Menu
Log in
Forgot password
Log in

MARIN CAMFT CONNECTIONS

Apr May June 2025


Elizabeth Clark, LMFTPresident's Message

Elizabeth Clark, LMFT

2025 Marin CAMFT President


Hello Marin CAMFT!

I would like to begin by thanking the people who had confidence in me to recommend that I run and am now consequently serving as your President for 2025. I am honored to accept the position despite my very limited experience running an organization. I plan to do my very best to represent those who may or may not have more experience than myself. I would also like to thank my predecessors who led us through the pandemic, who have demonstrated mastery at getting members involved, and who have placed Marin CAMFT on stable financial ground. Each of these past presidents have informed not only my hopes for the future, but the hopes of other board members and all of you.

Finally, I would like to thank you, the Marin CAMFT members, for electing myself and the incredibly dedicated 2025 Marin CAMFT board. Thank you for electing to increase member dues. We did not make that decision lightly and we were gutted to learn that for legal reasons, we had to begin charging our pre-licensed members. We, the Marin CAMFT board, worked tirelessly to develop programs, scholarship opportunities, and to plan more networking events in 2025 to increase the value of your membership. Stay tuned and read on!

In addition to offering all the live and virtual continuing ed programs you need for each license renewal cycle, Marin CAMFT will offer asynchronous CEs beginning this month. That means you can get those CEs at your leisure by watching a pre-recorded training when you want. Read on for more information on this new on-demand option or check out the website for the latest updates.

For our pre-licensed community, we have partnered with the Therapist Development Center to offer $2,000 in scholarships, which you can learn more about in the Pre-Licensed Update below. This in addition to the three scholarships that our Scholarship Committee diligently awards pre-licensed members every year. I want to thank our pre-licensed members who are key to the continuing success of Marin CAMFT. You offer fresh ideas, new energy, and current clinical experience. You are also our most poorly compensated boots on the ground. I’m thrilled to support you however possible.

Now for my big ask to you, the Marin CAMFT member that has read this far: Come forward to participate in volunteer opportunities! Consider joining the board, or one of our excellent committees. Lend us the benefit of your expertise. If you wish to present about a topic related to clinical mental health or know someone who does—reach out to any one of our board members or ideally, our board member of the year and Director of Programs, Dr. Norman Hering. (Congratulations, Norman! We would be lost without you.)

This is a volunteer organization. Its strength comes from you. We all have to attain and maintain work-life balance, but the bigger picture is this: This organization is a representation of this profession. Your input, hard work, energy, financial contributions, and time are critical to maintaining Marin CAMFT and this profession’s relevance. The people of Marin County need to know who we are and what we can do for them.

My goals for 2025 are to see the development of our Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Acceptance Committee. I am so grateful to the members who approached me at our Fall Celebration with an interest to participate and lead this project that I am very passionate about. I would like to ensure the continued success of our Trauma Resource Team. They are the backbone we absolutely need in order to stand tall. I would also like to increase our presence in the community whether that be at local health fairs, cultural celebrations, and college campuses. Let’s spread the word—far and wide—that marriage and family therapists in Marin are humans who care about their community and will do what it takes to lift up other humans. Everyone deserves to see and be seen. 

Elizabeth Clark

2025 President, Marin CAMFT


Announcing some changes to the
Marin CAMFT Board!

We are saying both hellos and goodbyes.

First: We were sad to get word from our Secretary Bonnie Kaufman that she would need to step back from the role. She had been on our board since January 2022, and we are so grateful for the work she did here. She came in during a time of transition and was instrumental in helping the chapter stay operational. We really appreciate her contributions. Thank you so much, Bonnie!

This also means that we have a vacancy on the Board with the Secretary position now open. We are looking for a new volunteer who would be interested in taking over as Secretary for the Marin CAMFT chapter. This person would serve out the remainder of Bonnie's term which ends in December, and then potentially go up for election for another two-year term through our standard elections process occurring this Fall. The Secretary is responsible for drafting agendas and minutes for monthly board meetings, and otherwise keeping us organized and in compliance as a non-profit organization. The Secretary position is part of the Executive team and so attends the Executive Board meetings and the full Board meetings, both of which occur on the second Friday of each month. As an officer position, the Secretary works with the President, President-Elect, Past President, and Treasurer on key decisions for the chapter. Curious to learn more? Please reach out to Elizabeth Clark, our President, at president@marincamft.org.

We are excited to also announce our new Director at Large for Pre-Licensed, Katelyn Vandever, ACSW! In December last year, Katelyn reached out about volunteer opportunities to help with our pre-licensed community and our 3,000 Hour Club, and her timing was perfect, given that we had not been able to fill this role in our prior election. Therefore, the Board of Directors voted to appoint Katelyn to fill that vacant position of Pre-Licensed Director. Katelyn has hit the ground running, already hosting multiple events for our pre-licensed community, including two 3,000 Hour Club meetings on Zoom, and an upcoming in-person event happening this coming weekend. See below in this newsletter for more news for our pre-licensed community!

