Happy December, happy holidays and happy end of the year. This is it, we are almost ready to close the 2016 chapter of our lives; only a couple more weeks. I hope 2016 was a prosperous and healthy year for you all. In my practice, we added staff and saw more clients this year than ever before. The need for services in our community seems to be never ending, and the slow December to catch up and get stuff done seems to be a thing of the past. Just last week marked the first anniversary of the San Bernardino shootings. We have received a few calls from people in the area or those that had witnessed the shooting that are still having a hard time. I understand from the Press Enterprise and personal accounts that some companies including the State of California are informing people that they no longer can receive services, medication, or take time off when life gets hard. That they “should be over it as it’s been a year.” Or “you should not be affected any longer because you didn’t work for the county.” Or “It was the County that was the target.” Obviously, these people do not understand trauma very well. I teach some of the new social workers for San Bernardino and they are frightened about the anniversary and effects it has on the people of this community. A client asked one of my clinicians if her unsettled feelings were normal! I was astonished.  In my book, there is nothing normal about a shooting here or anywhere. Our feelings are what tell us we are in danger, that something is wrong, that our environment is unsafe. My office and home are about 10 miles away from this incident; it affected me. I can’t imagine going to work at the site every day and not having some feelings about it. I would encourage you all to reach out to your clients and to our community to help those people that are not getting the support they need. If any of you need additional support, call me and let’s talk.  Sometimes what we do is hard. We can share a coffee and some time. Call me.

 

On a lighter note, IE-CAMFT chapter members please come to the Holiday Party that is coming up on December 10, 2016. It really is a fun event and a great way to enhance friendships. It very easy to do, just register on the IE CAMFT website like you do for the monthly seminar.  Then pull out that old holiday hat and bring your $15.00 gift for the exchange and you’re ready to go.   We will have great food, music, and fun, all at no charge.

 

Lastly, I wanted to thank the IE-CAMFT Board for all that you do to make this organization work so smoothly. I cherish each and every one of you for your unique contributions. If you are not on the board I would encourage you to come to one of our board meetings and see the inner workings. I would also encourage you to volunteer a little time. We can always use a few extra hands.

 

Again, happy holidays to you and yours…looking forward to a healthy, prosperous and joyous 2017.

Goal-setting, Inspiration, and Thanksgiving

 

It was great fun to sit on my porch this year and hand out candy. My two young adult children no longer go out to Trick or Treat, but the excitement is still there for the smaller neighborhood children. They come to get their candy dressed as ghosts, goblins, princes, princesses and of course this year as superheroes. Laughing and giggling as they go house-to-house it is a precious sight, a rite of passage in our culture. I see Halloween as the start of our holiday season and it seems like the last 60+ days of the year will pass in a giant blur.

I am already detailing my new marketing plans and blogging calendar for 2017. My goals for the upcoming year include automating my social media posts, learning to use Pinterest this year for my business, even if it kills me, and believe me it just might. Lastly, I will be focusing on three major streams of income for my business.  I recently attended an Intuit Connect Conference, which I highly recommend, where Michael Phelps spoke about commitment and goal setting. He takes an index card and writes his goals on the card. He posts the card in his closet where he sees it each and every day. He will even take the card to the pool if he needs a bit more inspiration. For me, it’s hard to imagine that the greatest winning Olympic Medalist needs more inspiration. However, he is human and sets the bar very high. Michael also said that he was grateful for the opportunities he had to complete the hard work. I believe that therapists also are inspirational and we set the bar high for ourselves and our work. I am always amazed at what each of you are doing to end the pain in our communities. November is a time of gratitude and reflection but also a time to look forward.  I am grateful for wonderful professional colleagues like you, the ability to do the work that we do, and the life lessons I have learned along the way.

May your Thanksgiving be one of treasurable time with family and friends and may your table be filled with laughter and love. 

Happy Thanksgiving,

 

Sherry

The next meeting of the 3000 Club is October 15, 2016.

Please check the Facebook page for subject content

Happy Halloween everyone!

In my neighborhood, the pumpkins, skeletons, and goblins are popping up; if it wasn’t 101 degrees outside I would think that Fall was coming. That’s the funny thing about living in Southern California-- we have such strange weather. But the heat does not make me really want to cook my fall soups or pumpkin bread. We are not alone in our strange weather, however; my East Coast friends have informed me that their normal fall leaves are not colorful this year as in other years. I guess we learn to adapt. A few weekends ago, I was in North Lake Tahoe with 9 other fantastic therapists working to make the world a better place. It was hot there too come to think of it; no Fall yet. These great therapists are all in different niches and working on various projects such as online classes, books, speaking engagements, teen groups, blogging, court process, and infant depression groups.

We were all there working on our own projects, sharing insight, help, and a positive push, whether helping to select photos for a website, watching videos on anger, and sometimes giving each other encouragement when we were in doubt.  We were all there cheering each other on and helping each other from the perspective of a potential client. We shared laughs, meals, walks in the woods, and by the shore. We shared stories, disappointments, successes, and dreams. Seth Godin in his book, “Tribes” states, “A tribe is any group of people, large or small, who are connected to one another, a leader, and an idea.”  Further, he says “there is a leader living inside each of us. It is up to us to live up to the calling of leadership and to realize that we can lead the change we want to see in each of our corners of the world.”

