President's Message by Barbara Calvi, LMFT, President

We are into spring and the board is already ahead of the game in spring cleaning! Over the last couple of years, there have been occasional glitches with our online payments for meetings. Well, those glitches escalated this January when countless people had trouble registering and paying for the January Experiential Meeting. Many had to register on line and pay when the issue had been resolved and others even at the door.

I am happy to let you know the level of commitment possessed by the members you voted to serve on our chapter board. Once aware of the problem, the board moved into immediate action to make a change in the system. I know that may sound like a simple and straight forward process, but doing so requires both adherence to our chapter bylaws and a tedious step by step process involving multiple people. In order to take the necessary actions to fix the problem with the registration/payment process, a vote was required, according to the bylaws; which were invoked due to the need to increase spending. Ensuring our organization follow the bylaws, in and of itself is a tedious and sometimes lengthy process; made even more arduous when implemented in cyber-space, over e-mail. Your board was on it and now we have a new merchant account which will eliminate any system errors when registering or making payments on line.

The board truly apologizes for the inconvenience caused by this malfunction and is thrilled the registration process will no longer be an issue. I am proud to work with a group of individuals who willingly spent, in some cases, quite a few precious hours (during the holidays) getting to the bottom of this pesky issue, ensuring it was resolved. I am excited to forge ahead into 2017 knowing, no matter what comes up, whether "business as usual" or some unexpected crisis; with our committed leaders, SFV-CAMFT is in great hands and will have an amazing year!

Barbara specializes in couple's therapy and has a particular interest in working with couples struggling with recovery from infidelity, couples who are parenting a child with special needs, and couples who get stuck in hostile and destructive cycles. She has been trained in both Imago Relationship Therapy and the Developmental Model of Couples Therapy with Ellyn Bader at the Couple's Institute and also does attachment work based on Diane Poole Heller's Dynamic Attachment Re-patterning Experience Program. She is currently in training in Peter Levine's model of Somatic Experiencing and is looking forward to helping hostile and aggressive couples recover more quickly and stop the cycle of trauma they inflict on each other. Barbara can be reached at 818.917.9184 or email to Barbaralcalvi@gmail.com.