Association of Family Therapists of Northern California Newsletter July 2007
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ASSOCIATION OF FAMILY THERAPISTS OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA NEWSLETTER JULY 2007 INSIDE THIS ISSUE: President’s Column THE STATE OF OUR FIELD—THE FIELD OF OUR STATE • AFTNC Annual Conference Family Play Therapy Info & Interview with First, a salute to Michelle ance of our members, presenter Eliana Gill... p. 2 Mason for her excellent which keep AFTNC such a work on the newsletter and vital and welcoming place. • Announcements: ... p. 5 to Mary Cronin for keeping If you haven’t registered for -New Website it going for many years; to the Sonoma Conference yet -Ron Gokul Conference th th Scholarship Fund Polly Lytle and Sara Mizban on September 29 and 30 , -Mentor Program for their ongoing efforts now is the time (see infor- -Fall Student Event organizing the Fall Confer- mation in this issue and at ence (and to Polly for ar- AFTNC.com); you’ll be • Rodney J. Shapiro, PhD, ranging the ’08 speaker); to very glad you did. Legacy of the Founders of Jay Seiff-Haron, Ron Pilato, Family Therapy: A personal Now back to the conun- Perspective... p. 6 Cory Brown, and Shawn drum suggested by the title. Giammattei for their tire- • The state of our field is as Terry Patterson, What’s Happening Here? less efforts with our web Reflections on Family Ther- plastic as play dough, and AFTNC President site; to Lara Ezrin for coor- apy’s Oldest Community by the mental health field of dinating our superb mentor its most recent president, by our state (defined by the Bay Area has been the epi- program; and a warm wel- Roger Lake ... p. 7 numbers) is increasingly center for psychological, come to our new student identified with the MFT social, and political move- • What I Learned from co-rep, Christine Yang, and profession. Just as Califor- ments that have been repli- Scaredy Squirrel, Jay Seiff- our new program commit- nia has been a spawning cated elsewhere in whole or Haron; a review of good tee member, Keith Sutton. therapeutic children’s ground for new ideas, in part. AFTNC itself grew I am constantly amazed at books... p. 7 trends, and practices, the (Continued on page 8) the initiative and persever- • Marital Longevity: How I went to Sorrento and discov- AFTNC COUNSEL MEMBERS ered (once again) What Love Has to Do With It, Terry Patterson, President [email protected] 415-567-9203 Roger Lake ... p. 15 Shawn V. Giammattei, Treasurer [email protected] 415-722-7134 Mary Coombs, Video Librarian [email protected] 510-527-3778 • 2007 Conference Brochure Cory Brown, Membership Co-Chair [email protected] 510-653-8000 x4 and Registration Form ... Jay Seiff-Haron, Membership Co-Chair [email protected] 415-206-4913 Polly Lytle, Conference Committee Co-Chair [email protected] 707-746-8042 p. 19-21 Sara Mizban, Conference Committee Co-Chair [email protected] 310-413-2323 Description—19 Roger Lake, Program Committee [email protected] 415-567-7786 Keith Sutton, Program Committee [email protected] 415-686-9544 Schedule & Costs– 20 Lara Ezrin, Student Rep., Mentor Program [email protected] 415-377-5629 Christine Yang, Student Representative [email protected] 415-676-1515 Registration Form—21 Mary Cronin, Member-at-Large [email protected] 415-693-9495 Ron Pilato, Member-at-Large [email protected] 415-337-0805 Michelle E Mason, Newsletter Editor [email protected] 415-577-7699 JULY 2007 PAGE 2 AFTNC 2007 Conference EDITOR’S COLUMN Well, as you can tell, the changes continue with this edition. Family Play Therapy: Engaging families with AFTNC is growing and its development is being reflected by young children in creative and metaphporic therapeutic updates of not only this newsletter, but plans are moving play forward for the New AFTNC Website and upgraded DVD presenter Video Library (see p. 4). September is fast approaching, so Eliana Gil check out the 2007 Conference Brochure (pp 19-21) and Saturday & Sunday, Sept. 29th & 30th Ron Pilato’s interview of Eliana Gil (beginning this page). This conference is a valuable opportunity to get training in 44th Annual Conference Family Play Therapy in an intimate structure that allows at Westerbeke Ranch, Sonoma lively discussion and opportunities for deep inquiry not pos- sible in other formats. If fi- nances are an issue, please note the Ram Gokul Memorial ANNUAL CONFERENCE Scholarship Fund (pp. 4 & 22) INTERVIEW OF is available to help support ELIANA GIL, PHD members committed to family therapy who otherwise would BY not be able to afford to attend. RON PILATO, PSYD In his article “The State of our Field—The Field of our State,” AFTNC’s President , RP: We are eagerly awaiting Terry Patterson, suggests a the AFTNC Annual Confer- three-tiered set of standards to ence September 29th and 30th, determine competence to 2007 