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The Redwood Empire Therapist
RECAMFT's Online Newsletter
October 2026
Join us for some great events this fall! Expressive Arts Therapy: Creative Interventions
Presented by Danielle Saporta, LMFT Friday, October 2nd, 2026 9:00 am - 12:30 pm PT 3 CEs - On Zoom This foundational course is designed for therapists at any stage of their career who wish to deepen their understanding of trauma-informed expressive arts approaches and explore how creative interventions may support meaningful therapeutic work with individuals, couples, families, and groups. Through experiential activities, participants will learn about expressive arts modalities and consider client needs, readiness, safety, and trauma-informed principles, while also attending to scope of practice and professional competence. No prior expressive arts experience is necessary, and minimal materials are required—a writing utensil and paper are sufficient, though participants are welcome to bring additional art materials. This course does not constitute training or credentialing in art therapy or qualify participants to practice outside their existing scope of competence.
Danielle received her masters in Expressive Arts Therapy from California Institute of Integral Studies in 2015 and when not seeing clients or providing clinical supervision at community mental health non-profit, trains other therapists, educators, and behavioral health workers to implement the arts into their practices. |
Time: 9 am to 12 pm Where: Zoom Who: Prelicensed masters/doctoral students, trainees, and associates, and licensed clinicians, too! So, you want to start a private practice? Thinking about launching a practice - or ready to reinvigorate the one you already have? RECAMFT is here to offer support and understanding of the nuts and bolts of starting, building, and sustaining a private practice in today’s environment. The RECAMFT Prelicensed Committee hosts and sponsors a 3-hour workshop focused on the practical side of private practice, including:
The workshop will feature RECAMFT Prelicensed Committee members sharing helpful insights, experiences, and lessons learned from building and sustaining their own practices, along with three experts from our community! Expert Commentators
Cost
Supporting Clients Through Perimenopause: Approaches and Interventions for Psychotherapists
Registration coming soon. | Therapy in the Custody Storm: What Every Clinician Needs to Know
Presented by Dené Carroll, LCSW & Elizabeth Crenshaw, LMFT
Friday, Nov. 6th, 2026
9:00 am - 12:00 pm PT
Zoom, 3 CEs Custody cases bring some of the highest-stakes, most ethically complicated work a therapist will ever do. One misstep in role clarity, consent, or documentation can affect not just your client's healing, but the outcome of their case. Sooner or later, this case lands on your caseload, whether you sought it out or not. This training meets you wherever you are, from seasoned clinicians to those just beginning, and whether this is your first custody case or your fiftieth. This 3-hour orientation gives you the nuts and bolts to handle it with confidence: the difference between clinical and forensic roles, why dual parent consent matters so much in child therapy cases, how to collaborate across disciplines without crossing ethical lines, and why the old IPV vs. alienation debate is giving way to a more accurate, multifactorial understanding of parent-child contact problems. You'll walk away knowing exactly where your lane is, how to stay in it, and who to call when a case gets complicated — protecting your clients, your license, and your peace of mind. About our speakers 
Dené Carroll, LCSW brings sharp clinical skills, research-informed practice, and a deeply caring presence to her work with families navigating the mental health and legal systems. A former Sonoma County CPS social worker and court investigator, she specializes in co-parenting counseling, family systems therapy, and court-involved cases in her Santa Rosa private practice. More... 
Elizabeth Crenshaw, MA, LMFT, has been a licensed clinician for over 30 years, specializing in court-involved therapy, co-parenting counseling, reunification therapy, and high-conflict divorce. Based in Santa Rosa, she brings a rare combination of clinical depth, intuition, and calm to some of family law's most complex cases. More... Registration coming soon. |
"Where do I start?" Launching and sustaining a private practice.png "RECAMFT leaf logo with rainbow rings"){kind=logo}
Coming in December!
