President's Message

Jenni Wilson, LMFT, President

Safety Is An Illusion

Honestly? It feels unethical not to use any small platform and privilege I have to speak out against injustices, highlight the destabilization of democracy, and express concern about the effects of all THIS (waving arms around awkwardly) on our collective psyches. How can I not write about the stresses of living in a society under the watchful eye of some malignant sociopathic cabal and their minions, bulldozing constitutional rights, killing without cause, and using tax dollars to terrorize and traffic our fellow human beings?

But I can’t write about these things, or of all the things I want to write to you right now. Not in the ways I’d prefer. Because someone might make the mistake of thinking that because I’m the current President writing this message, I could be speaking for the chapter. But, you know, I wouldn’t be. I’d be writing as a member… if I spoke of such things.

This weekend was the CAMFT Leadership Conference - one of the fun and energizing perks of LA-CAMFT Leadership. We start every year coming together to meet other chapter leaders from up and down the state. We ask questions and share ideas sitting in a hotel ballroom for two days reviewing matters impacting our profession, sharing goals and challenges within the administration of our chapters, and discussing the similar needs of the diverse populations we represent.

The CLC reminds us that coming together in the service of others and coming together in joy do not have to be mutually exclusive. Joyful Acts of Resistance are as important as legislative acts and acts of great bravery. A radical idea. When the powers-that-be seek to divide us, we resist by joyfully coming together.

Here are some of upcoming events and offerings where we can come together in learning and joy:

• March 15^th -Law and Ethics - https://lacamft.org/event-6504506
• May 16^th - Spring Fling (looking for planning committee members!)
• April 24^th “ADHD in Couples” with Grazel Garcia
• Support Groups (ongoing and developing, see website for more information)

More than ever, LA-CAMFT is committed to bringing people together. We want to expand rather than shrink. We want our community to grow and flourish.           

If you have an event, training, meet-up, group idea you think would benefit the membership you can always reach me at President@lacamft.org (and not at those scammer email addresses).

We’re facing moral and ethical crossroads, as citizens and clinicians. Many of us aren’t okay right now. I’m seeing folx no longer willing to fold in deference to unjust pressures. People are asking questions and making connections, witnessing how the news that’s fed to them contradicts their lived experiences.

The more those in power can no longer effectively hide their darkness behind the cloak of pseudo-soft power, the more malignant and pervasive their acts. They can no longer argue that they are just or in the right. Children taken. Mothers shot with their kids in the car. Protectors assassinated on the street. Journalists targeted. We see with our own eyes and hear with our own ears. The truth is inescapable. It’s everywhere. It seeps into our sessions as clinicians and professionals. It oozes over personal and social landscapes. 

I’m urged to stay neutral but since I’m not being paid, I’m less inclined to be.

A painful and necessary awakening’s underway for many who’re realizing this isn’t a reality show and you cannot change the channel. No one’s immune to the expense and madness of fascism. Targeted communities have long understood that safety is an illusion –an ever-present awareness deeply embedded in their family and nervous systems. Living in fear of random acts of violence against you is something that will now be passed down through new generations, in formerly-insulated cultures and classes – just as it has always been for marginalized folx. Hopefully this awakening brings a new understanding of those who’ve been formerly misunderstood. It’s no longer just “them” - it’s “you”, “us”, “me”, “mine”, and “ours” that are in danger. The façade of American Exceptionalism cannot hold, unless we redefine it.

We have an opportunity to act joyously in community right now, respecting differences, championing legislation strengthening and protecting our profession, learning from each other, and providing support to our most at-risk colleagues by creating safe (as possible) spaces for the processing of their unique experiences.

The time to gather is now. As of July 2026, for federal loan purposes, LMFT, social work, and counseling master’s level degrees may no longer classify as professional degrees. The impact of AI on our field is becoming significant, as algorithms attempt to replicate eye-to-eye human therapeutic experiences. For these reasons and more, we will be more successful in protecting the future of our profession if we stand united.

Let’s get our big beautiful prefrontal cortexes online and ground our tree-like mindful feet into the ground to find healthy productive ways to “feel that feeling” without causing more unnecessary destruction. Understanding that some destruction must occur for positive change to happen. I often say, “Sometimes things need to get shitty before they get pretty”.

Since the beginning of time, there’ve been forces seeking to divide people with Fear rather than unite us in Good Will. The deep truth of oppression is that it leads to more oppression and less collaboration. Because the more collaboration, the more we LIKE each other and recognize how we’re alike and connected - we begin to care that what we do affects others: our brothers, sisters, beloveds, and fellow life travelers. Getting together in common cause, in the loving encouragement of fellowship, inevitably shifts oppressive controlling narratives that divide us. This is when oppressors become shitting-their-pants desperate and bring out the big guns - sometimes literally.

These things are happening. The world’s watching. As I sit here on my patio, drinking matcha lemonade, wondering how I’ll hold safe spaces for others tomorrow when I know I cannot guarantee it. Yet, I’ll always try. We must try.

It’d be safest for me to be silent, stay neutral, and just remind everyone to REGISTER NOW FOR LAW AND ETHICS THIS MONTH!! It’d be prudent as President for me to remind you again that we’d love to help you make your event, program, or training happen! But who I am is already out there - a person before a position - the Gen-X child of parents who were in an interracial marriage before Loving v. Virginia, and the proud stepdaughter of a civil rights activist. I feel a responsibility to at least urge people to be measured, loving, respectful and supportive. We cannot ignore but should not indulge bullies. Because while we can be neutral about what’s happening in the world, the world will never be neutral about us. 

Remember: Aligning with the abuser seems safe, until it isn’t.

Have a safety plan. Do not obey in advance. Stay Hydrated, my fellow members. Hope to see you soon at the next meet-up!

Paz y Amor, 

JJVW – Jenni June Villegas Wilson

Jenni J.V. Wilson, LMFT (she/her): As a collaborative conversationalist passionate about empowering and advocating for marginalized groups and underrepresented voices, Jenni uses an integrative approach based on post-modern principles to provide culturally-mindful and trauma-informed therapeutic services and clinical supervision. She works with creative, anxious, mixed race/culture, and co-dependent clients on improving and eliminating toxic relationships, while increasing authentic expression. She has a BA in theatre from Occidental College, an MA in Clinical Psychology from Antioch University LA, and is trained in EMDR, Brainspotting, and certified in Narrative Therapy. She is an accomplished writer, has produced/co-hosted multiple podcasts, worked in addiction treatment for nearly a decade, and sees the “worried well” in her private practice in Sherman Oaks. Website: www.JenniJVWilson.com