CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT-ELECT

Carla Rather, LMFT

Greetings CAMFT Membership! I’m honored to have been nominated. First I’d like to recognize Danah Williams, also nominee for President Elect. She is a very professional and qualified candidate.

Top on my platform is facilitation of relational connection within the Board of Directors and between the Board and CAMFT staff. In my experience as President of Orange County CAMFT, honoring relationship before problem-solving manifests in organic productivity and efficacy. I am a relational, Emotionally Focused Therapist; daily I see the power of human connection that shifts folks from reactivity into resonance. In a Board environment, relational focus parlays the shift from content battles to teamwork flow. A connected Board will be optimally empowered to be responsive to Membership needs, provide quality services, advance the MFT profession, and strengthen CAMFT. A relational Board also models integrity, collaboration, and respect for all. It is my passion to see humans working together in reconciliatory and collaborative ways that mirror the spirit needed for repair of societal level ruptures.

Paramount to my agenda is supporting diversity advancement in the field. We’ve made strides – but we have a long way to go in supporting second language speaking clinicians and clinicians of diversity. At the 2019 CAMFT Leadership Conference I was honored to co-facilitate diversity dialogue sessions with statewide CAMFT Chapter leadership alongside my colleague, Christina Castorena, LA CAMFT. If elected, I will work to instantiate statewide informed diversity engagement in clinical training choices, outreach, membership recruitment, and chapter Board composition.

A third area of platform focus is generating increased income for CAMFT to support large-scale initiatives such as getting MFT’s onto Medicare. CAMFT has a whopping 32, 512 members – but we can always grow! I seek to grow Clinical Membership and apply special focus to augmenting benefits to sustain and attract Prelicensed membership. During my years on the OC CAMFT Board, we enjoyed a substantial increase in Prelicensed membership by attuning focus to Prelicensed needs. We built out strategic partnerships with the MFT Consortium of Orange County and fostered relationship with the 20+ local universities. In conjunction with our partners, OC CAMFT has hosted annual Prelicensed Job Faires supporting hundreds of students and Associates connect with practicum sites and paid jobs. Approximately 45% of OC CAMFT Membership is now comprised of prelicensed individuals.

Thank you for taking the time to review my candidate statement. I humbly request your support with a vote. May the 2020-2021 CAMFT Board of Directors embody edifying energy that translates into powerfully transformative support for CAMFT membership!

If you’ve got questions or comments, please contact me at candidaterather@camft.org.

In Service,

Carla Rather, LMFT