many intersections of identity we all hold. We will explore the basics of gender diversity & language, the gender affirmative model, the experiences of gender dysphoria, gender incongruence, gender noise, gender joy, developmental gender journeys, gender minority stress, and the competencies necessary to do this work. This presentation will be interactive and include experiential exercises. Shawn Giammattei, PhD is a clinical family psychologist in private practice in Northern CA and the Associate Director of Mental Health for the Child and Adolescent Gender Center at UCSF, Benioff Children’s Hospital. He is the founder & CEO of the Gender Health Training Institute, which is dedicated to training providers in culturally attuned, trauma-informed, family-centered gender affirmative care, the TransFamily Alliance, an educational, resource, and support community for parents with gender diverse offspring, and Quest Family Therapy, a group family therapy practice in California. He specializes in family therapy with couples, families, and individuals across the lifespan, with a particular focus on transgender, non-binary, and gender-expansive youth and their families. He is a GEI SOC8 certified Mentor for the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and is on faculty for their Global Education Institute. He is also a trans-health researcher, author, international speaker, and professor teaching graduate and post-graduate courses in LGBTQ psychology and family systems. He is an advisory member of Mind the Gap, a group dedicated to gender affirming care for trans youth and their families, a past officer and board member of the American Family Therapy Academy and the Association of Family Therapists of Northern California, and the author of several articles and book chapters on gender, sexuality, and family work.
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We are extremely grateful to our Sponsors for sponsoring our March 7th, 2025 Law & Ethics! |
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Members - you can access recordings of our zoom events from 2024, 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! Identifying and Treating Imposter Syndrome, 2 CEs with Stevon Lewis, LMFT https://recamft.thinkific.com/courses/2025-02-imposter
NEW! Understanding Hoarding Disorder, 1.5 CEs with Dr. Robin Zasio, PsyD, LCSW https://recamft.thinkific.com/courses/2025-hoarding-ondemand
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
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
LGBTQ+: Affirmative Family Therapy with Gender Diverse People and Their Loved Ones, 2 CEs, with Dr. Shawn Giammattei, PhD https://recamft.thinkific.com/courses/2024-transgender-families
LGBTQ+: Working with Dissociative Disorders & Plural Communities, 4 CEs, with Serenity Serseción, PhD, LMFT https://recamft.thinkific.com/courses/2023-12-DID
LGBTQ+: How Sexuality Influences the Clinical Picture for Female Clients, 2 CEs with Dr. Jenn Kennedy, PhD, LMFT https://recamft.thinkific.com/courses/2024-09-06-sexuality-female-clients
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
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
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. Programs Chair Director at Large Programs & Conferences Committee
We need help with
Please send an email to therapy@recamft.org if you can help. |
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, 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 March 7th - Save the Date!
Our Annual Law & Ethics will be presented. 6 CEs, IN PERSON. Save the date - March 7th! REGISTER HERE Check out RECAMFT's Library page for books authored by our members! Have you written a book? Be sure to let us know so we can include it on our Library page. Email therapy@recamft.org.
