CANDIDATE FOR PRE-LICENSED DIRECTOR-AT-LARGE

Rebecca Hines, AMFT

Pre-licensed colleagues and friends:

Thank you for taking the time to read this statement. If you are here, you are already interested in what CAMFT offers you as a pre-licensed member. But you probably still have many questions about the profession you have chosen, the path to licensure, and your future as an MFT. 

I share those feelings, and as a fellow pre-licensed member, I hope you will let me represent you on the CAMFT board. My name is Rebecca Hines. I am currently attending Pepperdine University, getting my M.A. in Clinical Psychology (MFT emphasis).

According to CAMFT, less than 15% of pre-licensed members are active in our organization. This tells me that there's a lot more that CAMFT could be providing to our important group. Some of my ideas for addressing this include: a mentorship program, offering us pro-bono therapy, and more ways to find the best volunteer and job opportunities. Especially ones that pay us for our work! 

But I'd also like to hear from you. What are your issues? What are your questions? How can CAMFT help? If I am selected for this position, I plan to learn the answers and work on your behalf to address them.

Like many of you, I left a successful career before returning to school. I worked in advertising and held leadership positions at several large ad agencies. In those roles, I wrote and executed marketing strategies and long-term growth plans for several large, international clients. I've been responsible for recruiting talent, running cross-functional teams, and leading consumer insight work. I've managed budgets as large as $250M and have worked on everything from social media campaigns to award-winning television commercials. Collaboration, diplomacy, creative problem-solving, and conflict resolution were all necessary qualities for success. But over time, I realized that I wanted to put those skills to work helping people, instead of helping corporations become more prosperous. I needed to know that what I was doing every day really mattered.

If I were elected to serve on the board, I would utilize my advertising and marketing experience to help CAMFT support and advance the MFT profession.  When I first began researching therapy and graduate schools, I was often confused by much of the information I saw online. The alphabet soup of titles and treatment modalities that make sense to me now certainly didn't at the time. I can only imagine how confused I would be as a patient looking for help. We could make it easier if we did a better job letting people know who we are, what we do, and why we are uniquely qualified to help. That would benefit us, as well.

I hope you will let me represent you on the CAMFT board. I have the time, energy, and desire to work hard on your behalf, and I would be honored to do so.

Thank you.