President's Message by Nazila Amighi, LMFT, President

A New Day

Friends and Colleagues,

As we say goodbye to the month of celebrating love, we start the spring season. On Tuesday, March 20 at 09:15:28 AM, winter will say its farewell to us, and Spring will begin its way to our lives. This day is the Persian New Year and it is called Nowruz, which means a "new day." I hope every day is a new day for you filled with love, great success, and good health. It has been a "new day" for me ever since I became the President of our chapter.

On January 28, we had our very first chapter Board Retreat. There, I found myself grateful for experiencing a sense of community with our Board gathering to discuss ways to improve our chapter and to create more opportunities for our members. We discussed our vision for the chapter by considering our strengths, weaknesses, possibilities, and threats. I will continue discussing these great ideas that came to light in our future board meetings, and then sharing them with all of our members as we make plans to bring them to fruition. I am extremely hopeful for the growth of our chapter because I see the level of commitment from our Board and our members.

During the January experiential meeting, I was moved by the level of commitment our members demonstrated to their clients and love they shared for their profession. I will always hold this experience, and this positive energy I felt with my colleagues at the meeting, in my heart. I am honored to be part of this incredible community and to be a therapist.

I am excited for the opportunity to travel to San Francisco to attend the CAMFT leadership conference where I will meet more of my fellow therapists who are committed to our profession. It is a privilege to represent our chapter at this conference. This conference brings together over 100 chapter leaders from the 28 chapters across the State, while offering workshops aimed towards helping to create and maintain a successful chapter. The first day of conference starts with an orientation presentation for new chapter leaders to learn about the resources CAMFT provides its chapter leaders in their roles, and ways to access and utilize these resources. I will strive to implement these new insights, utilize new resources, and provide inspirations for improving our chapter.

I look forward to experiencing new connections in the "new days" with you!

Hope to see you soon!

Nazila

Nazila Amighi is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist practicing in Sherman Oaks. She applies her skills in Narrative Therapy, Encounter-centered Couples Therapy, Trauma Resiliency Model, Attachment theory, a certified premarital counselor through Prepare/Enrich, and Clinical Aggression Replacement Training. She also Co-facilitated court-referred anger management groups. Her expertise is working with couples, premarital counseling, and the problems that is common with cultural differences in relationships. Nazila came to the United States 36 years ago from Iran. That experience gives her unique insight into her client's challenges as they assimilate in terms of both language and culture. She is fluent in English and Farsi and provides clinical consultation to other therapists navigating cross-cultural issues. Learn more about Nazila Amighi by visiting her website at www.nazilaamighi.com. She can be reached at 310.927.0194 or email her at nazilaamighi@gmail.com.