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Members! Your SHORT DESCRIPTION is the most important thing on your profile. Why? Because that shows in our 
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Upcoming events
| Featured member
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
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! |
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
Contact therapy@recamft.org to advertise a job. Featured member | The Feb. 2025 Board meeting - the Board plus member Brian Crites met with Joy Alafia during this Board meeting. Photo by Dr. Laura Strom. L-R Top: Tara D'Orazio, CFO; Dr. Laura Strom, Secretary; Emily Larkin, President Middle: Pat Hromalik, President Elect; Dr. Jean Hayes, Director at Large (DAL); Gwen Watson, DAL, Programs Chair Bottom: Brian Crites; Cynthia Psaila, DAL; Joy Alafia, CAMFT Exec. Director
The above picture is the Law & Ethics Committee meeting on Jan. 31, 2025. L-R: Top row: Pat Hromalik (President Elect); Dr. Laura Strom (Secretary); Dr. Jean Hayes (Director at Large [DAL]); Second row: Cynthia Psaila (DAL); Gwen Watson (DAL)' Tara D'Orazio (CFO); Third row: Emily Larkin (President seen here with baby Larkin, her assistant); Jessica Heaney (DAL) Photo of the committee meeting by Dr. Laura Strom. Scholarship Program seeking additional donation prizes for raffle to be held at Law & Ethics on March 7th
Please contact therapy@recamft.org to let us know about your donation. Cash donations are always appreciated for our Joe and Pam Memorial Scholarship. We have now provided three years of scholarships to seven deserving prelicensed and newly licensed scholarship winners. Please visit recamft.org/scholarship. to learn more about this worthy program. Your donations to our non-profit are tax deductible. Photo of Jessica Heaney, AMFT, RECAMFT Director at Large, at our Scholarship Fundraiser table on Jan. 3, 2025 taken by Annette Seibel, LMFT.
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Pat Hromalik, LMFT
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Find out more about advertising with RECAMFT here. | Got a sticky problem? Come discuss it confidentially with your colleagues at our next Ethics Roundtable
Not consultation, just a great way to get some ideas about how to handle your sticky case. Friendly and open group. Learn more here.
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How I COPE with Wildfire Threat
By Cynthia Halliday, LMFT, 2010 RECAMFT President
The Los Angeles wildfires have touched all our hearts. We remember all too well how wildfires have impacted us here in Northern California. I lost my home in the 2017 Tubbs fire. I understand firsthand the devastation this loss brings to families.
Rather than quietly ruminate, recently the residential
community of Hollydale in Forestville has come together as neighbors helping neighbors
organize to prepare for disaster. This program is known throughout Sonoma
County as COPE (Communities Organizing to Prepare for Emergencies).
My community of neighbors began meeting in fall 2024 just before the start of the LA fires. Those fires were a terrible reminder to all of us of what occurred in our area in 2015, 2017 and 2020. The motivation and participation in the startup meetings has been accelerated as a result of the fires in Los Angeles, supported by participation of our local and county emergency responders.
The progress my Forestville community has made addresses neighbors’ preparation for evacuation, reliable communication during emergency events (some people are being trained in using specialized emergency-response radios), and harm reduction of the environment (e.g.,, pulling Sweet Broom out before it becomes established, as it is a non-native plant that burns extremely hot, and can rapidly spread or worsen a fire). This organizing effort not only reassures folks they are not alone and can get the help they need, but it also allows first responders to do their job of protecting life and property more efficiently.
I feel the greatest benefit being experienced amongst my neighbors is building a community of encouragement and support. It empowers individuals to both give, and receive help in a reliable way during emergencies and crises.
For anyone interested in knowing more about how to form a COPE within your own neighborhood or to find out if you have an existing one, you can go online to Sonoma County Department of Emergency Management or Northern Sonoma County COPE for information and details.
Organizing a COPE group in my immediate neighborhood has been a way for me to cope with the losses I experienced. I hope some of you will consider starting your own COPE groups. Northern Sonoma County COPE is there to help you with every step along the way. Let the LA wildfires move you, too, into empowered action.
Cynthia Halliday, LMFT, is a retired MFT and art therapist. She was the 2010 President of RECAMFT. You may direct questions for her regarding COPE to therapy@recamft.org.
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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Thank you for reading this month's newsletter! RECAMFT is great because of involved members like you!! |
Are you looking for help? Find therapists offering free natural disaster and crisis sessions here. Please check out MySonomaStrong.com. Visit the NAMI Warmline. Take a trauma-informed yoga class. We will recover together! ¿Buscas ayuda? Encuentre terapeutas que ofrezcan sesiones gratuitas de crisis y desastres naturales aquí. Visite MySonomaStrong.com. Visite la NAMI Warmline. Toma una clase de yoga informada sobre el trauma. ¡Nos recuperaremos juntos!
Redwood Empire Chapter of California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists |
