The Diversity Committee was founded in 2017 due to a desire and need to increase ethnic and racial diversity within LA-CAMFT’s membership and leadership. 

The LA-CAMFT Diversity Committee’s mission is to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion for all ethnic, racial, and cultural intersecting identities we represent and serve; ensure visibility and voice for those who have been silenced; increase access to education and training resources; as well as empower all Los Angeles area mental health professionals to become anti-racist healers. 

Over the past 4 years, the Diversity Committee has focused on the following objectives: 

• Therapists of Color Monthly Support Group (TOC) provides a safe place to receive peer support and process experiences of racism (systemic, social, and internalized), discrimination, implicit bias, racist injury, aggression, and micro-aggressions, along with additional experiences that therapists of color encounter in the field of mental health.
• Black Therapist Monthly Support Group provides a safe place for healing, connection, support and building community. In this group, licensed clinicians, associates and students can come together and process experiences of racism (systemic, social, and internalized), discrimination, implicit bias, and micro-aggressions, along with additional experiences that therapists of African descent encounter in the field of mental health. As the late great Maya Angelou once said, “As soon as healing takes place, go out and heal someone else.” May this space, be the support needed to facilitate that journey.

• Asian American Pacific Islander+ Therapists Circle provides safe and empowering place for therapists of the Asian diaspora to experience healing, renewal, and belonging. We will collectively process experiences of racism and internalized oppression. We will also explore the coexistence of privilege and marginalization along with invisibility and hypervigilance. This space will help us appreciate and reclaim what we have in common while honoring our differences. Grace Lee Boggs notes, “The only way to survive is by taking care of one another.” May this circle embody her words.

• The MENA Therapists Community Group is a safe place across the Middle Eastern and North African therapist diaspora to build community and a sense of belonging. We hold an inclusive space to process the impact of cultural biases experienced by people of MENA descent and the effect it may have on our work as mental health professionals. Within the process, we will strive to create healing, support, and empowerment. We will collaboratively exchange ideas, experiences and resources while acknowledging cultural differences and shared similarities. As the poet Khalil Gibran states — “The reality of the other person lies not in what he reveals to you, but what he cannot reveal to you.” — our community will create a place to be seen, heard, and understood.
  

• Presentations that highlight issues that impact underrepresented communities and individuals.
• Outreach to community mental health agencies, graduate schools, and community organizations.
• Expansion of resources and events to the broader Los Angeles area.

To read the LA-CAMFT Declaration of Inclusion, Diversity, and Anti-Racism, click Here.

Questions? Contact the Committee Chair! 

Akiah T. Robinson Selwa, LMFT
Diversity Committee Chair

Contact Information
Phone: 626.788.2024 
LA-CAMFT Diversity Committee Email:  DiversityCommittee@lacamft.org                     
Work/Private Practice Email: stc@sunrisetherapycenter.org

Akiah Robinson Selwa, LMFT, President of Sunrise Therapy Center, specializes in biblical counseling, trauma-informed therapy, anxiety management, family therapy, grief & loss, and lifespan transitions. With 24 years of collective experience as a domestic violence prevention advocate, psychotherapist, clinical supervisor, and mentor, Akiah is skilled in working with families, individuals, children, the BIPOC population, abuse survivors, and members of adoption/foster care constellations. She approaches therapy with cultural humility that promotes acceptance, safety, empowerment, and creativity. Website: sunrisetherapycenter.org.

Rachell Alger, AMFT
Diversity Committee Co-Chair

Contact Information
Phone: 213.866.4633
Work/Private Practice Email:  rachellalgermft@gmail.com
Instagram: @algertherapycare
LinkedIn: Rachell Alger

Rachell Alger is a Filipina-American collaborator focused on improving the quality of mental health in communities around her. This first-generation college graduate and daughter of immigrants is passionate about providing humanistic and strengths-based care as a culturally attune and integrative psychotherapist . 

Pronouns: She/Her

Therapists of Color Monthly Support Group (TOC) 

Therapists of Color Support Group.Second Sunday of the Month.  11:00 am-1:00 pm PT,  Online.

A safe place to receive peer support and process experiences of racism (systemic, social, and internalized), discrimination, implicit bias, racist injury, aggression, and micro-aggressions, along with additional experiences that therapists of color encounter in the field of mental health.

Black Therapists Support Group (BTSG ) 

Black Therapists Support Group.
First Saturday of the Month.  12:00 pm-1:30 pm PT,  Online.

A safe place for healing, connection, support and building community. In this group, licensed clinicians, associates and students can come together and process experiences of racism (systemic, social, and internalized), discrimination, implicit bias, and micro-aggressions, along with additional experiences that therapists of African descent encounter in the field of mental health. As the late great Maya Angelou once said, “As soon as healing takes place, go out and heal someone else.” May this space, be the support needed to facilitate that journey.

Asian American Pacific Islander+ Therapists Circle (AAPI+)

Asian American Pacific Islander+ Therapists Circle
Third Friday of the Month. 1:30 pm-3:00 pm PT, Online

A safe and empowering place for therapists of the Asian diaspora to experience healing, renewal, and belonging. We will collectively process experiences of racism and internalized oppression. We will also explore the coexistence of privilege and marginalization along with invisibility and hypervigilance. This space will help us appreciate and reclaim what we have in common while honoring our differences. Grace Lee Boggs notes, “The only way to survive is by taking care of one another.” May this circle embody her words.

Middle Eastern North African Therapists Community Group (MENA) 

Middle Eastern North African Therapists Community Group
Alternating Monthly Dates and Times, Online

The MENA Therapists Community Group is a safe place across the Middle Eastern and North African therapist diaspora to build community and a sense of belonging. We hold an inclusive space to process the impact of cultural biases experienced by people of MENA descent and the effect it may have on our work as mental health professionals. Within the process, we will strive to create healing, support, and empowerment. We will collaboratively exchange ideas, experiences and resources while acknowledging cultural differences and shared similarities. As the poet Khalil Gibran states — “The reality of the other person lies not in what he reveals to you, but what he cannot reveal to you.” — our community will create a place to be seen, heard, and understood.

Therapists of Color Mentorship Program

Welcome to our ground-breaking LA-CAMFT TOC Mentorship Program. We are excited to offer this program and invite you to participate in our community of mentorship for Therapists of Color by Therapists of Color. Once you have reviewed the Program Overview, click on the link below to review Guidelines for Mentors and Mentees. 

Therapists of Color 2023 Grant Award for Pre-Licensed Members

LA-CAMFT's TOC Grant Award is for Pre-Licensed Members who are Therapists of Color. Every 4 months (3x per year), a grant award will be offered to two applicants who the program's criteria. For more information, click LA-CAMFT Grant Award.