Matthew Evans
President, LA-CAMFT

Dear colleagues,

After the sad and tragic death of George Floyd, our city and many other cities across the country responded with thousands of peaceful protests calling for racial equity and an end to police harassment and discrimination towards the black community and people of color. Every person, no matter their ethnicity, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, gender, SES, etc., should be treated with fairness and equality. Racial inequality related to police profiling and harassment is a critical issue, which has plagued our country for generations. How many more people need to be harassed or killed before we make a change? The first step in solving a problem is recognizing there is one. We must become a nation that expresses love and acceptance of our differences rather than hate and aggression. It is the duty of all white individuals to look inward at our own implicit and explicit bias and be more aware of our actions and behaviors towards people of color. It is our duty to stand together to say enough is enough. I stand with the peaceful protesters in calling for an end to racial inequality and systemic oppression not just within law enforcement but in all aspects of life.

Over the past few years, LA-CAMFT has made numerous efforts to address systemic racism and oppression through working with CAMFT leaders and chapter leaders throughout California during our leadership conference; facilitating difficult conversation about race and ethnicity with these leaders and colleagues; shining a light on mental health issues that impact marginalized groups through our monthly speaker series and workshops; and the long standing Therapists of Color (TOC) Support Group. The mission of the Therapists of Color (TOC) Support Group is to provide a safe and brave space for therapists of color to process and heal from their experiences of discrimination, structural racism, implicit bias, racist injury, microaggressions and/or aggression. These support groups are offered on a monthly basis, alternating between Atwater Village, Inglewood, Santa Monica, and Studio City. We welcome any TOC interested in attending these support groups to contact Janaki Neptune at jneptunemft@gmail.com to RSVP.

As members of the mental health community, we must reaffirm our commitment to being an ally to therapists of color. Our work does not stop there however; we must have more therapists of color in leadership positions, such as board members, committee chairs, and SIG chairs. I am calling for any proposals from LA-CAMFT chapter members for training workshops, networking event presentations, and community events in order to make our chapter the leader in building racial equality among therapists and members of the community. I hope you will join us in this pursuit .

Best regards,

Matthew Evans, LMFT

Matthew Evans, LMFT, utilizes Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy in his work as a Primary Therapist in Resilience Treatment Center’s PHP/IOP program for adults.

Matthew may be contacted at president@lacamft.org.