Thank you to our Marin CAMFT members who volunteer to serve the chapter, we are grateful to you! We are always looking for more volunteers from our membership, so do reach out to president@marincamft.org if now might be a time for you to participate in new ways.


Meet the 2025 Marin CAMFT Board of Directors


COMING SOON: A MARIN CAMFT BALLOT IN THE MAIL

For over a year now, the Marin CAMFT Bylaws Committee has been working on updating our chapter's bylaws - a task that has not been undertaken in over ten years! This project involved modernizing the set of rules that are used to govern the operations of the Marin CAMFT chapter, including adopting gender-neutral language in the text, permitting online methods of holding board meeting and for storing our chapter documents, as well as modifying some key provisions of our qualifications for holding office and for expanding voting rights for pre-licensed members. The proposed bylaws changes have been passed by unanimous vote of our Board of Directors, they have been reviewed and approved by state CAMFT, and now they are ready for our membership to review and hopefully approve as well. You can see the proposed amendments on this page of the Marin CAMFT website. If you have questions on any of those changes, please write to info@marincamft.org and we will be happy to answer.

However, one artifact of the bylaws that are still in effect is that any vote to change them must be done by mailing out a paper ballot to each of our voting-eligible members. We are in the process of putting together this mailing. You can expect to get it hopefully sometime in April. We will also send emails to let you know when it's been mailed. Instructions for returning the ballot will be included then. We wanted to give you all a heads-up that it's coming, as it will be very important for us to get enough members to return the ballot so that these critical changes can go into effect. We are a member-run organization, and each one of our members matters in helping us to operate the chapter.

CHECK OUT MARIN CAMFT'S RECENT AD

Marin CAMFT placed an ad to promote awareness of our Therapist Directory in the March 2025 issue of Marin Living Magazine - check it out here! Our ad is on page 79. This is another marketing campaign helping to promote our members' practices within Marin.





Thank you to all our
new and renewing members!

Back in January, we had our annual membership renewal cycle, which this year also involved an increase in membership dues. The board would like to thank all of our members who chose to stay with us for another year! Thank you so much for renewing. We've also had some brand-new members join recently and would like to offer a warm welcome to you also. Marin CAMFT is now at over 550 active members, which includes about 120 pre-licensed members. We are so happy to have you!


Questions about membership in Marin CAMFT can be directed to our Membership Director at Large Ryan Plumb at membership@marincamft.org

Your support allows us to continue putting on quality programming and community activities so we can learn and grow together.

Continuing Education Programming at Marin CAMFT

With additional Marin CAMFT On-Demand courses available!

 

Upcoming Live Programs on Zoom

Join us for our Friday Continuing Education Series this Spring:

Our online Events Calendar always has the latest information as soon as it becomes available.

  

The Continuing Education Committee is looking for members - and soon, a new Director of Programs

Marin CAMFT members: Want to help your chapter identify speakers and plan our programming? Our current Director of Programs, Norman Hering, is currently in his fourth year of service with us, and we are beginning the process of finding the right person to step into his role when his term ends at the end of the year. We would love to start conversations with anyone who might be interested in taking this on.

We also invite our members to participate in the CE Committee's monthly meetings, to help us continue our tradition of planning high-quality trainings for our community of therapists. 

Interested in helping Marin CAMFT continue to put on great continuing ed programs?

Please reach out to Dr. Norman Hering to learn more about these opportunities with the Programs Director role or Continuing Education Committee:  programs@marincamft.org


screenshot of Marin CAMFT On-Demand Training site





 Marin CAMFT On-Demand Training now offers an ever-expanding library of content. We have been excited to see how many of you have already taken advantage of this new offering. Watch these courses and earn CEs at your convenience!

Courses currently available are:

All are offered for free or at low cost for Marin CAMFT members, and reasonable rates for non-members. Members need to log on to your membership account at marincamft.org to get the code.,Marin CAMFT on-demand course catalog.

For those trainings that presenters give us permission for recording, we typically will be publishing on-demand versions within about a month of the original "live" training date. Please note that the BBS does not allow you to also claim CEs for both the "live" and the on-demand version.



Marin CAMFT 3,000 Hour Club

Are you a pre-licensed member of Marin CAMFT? You're invited to an in-person meetup with the Marin CAMFT 3,000 Hour Club this Saturday, April 5th from 1 to 3pm at Pixels Arcade in San Rafael. We have reserved a table and ordered the pizzas and we hope you can join us! Space is limited so RSVP is required, please!


Marin CAMFT is working with the Therapist Development Center to offer deeply discounted exam prep courses for select members. If you will be taking the Law and Ethics exam, or the Clinical Licensing Exam, you may find it helpful to take a pre-test preparation course like the ones offered by the Therapist Development Center. Marin CAMFT has partnered with Therapist Development Center through their Tzedakah Project to offer special discounted prices for their exam prep. We will be selecting pre-licensed Marin CAMFT members throughout the year who participate in Marin CAMFT activities and community events to offer these prizes. More specific details will follow, so look out for an email with how you can participate and maybe win one of the significant discounts on their products.