I see this fantastic leadership in our IE-CAMFT organization and in the many therapists I know. I would encourage you to network with other therapists in our community. Share with them your successes and joys, struggles, and disappointments. As that is the way we learn by connecting to each other and our humanity.  I truly believe in the power of abundance and that we are greater when we work together.

In that spirit, I wanted to tell you of a wonderful therapist, Sharon Martin, LCSW. She helps other therapists with blogging. She is a regular contributor to Psych Central, the Good Men Project, About.com, Bustle and The Parenting Skills just to name a few. Sharon supervises many MFTI and she is a huge supporter of CAMFT Bay Area. Sharon is a down-to-earth person that can help build your confidence to write and have your voice stand out to new clients. She helps you become seen in your community. Her online class starts October 17th.  You can find more information at SocialWorkCoaching.com. This class will be worth your time.  Also in keeping with this theme, be sure to sign up for our upcoming November seminar on life coaching.

 

Here is hoping for cooler weather,

Sherry

The IE-CAMFT 3000 club date is the third Saturday of each month from 11-1. The next meeting will be held on September 17, 2016, the speaker will be Sherilyn Johnson, from County of Riverside Mental Health. She will be speaking on EMDR.

I hope you enjoyed Labor Day holiday weekend.  I went to visit my daughter in Sacramento and we enjoyed our time on the American River.  We went kayaking and stopped in old Sacramento for Gold Rush days, saw a Wild West show, Indian dancing, and watched a magic show. Afterwards we kayaked back down the river to my daughter’s apartment.  I really had a fun time and it was very relaxing. Now it’s time to focus back on work and the last quarter of the year.  I wanted to alert you to the peer presentation for the 2018 CAMFT annual conference.  The deadline for proposals is January 23, 2017.

The committee is especially interested in presentations on substance abuse and addictive behaviors. I presented at a couple of conferences a few years back. It was an enriching experience and I enjoyed meeting many colleagues from around the state. It actually can be a fun experience. Please also do not forget to register for the upcoming 2017 Annual Conference.  Sign up soon because spaces are going fast and some of the workshops are already sold out. This conference will be held at the Hilton in Los Angeles.  Additionally, there is another wonderful training opportunity coming this fall: CAMFT’s fall symposium November 12, 2016 at the San Ramón Marriott.

The IE CAMFT Board needs a few extra hands to help with setting up the room prior to the meeting and putting the room back after the meeting. If you can help, just show up about 45 minutes before the seminar and stay after the meeting to help. All members are also welcome to stay for the board meeting after the educational part of the meeting is over.

Are you or your office putting on a training, have a new workshop starting, a yoga group forming, or have a teen group going on in your office? Whatever you are doing let us know about it. We now have a resource table out in the lobby so be sure to stop to see what your fabulous colleagues are doing. Please bring your flyers and other support resources and share. It is difficult to stay informed about things in our communities so please share.

Reminder:  the IE 3000 club date is the third Saturday of each month. The next meeting will be held on September 17, 2016, the speaker will be Sherilyn Johnson, from County of Riverside Mental Health. She will be speaking on EMDR. The time will be 11:00 to 1:00 PM.

Sherry

 

IE-CAMFT 3000 Club:  Next meeting August 20, 2016 from 11:00 AM-1:00 PM

Correction from last month: the 3000 Club meets on the 3^rd Saturday (not Friday). Please check the Facebook page for subject content

Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the word “transition” as: “a passage from one state, stage, subject, or place to another, a: change; and b: a movement, development, or evolution from one form, stage, or style to another.” I was thinking about our clients and how they come to see us weekly and they are asking us to help them change, to adjust, to accommodate, garner insight, and transition from one perspective or feeling to another. As all of us know, change can be hard, stressful, and yet can also be exciting, hopeful, and freeing. I know that when I see growth within my clients, interns, students, my colleagues, and even myself I feel happy and hopeful and encouraged. Recently, it seems we have had a series of bad news locally and worldwide and sometimes I wonder if we are making a difference.

However, if I look into our world carefully I will find hope and growth and light. I find people, just regular people like you and me, doing wonderful acts of kindness and showing great compassion for the human race.  Sometimes it’s small, like helping a neighbor jump start their car. Other times it’s huge like sitting and being present while a little girl and her mother tell you about the suicide of their brother and son respectively, and how a kind police officer stayed with the little girl all night long singing songs, coloring pictures, and holding both mom and daughter in his arms until family from out-of-state could arrive to be with the family.

That kind of compassion rarely makes the news. What we as therapists do rarely makes the news but that doesn’t mean for a second that it does not matter.  I was teaching the other day and a couple of students came to me and asked my opinion of their dream to start two non-profits; one to help with the sex trafficking that would have a treatment and housing component and the other was a one-stop shop for services for CPS families: one or two places they could go to receive parenting skills, drug treatment, medical care, and have a visitation center. Their eyes sparkled and their voices were very excited about their possible dreams. I gave them counsel and encouragement. But they gave me more, the idea that hope is still out there, that we as humans want a better world for all, and that these young people will be part of the solution. 

Until next time

Sherry Shockey-Pope

IE-CAMFT President