Ventura County is mourning the deaths of a dozen people killed in a mass shooting at a popular local bar in Thousand Oaks, CA. The trauma from this senseless tragedy will undoubtedly affect the survivors, their loved ones, and the community at large. Resources can be found at CounselingCalifornia.com and through GiveAnHour.org, a service that provides assistance to those who might normally know how to access help because of sudden changes in their circumstances.

The Department of Health and Human Services has proposed a substantial change in the definition of gender, limiting gender to sex assigned at birth. The California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT) is concerned about the potential impact of this change on over one million transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) people in the US.

More than 700 children have been separated from their parents at the US Border since October 2017, including more than 100 children under the age of four, according to recent news reports. The devastating fear and panic at the time of the separation is traumatic and affects behavioral, psychological, interpersonal, and cognitive development for the family members.

In the #MeToo Era, California Marriage and Family Therapists Can Help Victims of Sexual Harassment and Assault.

Half of Californians Who Need Mental Health Services Are Not Getting Treatment 
 

In 2006, a law was enacted to permit the VA to hire LMFTs. However, the job specifications required LMFT applicants to have graduated from a program accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE). Many of the California marriage and family therapy programs preceded the establishment of COAMFTE and are, instead, part of regionally accredited institutions. This was an insurmountable employment barrier for 95% of California’s LMFTs qualified to treat our nation’s veterans.

SAN DIEGO, CA. (September 8, 2016) –The California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT) announced its support of September as National Suicide Prevention Month. With deaths by suicide on the rise over the past fifteen years,¹ it is now one of the 10 leading causes of death in the nation resulting in nearly 43,000 people a year taking their own lives.²

There is no magic pill, and no single technique cures situational stress or clinical depression. When life gets stressful, you can achieve a more peaceful state of mind and experience a greater sense of calm with these techniques, which experts have successfully used for decades.

Due to societal prejudice, discrimination and violence against LGBTQ people, rates of depression, anxiety, suicide attempts, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance use and physical health disparities, are common among sexual and gender minorities. Experiencing repeated harm as an oppressed minority is a proven predictor of having mental health issues.

As mothers, we have many dreams for our children. There is much pressure from society about how to be the perfect mother, and despite the best of intentions, the reality is that the challenges of motherhood can, at times, be overwhelming. The great news is we only have to be “good enough” according to the psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott.