This year’s CAMFT Chapter Leadership Conference was held on January 30 and 31 in San Diego at the Sheraton San Diego Resort - Bay Tower. This annual conference brings together over 100 chapter leaders from the 23 chapters of CAMFT across the state, to network with colleagues and attend workshops geared towards the successful maintenance and growth of each chapter. Chapters are always encouraged to send multiple board members, since sessions and topics are geared towards all board positions and roles. 

The SCV chapter was represented by President Amanda Cortez, President Elect Rosario Puga-Dempsey, Director at Large (DEI) Kusum Punjabi and Director of DEI Ratnesh Sharma.

A quick conversation with the attendees was very enlightening -

“My biggest takeaway was discovering how deep the well of support and resources truly is –  one that CAMFT membership opens the door to, and whose surface I’ve barely begun to touch,” says Kusum Punjabi. “There are therapists doing great work everywhere, throwing ideas out into the world, effecting change – and I have so many potential mentors to choose from. I came away from the conference truly inspired! 

Rosario Puga-Dempsey seconds, “I completely echo what Kusum has shared and add how powerful the feeling of connection as support was felt. There truly are so many resources to take advantage and learn from, I can only hope to someday be able to explore them all. A big take away I would hope others know is how truly dedicated and passionate those who are on the Board are, not only in our chapter but across CA. We all strive for the same – a supportive community for clinicians.”

“In addition to what Amanda, Kusum, and Rosario shared,” Ratnesh Sharma continues, “ a key takeaway for me was the opportunity to network and learn from chapter leaders about their experiences with support groups and DEI initiatives. As a direct result of these connections, leaders from different chapters have already begun reaching out this month to set up ongoing monthly meetings, allowing us to continue brainstorming and exploring ways we can collaborate more effectively.”

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back to spring 2025 newsletter 
by Liliana Ramos, Past President

In 2024, SCV-CAMFT opted-in to join the CAMFT Law and Ethics (L&E) Share Program, a revenue model designed to help Chapters increase their income while lightening the workload of chapter volunteers in creating an ethics program. It is meant to streamline time and resources while providing more CE opportunities for CAMFT & Chapter members, and increase Chapter membership recruitment opportunities.

We did so well last year that we decided to opt-in again this year (2025) and use CAMFT’s L&E Share Program as our main Law and Ethics offering.

How does it help the Chapter and its members financially? CAMFT charges $65 for the L&E webinars. SCV-CAMFT members get a $5 discount so you only pay $60. The chapter receives $36 for each registration (60% of the amount) and CAMFT keeps the $24.

How does CAMFT know which Chapter to give money to? Each Chapter sends a membership list to CAMFT so they can verify the Chapter’s membership.

What happens if you’re a member and you don’t get the $5? Please call us to see if we can help you fix this.

What does our Chapter need to do? We have to market the events on four different platforms and four different dates. In addition, CAMFT provides all of the marketing/advertising slides which means our social media and website teams do not have to worry about creating content and design!  It's a win for everyone because CAMFT gets to further their mission of helping Chapters and educating members and it’s a win for the Chapter in increasing membership and revenue (which finds its way back to the members through membership benefits.) It’s also a win for you and new members because you get a $5 discount.

The remaining topics this year are as follows:

• June 6 – “Mastering Mandated Elder and Dependent Reporting”
• September 19 – “Working with Minor Clients: Prepare for Success and Avoid the Pitfalls”
• November 14 – “Updates and Resources for Medi-Cal Providers”

If you have ideas of what the L&E topics would be helpful for you and others, please let us know! Thank you for your support!

The Santa Clara Valley chapter was represented at the 2025 CAMFT Chapter Leadership Conference on February 7-8, 2025, at the Hilton San Jose, CA.

L to R: Amanda Cortez (president-elect), Rosario Puga Dempsey (director of sponsorship), Marté Matthews (director of programs), Ursula Jorgensen (president), Kassie Butterworth (director of social media), Alex Mackenzie (director of support groups and mentorship), Liliana Ramos (past president)

 back to December newsletter 
A few new board members will be joining the SCV-CAMFT team in 2025. We are happy to introduce them to you!

Gia Reyes, LMFT
Director at Large - Newsletter

Elizabeth OjedA, AMFT
Director of Membership

Rosario Puga-DempseY, LMFT
Director of Sponsorship

Brandon Hoshiko, LMFT
Director of Technology

Kassidy ButterwortH, LMFT, ATR-P
Director of Social Media

 back to December newsletter