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 Dr. Lisa Wenninger, PhD, LPCC, BC-TMH Catch it on video here, and get your mandated 3 Telehealth CEs. Return to top Are you creative? Please join us for our Makers Guild (formerly 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. Join us at our next meeting:
| Dear RECAMFT Community: In my work, I use Dialectical Behavior Therapy as one of the methods to teach clients healthy coping skills to help them with a variety of mental health challenges. I know many of you use these techniques. In this context, dialectics refers to two opposing ideas, thoughts, emotions, or beliefs which can exist and be true at the same time. I find myself in that state with two recent experiences that simultaneously filled me with sorrow and despair, but also with warm hope. Through the RECAMFT public therapist directory, one of our members received a vile email full of bigotry, racism and hate directed at them and their family because the member had publicly stood up against hate speech and racism. Reading the message filled me with such a wave of heavy emotions: anger, revulsion, fear, and despair at the prevalence and, often, normalization of such discourse and feeling in our country. It pained me even more since it was directed at one of our members who is a part of our community of educated, skilled, caring, healing professionals. (As a result, our Executive Board made the decision to disable the function in our directory that will allow someone to private message the therapist.) We strive to have a community that recognizes the problems and damage done to people marginalized because of race, ethnicity, citizenship status, socioeconomics, gender identity, sexual orientation, spiritual beliefs, physical or mental ability. We are far from perfect and as our Land and People Acknowledgement Statement says, “We want our space to be safe and welcoming for all. We welcome feedback regarding our ongoing efforts to create inclusive, equitable safe spaces.” My heart felt heavy knowing our online community website was used to lash out and hurt our member and their family. Dealing with this situation was juxtaposed with me sitting in the surgical waiting room waiting to speak with my husband’s postop nurse about his condition after knee replacement surgery. As I waited, my eye caught a poster titled “Dr. Jean Watson’s Human Caring Theory: Ten Caritas Processes®” (see photo and transcription below). 1. Embrace (loving-kindness) – Sustaining humanistic-altruistic values by the practice of loving-kindness, compassion and equanimity with self and others. 2. Inspire (faith-hope) – Be authentically present, enabling a system of faith, hope and belief, honoring the subjective inner life-world of self and others. 3. Trust (transpersonal) – Be sensitive to self and others by cultivating one’s own spiritual practices, beyond ego-self to transpersonal presence. 4. Nurture (relationship) – Developing and sustaining loving, trusting and caring human relationships. 5. Forgive (holding space) – Allowing for the expression of positive and negative feelings, authentically listening to another person’s story. 6. Deepen (creative self) – Creatively problem solving or solution seeking through the caring process, with the full use of self and artistry or caring and healing practices via all ways of knowing / being / doing / becoming. 7. Balance (learning) – Engaging in transpersonal teaching and learning within the context of a caring relationship. Staying within another frame of reference and shifting toward a coaching model for expanded health and wellness. 8. Co-Create (caritas field) – Creating a subtle healing environment at all levels for an energetic, authentic caring presence. 9. Minister (humanity) – Reverentially assisting with basic needs as sacred acts, touching the mind-body-spirit of another, sustaining human dignity. 10. Open (infinity) – Opening to spiritual, mystery, and unknowns – allowing for miracles. Dr. Watson has a fascinating background as a nurse, prolific author and educator – she has a PhD in Educational Psychology and Counseling. She has received numerous awards and accolades for her decades of work in the caring field. You can read about her at WatsonCaringScience.org As I read the Caritas I was struck by how each one applies to our work as therapists. I was filled with pride and hope thinking of all of us in the caring professions – working every day to bring about healing and positive change. Together the love and caring we bring to our work is mightier than the hatred and bigotry we witness too often. What an honor to be part of this vast and powerful web of caring professionals! Kindest regards, Pat Hromalik, LMFT 2026 RECAMFT President
Pat Hromalik, LMFT is the President of RECAMFT's Board of Directors. She has a private practice in Petaluma, CA. Please note: our new email address is info@recamft.org.
Nov. CARE Circle (Compassion, Acknowledgement, Recharge, Empower - formerly Compassion Fatigue) Support Group Meeting
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 for our members. (Note: "For our members" was added to the Mission Statement by the Bylaws Task Force on May 19, 2025). |
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Introducing.... Special Interest Groups (SIGs) - coming very soon!
RECAMFT is very excited to offer Special Interest Groups or SIGs starting in the fall 2026.
What is a SIG?
A Special Interest Group (SIG) is an ongoing community of RECAMFT members who share a common therapeutic interest and meet regularly to learn, collaborate, and support one another. It is open to RECAMFT members who have experience or a new interest in the topic.
A SIG is started by two RECAMFT members, as co-chairs that will have an appeal to a larger group of RECAMFT members. either in-person, or on Zoom.
What SIGs will RECAMFT be offering?
RECAMFT has plans to offer the following SIGs run by these co-chairs starting later this fall. The SIGs will be listed on our Current Events page. Please register so we know how many to expect, and please show up if you register because some SIGs may be limited in the space for attendees.
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We are hoping to see all sorts of SIGs get started!
Members have expressed interest in all the following topics.
- Internal Family Systems (IFS)
- EMDR
- Existential therapy
- Sexual trauma
- Medical disabilities
- Emergency response (fires, floods, shootings, etc.)
- Neurodiversity
- Child play therapy
- Brainspotting
- Spanish speaking therapists
So, if something like this interests you, please find a friend to be your co-chair, and drop us an email to let us know at info@recamft.org. We will contact you to further explore your ideas. We can't wait to see how this grows!! Look for an eblast coming soon to announce the starting dates for our SIGs and explain how to register.
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/
Catch "Part 1: Intro to PACT – Psychobiological Approach to Couples Therapy" (on-demand) with Dr. Hans Stahlschmidt - FREE to members!
This course will introduce a different approach to working with couples. It suggests that couples will co-develop a relationship that reflects a deep mutual care system and is also a growth model that encourages and supports the partners to grow and prosper. Major principles of this care system are building safety and security with each other and putting the relationship first, as well as finding agreements that organize their relationship in a secure-functioning way and develop effective co-regulation. Pact is both a bottom-up and a top-down model of couple therapy. This approach allows more freedom for the therapist to use the self for the benefit of the therapy.
Dr. Hans Stahlschmidt has been part of the PACT Institute for over 13 years. Hans is a highly experienced therapist who works with couples and individuals in private practice in Berkeley, CA. He believes that navigating a primary relationship is one of the most difficult human endeavors but also one of the most rewarding ones — a challenge that will make us grow. Hans has studied, worked, and taught in Germany as well as in the United States. He holds a German psychology degree from the Freie Universität Berlin and practiced in Berlin as a licensed psychologist. He received his PhD from Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara, CA. While drawing upon a range of psychological approaches, he has made the PACT model his theoretical and practice-related.
To see a preview of this dynamic program... CLICK HERE.
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)
Topic List
Addiction
- Attachment Infused Addiction Treatment Theory 2 CEs with Dr. Mary Crocker Cook, PhD, LMFT
Anxiety & Depression
- Identifying and Treating Imposter Syndrome 2 CEs with Stevon Lewis, LMFT
- Mental Wellness in the Digital Age 1.5 CEs with Julie Frumin, LMFT
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Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: Evidence-Based Treatment Strategies That Work! 3 CEs with Dr. Robin Zasio, PsyD, LCSW
- Three Underlying Beliefs That Cause Anxiety and How to Change Them, A CBT Approach 2 CEs with Jennifer Shannon, LMFT
- Understanding Hoarding Disorder 1.5 CEs with Dr. Robin Zasio, PsyD, LCSW
Couples
- Part 1: Intro to PACT – Psychobiological Approach to Couples Therapy 2 CEs with Dr. Hans Stahlschmidt, PhD
Culture
- Support & Safety during Crisis: Treating Undocumented Families Facing ICE & Detention 2 CEs with Dr. Sandra Espinoza, PsyD, LMFT NEW!
