Leanne Nettles, LMFT
President, LA-CAMFT

Community x3: Pandemic Connection

In my March 2022 President’s message, I shared about the key word I have chosen to guide my presidency: “Community.” I shared that there are 3 main aspects of community that I hope to emphasize this year: (1) Community Mental Health, (2) rebuilding community in a time of social distancing during the pandemic, and (3) the community aspect of DEI (Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion) that often goes ignored: belonging. For this President’s Message, I’d like to focus on rebuilding community during the pandemic.

We’ve just passed the official 2-year mark of the COVID-19 pandemic. I am reminded of a popular meme I saw in Spring of 2020 that goes something like this: 

            *Time Traveler:“What year is it?”

            *Me: “It’s 2020”

            *Time Traveler: “Oh. The first year of quarantine”

            *Me (with a look of disbelief): “The WHAT?!” (emphasis mine)

Check it out here.

When I saw that meme on social media, I chuckled along with others leaving comments, as we were sure the novel Coronavirus would be wiped out in a couple of weeks, right? RIGHT??

When the pandemic was declared in March of 2020, I was working in a school-based office. My agency told me on a Thursday to grab whatever I needed from my office to last me about 3 weeks and to begin working from home on Friday. We didn’t step back into that school for over a year. 

I’m sure you all remember, the day we went from hugs, high-fives, and communal meals with one another to instant telehealth, masks, sanitizer galore, and the rare elbow-bump when trying to maintain social distancing. Just when we think we’re out of the woods, a new variant rears its ugly head, and we go back to isolation. The losses we’ve experienced are overwhelming. I applaud each and every one of you for displaying incredible resilience and determination to remain in this field during a global medical and mental health pandemic. However, there is no denying the toll it has taken on the very human need to connect; to be in community. 

I have come to realize that so much of my day is shared with others through a screen, but in the majority of those interactions, it’s business-related or task oriented. I miss the simple, in-between work interactions; the ones where you’re walking to go fill up your water bottle, and you connect with a simple “Hey! It’s so good to see you. How was your weekend?”; the ones where you share your favorite recipe for this week’s dinner; where you see pictures of a dog’s birthday party on a friend’s phone; where you embrace in a hug. While there may never be a return to how it was before, we can press into intentional community within our new normal. 

LA-CAMFT Board and leadership hopes that soon the pandemic will become safe and stable enough to begin venturing out and meeting together in person. We are planning some upcoming in-person events including our Spring Fling, and Summer Picnic, and our Holiday Party/Appreciation event in the Fall as long as it is safe to convene (keep an eye out for more info!). For continued safety and accessibility, we will be maintaining our networking CEU events and support groups online for 2022. And in an effort to be intentional about building community with the in-betweens, starting in April, we will begin a series of Mid-Month Meetups. These will be free virtual events and activities on the 15th of every month in 2022 where there will be no business, just a fun time to connect, check-in, and build community. You’ll see more details on our Social Media accounts, so be sure to follow Los Angeles CAMFT on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Linked In!

As always, if you have ways you’d like to get more involved with rebuilding a new sense of community with LA-CAMFT during the pandemic, please reach out to me at President@lacamft.org.

Until next time, blessings

Leanne Nettles

Leanne Nettles, LMFT is a School-based Clinical Program Manager in a community-mental health agency and an Adjunct Professor at Pacific Oaks College. She specializes in child and adolescent therapy, while practicing and supervising from a systemic and structural therapy approach. Leanne works to advocate for cultural diversity and equity within the field, and is passionate about training quality mental health professionals to serve low income, historically disenfranchised communities using a team-based, collaborative approach.