at Westerbeke Ranch in practice couple or family ther- Sonoma where you will be apy. presenting a 2-day workshop Michelle E Mason Because this year has seen the entitled “Family Play Therapy: AFTNC Newsletter Editor passing of so many of the impor- Engaging Families with Young with Taiga Lore tant contributors to the field of Children in Creative and Family Therapy, AFTNC asked Rodney Shapiro, PhD, to Metaphoric Therapeutic Play”. reflect on the contributions they have made to the field. His So, let's assume for a moment article, “Legacy of the Founders of Family Therapy: a per- that nobody has read or heard Eliana Gil sonal perspective” (p. 3) is a wonderful distillation of the about you (hard to imagine, I conceptual developments in Family Therapy and an ac- know). But if that were the knowledgement of those who played key roles in guiding case, how would we answer their development. the following questions: a) Who is Eliana Gil? and b) Please feel free to contact me with any ideas or suggestions. What can clinicians, interns If you have reactions to articles you’ve read which you’d like and students expect to get our members to hear, please submit a Letter to the Editor from her workshop? via mail or email: [email protected]. Also, if you have an area of expertise or interest and would like to put in So, first, who is Eliana Gil? an article for submission, I would love to hear from you. EG: I am a very fortunate human being who has the pleasure of (Continued on page 3) Michelle E. Mason, PhD, is a Research Fellow at the Rockway Insti- tute for LGBT Research and Public Policy. Ron Pilato ASSOCIATION OF FAMILY THERAPISTS OF NORTHERN CALFIRONIA JULY 2007 PAGE 3 ANNUAL CONFERENCE INTERVIEW OF ELIANA GIL, PHD By Ron Pilato, PsyD (Continued from page 2) RP: What can clinicians, interns and logues that amplify the family’s own meta- students expect to take away from a 2- phors. In fact, introducing play therapy doing work I love and working with clients day workshop with you? What would into family sessions serves to decrease resis- who surprise and amaze me with their resil- you like them to take away from the tance, encourage active participation, and iency. I have two homes: my parents’ birth- workshop, the most important “take create movement in families that can pro- place, Guayaquil, Ecuador, and the home away” message? duce small or large changes in perceptions, in which I live in the USA. I lived on the feelings, or behaviors. West Coast for almost 26 years; now I live EG: My hope is that par- ticipants will have an op- RP: How might your model apply to portunity to experience the clinicians working in schools, agencies I LOVE BEING ABLE TO UTILIZE depth and scope of play as and/or HMOs that work primarily CLIENTS’ CREATIVE ENERGY TO a source of creativity and with empirically validated treatments? energy that can be used to HELP THEM ADDRESS AND RE- both assess family dynamics SOLVE THEIR CONCERNS, and to advance therapy EG: Both art and play therapy have a body goals. of useful research that has demonstrated WORRIES, OR PROBLEMS. positive treatment outcomes. There are many ongoing research projects that will RP: Much of your writ- augment the data that currently exist. Par- closer to my mother and siblings in the ing and workshops address how to ticipants will receive journal articles re- Washington, DC area. I have a little home integrate family therapy with play garding treatment outcome and will be on the beach in Punta Blanca, Ecuador, therapy. Many clinicians use play ther- exposed to some of the exciting research in and I travel there once a year. I love being apy with children only and have not the field of expressive therapies. brought that element into family ses- back home and disconnecting from the RP: Lots of your writings have ad- sions. How will you address the spe- stressors that are now part of my life. I have dressed the role of culture and tradi- had some wonderful family therapy teachers cifics and logistics of and mentors as well as great inspiration how to integrate play therapy into a from the play therapy field. Bridging the INTRODUCING PLAY THERAPY gap that so often exists between these family session? For uniquely creative fields has expanded my example, how INTO FAMILY SESSIONS SERVES TO would you work horizons. I love being able to utilize cli- DECREASE RESISTANCE ENCOUR- ents’ creative energy to help them address with a child’s Ki- , and resolve their concerns, worries, or prob- netic Family Draw- AGE ACTIVE PARTICIPATION, AND ing within the con- lems. I am in a satisfying, long-term rela- CREATE MOVEMENT IN FAMILIES tionship that has survived many bumps in text of a family ses- the road; I am the proud parent of two sion? THAT CAN PRODUCE SMALL OR adult children and two stepchildren; I am the grandparent of four-month old Chase LARGE CHANGES..