Eating Disorders
- Treating Binge Eating Disorder with Self-Compassion: A Trauma-informed Approach 2 CEs with Erica Thomas, LMFT
- Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy: Update on a Transformative Treatment Option 2 CEs with Evolve Mind Wellness Staff
- Telehealth: Law & Ethics, Technology, and Best Practices for Connecting with Your Clients 3 CEs, with Dr. Lisa Wenninger, PhD, LPCC
LGBTQ+
- Affirmative Family Therapy with Gender Diverse People and Their Loved Ones 2 CEs, with Dr. Shawn Giammattei, PhD
- Working with Dissociative Disorders & Plural Communities 4 CEs, with Serenity Serseción, PhD, LMFT
- How Sexuality Influences the Clinical Picture for Female Clients, 2 CEs with Dr. Jenn Kennedy, PhD, LMFT
Neuro-Biological
- The Neurodiversity Paradigm: Autistic & ADHDer Adults 3 CEs with Katy Higgins Lee, LMFT
- Transforming Trauma: The NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM) 3 CEs with Brad Kammer, LMFT
Sleep
- Sleep and Postpartum Mental Health 2 CEs with Kristina Anzell, LCSW
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. And our RECAMFT Thinkific platform keeps track of all your CEs and Certificates! Return to top
Don't miss our Launching and Sustaining a Private Practice Event - Oct. 24th! Hello RECAMFT Pre Licensed members, we have some exciting events planned for the fall! We had a very nice informal meet and greet and networking gathering on Sat., Sept. 12th at Brew Coffee and Beer, 555 Healdsburg Ave, Santa Rosa. Thanks to everyone who showed up! We hope it was a nice introduction to RECAMFT and all our offerings for prelicensed folks and students. We're so excited about our next big event! Please join us for “Where Do I Start?" Launching and Sustaining a Private Practice. This event is an opportunity to get an overview of the various aspects of starting a private practice and will include local clinicians who have launched thriving practices themselves, sharing their expertise. It is a free workshop for RECAMFT members. Register here: https://www.recamft.org/event-6791226 If you have any questions or concerns about the road to licensure, and how RECAMFT can help, or want to connect with Brian, please email info@recamft.org.
Chair, Prelicensed Committee RECAMFT Director at Large Scholarships for Pre-Licensed andNewly Licensed Members | Hello RECAMFT community! We are so excited to share some of the upcoming monthly CE events. First of all, we are sad Brooke Ransom-Burr has decided not to continue as the Programs Co-chair. Therefore, we are in need of a volunteer to step up for this vital position. Where are you??? RECAMFT Zoom presentations
Are you interested in seeing what we have coming up? Consider microvolunteering with the Programs & Conferences Committee! Microvolunteering opportunities: providing support at in person CE events; driving outreach to potential speakers for CE events; writing up a short article about each presentation for the newsletter ("What You Missed"), and more! Reach out to info@recamft.org if you have ideas of how you'd like to help out. With gratitude,
Gwendolyn Watson, LMFT, she/her Programs Chair Programs CommitteeRECAMFT Director at Large 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. 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 info@recamft.org.
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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.
Please note: our new email address is info@recamft.org. How to edit your Short Description which appears in our Therapist Directory in 4 easy steps!
Questions? info@recamft.org
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 info@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! | Upcoming events
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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 info@recamft.org to advertise a job. Featured member |
Photo of Emily Larkin, Past President, tabling at the CAMFT Annual Conference, May 2026. Emily and Tara plan to have RECAMFT table again at the October 17th CAMFT Fall Symposium in Santa Clara. Notice: The Board of Directors is seeking volunteers to join us for the 2027 year. Please consider attending the October 16th Board meeting (9-11 am on Zoom) to find out more, or drop us a line: info@recamft.org. |
Please note: our new email address is info@recamft.org. |
Find out more about advertising with RECAMFT here. |
| Featured member |
Featured member |
Can you help? Jobs for Awesome Volunteers PROGRAMS Committee needs
· Work with the Programs committee to promote events · One hour per month.
Programs Non CE event Coordinator · One hour per month plus time at the events one or two times per year.
Programs Committee Member · One hour per month plus – support the committee and its members
RACIAL and SOCIAL JUSTICE Committee needs
RSJC Members (Openings for 2+) · One hour per month and a little more when we are involved in community events or launching a project.