Even if you do not get one of the special prizes, you can still use the code MARIN25 at checkout on the Therapist Development Center website to get $25 off either their MFT L&E exam prep course or their CA MFT Clinical exam prep course.




The Marin CAMFT pre-licensed community now also has a WhatsApp channel!

We just started it so it's a real opportunity to make it what we want it to be.  There are different channels for different topics. We're hoping it will be a great way for our pre-licensed folks to get connected.

Pre-licensed members, check your email for a recent message containing the link to join the WhatsApp channel, or write to prelicensed@marincamft.org for more information.



Announcing Our Scholarship Winners!

Congratulations to the three recipients of the Kristina M. Carey Scholarships (this is our 28th year of awarding scholarships!).


Ryan Plumb    Associate Scholarship
Ryan has a masters from Dominican University and is pursuing both an LMFT and an LPCC. Along with working with children, families, individuals and couples, Ryan has worked for Marin Mobile Crisis. Ryan also has generously held volunteer positions within Marin CAMFT, facilitating a group for pre-licensed members and currently chairing the membership committee.

Chloe Coppola   Trainee Scholarship
Chloe will graduate from University of San Francisco master program in May 2025. Her current placement is at Archie Williams High School, where she sees individual students and runs the school's LGBTQIA+ group. Previous work and areas of interests have been in the areas of women's healthcare and criminal justice.

Taylor Watson   Underrepresented category Scholarship
Taylor will complete her masters at Dominican University in December 2025. Undergraduate work focused on Spanish language and international studies. Through BACR, her placement is at an underserved East Bay school where she works with individuals and groups and has started a Rainbow Alliance group.


The 2026 scholarship application will open in January.

We are always grateful for donations made to the scholarship fund! You can donate online at any time on the donations page.


Thank you to the Scholarship Committee - Elaine McMahon, Marty Frankel, Dorie Rosenberg, and Karen Benjamin - and thank you again to the Marin CAMFT members who continue to support our pre-licensed community with these critical financial donations.


Marin CAMFT members: Attend RECAMFT's Zoom trainings for free under our reciprocal program!

The Redwood Empire chapter of CAMFT is our sister chapter to the north. They serve Sonoma and Napa counties. RECAMFT and Marin CAMFT offer reciprocal benefits to members of each other's chapters, allowing attendance at "live" trainings for free or at their same member pricing. 

How to use your Marin CAMFT benefits with RECAMFT:

  1. Check out the RECAMFT Calendar of Events on the RECAMFT website at https://www.recamft.org.
  2. If you find a training that you're interested in attending, see if it offers a registration type for Marin CAMFT members.
  3. Find your reciprocal registration code by logging onto your Marin CAMFT member account at www.marincamft.org then use that code to register on the RECAMFT website.


 

Treasurer's Report

Our Treasurer, Nicole Lako, offers the good news that Marin CAMFT is doing well financially. The Budget Report shows revenue and expenses against approvals, and all is on track. Members can access the full report in our Members Area upon signing in.


A D V E R T I S E M E N T




Trauma Resource Team

The Trauma Resource Team meets on the third Friday of most months, usually on Zoom. We will be holding some short trainings in the coming months. For more information and to RSVP, please contact TRT Committee Chair Kathy Ries at kathyriesmft@gmail.com

If you would like to get involved in one of the groups we are running, please fill in this form.

For more information see our website pages at https://marincamft.org/trauma-resource-team


 



Marin CAMFT members: Attend RECAMFT's Zoom trainings for free under our reciprocal program!

The Redwood Empire chapter of CAMFT is our sister chapter to the north. They serve Sonoma and Napa counties. RECAMFT and Marin CAMFT offer reciprocal benefits to members of each other's chapters, allowing attendance at "live" trainings for free or at their same member pricing. 

How to use your Marin CAMFT benefits with RECAMFT:

  1. Check out the RECAMFT Calendar of Events on the RECAMFT website at https://www.recamft.org.
  2. If you find a training that you're interested in attending, see if it offers a registration type for Marin CAMFT members.
  3. Find your reciprocal registration code by logging onto your Marin CAMFT member account at www.marincamft.org then use that code to register on the RECAMFT website.


Invitation to the Marin CAMFT listserv

The listserv is our chapter's email community. It's a great resource for getting and giving referrals, making connections, learning about office space for rent, and more!

If you are a Marin CAMFT member and want to join the listserv, please send a message to MCAMFT+subscribe@groups.io and our listserv moderator will confirm Marin CAMFT membership and subscribe you.



Questions, comments, feedback on this new newsletter format?

Please email Lisa our Newsletter Editor at editor@marincamft.org to let us know.




 

This is a reproduction of the main content from our newsletter that was emailed to all MCAMFT members on April 1, 2025.

Powered by Wild Apricot Membership Software