Back to Fall 2021 Newsletter

by Jacqui Gerritsen, LMFT

Greetings and Happy Fall! I hope you all were able to enjoy your summer, and get out and do something fun this year, safely of course. Whatever it was, I hope it was relaxing and reinvigorating. Personally, I was invited to go to Georgia and South Carolina for a few days and was shocked at the number of trees they have, they are everywhere. Of course they don’t have the amazing food and weather we have, so there is a trade off.

In this issue, we are talking about psychedelic-assisted therapy. Psychedelic-assisted therapy is becoming mainstream, more widely advertised in the media, and is generating a high level of interest.  It involves using psychedelic medicines in combination with talk therapy and the guidance of an experienced and trained therapist. Research studies show promise that this combination of psychedelics and talk therapy can be especially effective for PTSD, depression and anxiety, and addiction. Research is ongoing to determine if it might be helpful in treating autism, smoking cessation and many other conditions. While this may seem outside of our comfort zone for many of us, introducing this leading edge approach to therapy seems timely. The Bay Area is a hot spot for this research, with the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) headquartered in Santa Cruz, and many other not-so-well-known clinics and organizations already providing these services. We wanted to give you a peak at this area in our current issue. Please read on.

The SCV-CAMFT board is continuing to add new members. In this issue, you will meet Genevieve Altwer, LMFT, who is joining as the Director of Membership/Outreach. We are excited about the energy and new ideas our latest board members are bringing to our organization. We hope you will get a chance to meet some of them in person soon.

Over the summer, members had the opportunity to meet in person at 3 coffee shop gatherings Coffee Talks, hosted by board members: one each in June, July and August. The location is different each month to provide members with easier access to this new activity. Members came together for a free cup of coffee or tea of their choice, talked about their practices, enjoyed connecting or reconnecting. People expressed how nice it was just to BE together. We have another in-person Coffee Talk scheduled for Saturday, September 25 at Sues Gallery Cafe in Saratoga (9-11am). Also, we are planning an in-person "Meet and Greet" opportunity specially for owners of group practices. The first meeting is scheduled on Sunday, October 3 at Blvd Coffee in San Jose, (10am-12pm). 

We have a CEU luncheon scheduled online for October 8, from 12:00-1:30, on working with South Asian Women in Therapy. SCV-CAMFT member Moitreyee Chowdhury, LMFT, LPCC, will share about her own journey to becoming a therapist. The main focus of the presentation will be on providing culturally-informed services to South Asian immigrant women in the US—in particular, first generation immigrant South Asian women. You can register here. See our website to register for other scheduled events for this Fall, including Barbara Griswold, LMFT, on October 22 for What's missing from your documentation: Writing great progress notes.  

We are also starting to get programming in place for next year and we have some exciting speakers. We’ll be happy to unveil these upcoming events as soon as we can.

Take good care of yourselves. We continue to be an important part of helping each other and our clients through these strange and difficult times. Your own self-care will enable you to do that.

Best Wishes,
Jacqui Gerritsen