MEMBERSHIP Committee needs Social Media Volunteer · Post monthly events to LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram accounts. · One hour per month Membership Committee Members (Openings for 6+) · Participate in committee meetings · One hour per month Please send an email to info@recamft.org if you can help. This month we'd like to thank the following awesome volunteers who, in addition to our Board of Directors, are helping us plan future events! Members Meeting Committee - thank you to all these wonderful volunteers are planning our next networking event!
Prelicensed PREP Committee Thank you to our volunteers who help make RECAMFT great! |
Not consultation, just a great way to get some ideas about how to handle your sticky case. Friendly and open group. Learn more here.
Congratulations to our recently licensed members! |
Programs Advertising/ Social Media manager
Take Care of Your Tools
By Brian Crites, LMFT, RECAMFT Director at Large, Chair - Prelicensed Committee
I was gifted a custom chef’s knife earlier this year. It came in a specialized protective case, and after every use, I make sure to clean it thoroughly and return it to its enclosure to keep it from getting dented or dulled. When I finish playing my guitar, it goes back into its velvet-lined case. When my son finishes his art projects, he puts his colored pencils away in a box to keep them safe. We are mindful about taking care of our physical tools—the instruments we rely on to create, repair, and build. We protect them so they last and remain ready for the next time we need them.
But what about us as therapists? What tools do we have at our disposal that require that same level of care and safe keeping?
It isn't just our books, laptops, pens, or notepads. We, ourselves, are the primary instruments used in the counseling process. Our voices and facial expressions, our hearts and minds, our physical bodies, and our capacity to hold space for others are our true tools. How do we best care for them?
"Self-Care" has become a buzzword—often reduced to a marketing ploy to sell goods and services. Worse, it is sometimes weaponized against us to promote toxic productivity. For those prone to perfectionism, the messaging suggests that if you just practice enough self-care, or execute it perfectly, you will finally achieve peace. At the other extreme, it gets conflated with self-indulgence, offering temporary escapes that do nothing to nourish the core parts of ourselves we need to function effectively.
This realization came to me after finding myself overcommitted, overextended, and overworked. Burning the candle at both ends always comes with a cost. Squeezing in that extra client session, filling every weekend with social obligations, and internalizing the belief that constant sacrifice is virtuous aren't badges of honor—they are the exact habits causing me to lose my edge.
Taking care of my mind and body—the very tools I use daily to support others—doesn't mean working harder. It means letting go of the idea that I can out-work burnout. It means setting clear boundaries, honoring true rest, and building habits that sustain me over the long haul.
To my fellow counselors, helpers, and healers: take care of yourselves. Consider what you truly need to stay prepared for the demands of your work. What would your life look like if you cared for yourself with the same intentionality you show your other tools?
Brian Crites, LMFT, is a RECAMFT Director at Large, Chair of the Prelicensed Committee and has a private practice in Santa Rosa.
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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See all our Past Presidents here.
Tara D'Orazio, RECAMFT's 2020 President, was recently elected to the CAMFT Board of Directors as a Director at Large (DAL). Here is a picture of Tara along with other CAMFT Board members at a recent event during the September 2026 CAMFT Board meeting in South Lake Tahoe along with her thoughts about the meeting.
Tara D'Orazio: This September, I attended my second CAMFT Board meeting in beautiful South Lake Tahoe. The weekend began with a meet-and-greet for local chapter leaders. I loved meeting more of the people whose behind-the-scenes work keeps our chapters running. The meeting itself covered everything from membership dues and finances to strategic planning and governance.
We also had a wonderful milestone to celebrate: CAMFT has reached 40,000 members! It’s exciting to be part of such a large community of colleagues. I came home grateful for the connections I made and proud to bring my experience with local chapters into the statewide conversation.
L-R Hamaseh Kianfar (DAL), Vic Campbell (President), Omar Gonzalez-Valentino (DAL), Nancy Brison-Moll (DAL), Tara D'Orazio (DAL), Robin Sandoval (DAL), Stephen Odom (President Elect). Photo provided by Tara D'Orazio.
Thank you for reading this month's newsletter! RECAMFT is great because of involved members like you!! Please note: our new email address is info@recamft.org. |
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 |
