In so called normal times, I would be reflecting on the promises of spring and joys of summer. At the time I am drafting this column, nearly 350,000 people across the globe have died of complications due to coronavirus—and that is likely an undercount. In the U.S. we are approaching nearly one-third of that total. I know it is likely we each know or love someone in the number. Of course, deaths are not the only measure of our current devastation and loss. Each one of us has been affected by this historic dread and by our attempts to mitigate any further devastation, illness, and loss. A question that keeps coming up foremost in my mind is ‘how do we not become numb to the devastation this pandemic has both wrought and exposed’? Good self-care requires that we dose the news, look for meaningful engagement and distraction, and hold some sense of optimism in the face of the brutal facts and realities of this pandemic of COVID-19. By any account, the toll is already staggering, and at three months, we are still early in.
To that question—how do we not become numb—the answer I keep coming back to is simply by caring, and by the many ways we are called to action in that caring. A favorite quote I copied from David Keith at an AAMFT workshop years ago is, “where there is caring, all pathology is sharing or repairing.” I find it is a comfort to acknowledge that truth—whether in our role as family therapist and witness to the suffering of others, or through the experience of our own suffering. We know the value of reaching out to connect and to share with others who care. As president of the AAMFT and on behalf of the Board of Directors, I want you to know that we care. We want to help our members continue to connect and find value and meaning in their professional association, and to be proud of the things we continue as we adapt to the changing environment.
I know we will long be recovering from this pandemic, well after we even get a handle on it and discover a vaccine. A keen insight from our public health officials has to do with how we learn to live with the reality of this virus. I think the pandemic crisis ushers in any number of significant turning points. The exposure of so many cracks in our social and economic structures and systems reveals how close to the edge many people live—whether in the tenuousness of their jobs, healthcare insurance, the family reliance on schools for the care and feeding of children. After all, trust and confidence is easy when things are going well. So long as there is no ground shifting disruptions, we feel steady on the path we are walking. In his seminal book, The Turning Point (1982), noted physicist and systems theorist Fritjof Capra highlighted that crisis signals both danger and opportunity.
One surprising discovery has been the quick and nimble adaptations to the virtual world in telehealth, education, and even association governance—as I reported after our spring AAMFT Board of Directors meeting, when we made the early call to suspend our live events in March. But in less than a week, the Leadership Symposium went on as planned in a modified virtual format. And in less than 48 hours, the Board shifted a full two-days of Board business to a Zoom platform. No doubt these events were qualitatively different felt experiences, yet the opportunity gained was in keeping people safe, tending to vital Board work, and advancing the strategic goals of AAMFT.
Since early March and the ‘stay at home’ restrictions have been in place, AAMFT has found other innovative ways to meet member needs, collaborate with Interest Networks (e.g., Telehealth) to push out needed content for members to adapt their practices, create Virtual Hang Out space for members to connect and support one another, and of course engage record numbers of systemic family therapists in a six week series of At Home sessions, which if you missed, can still be viewed on demand at www.aamft.org/athome.
Moreover, the Interest Networks themselves have proven to be a very timely opportunity and an adaptation for the association that provided members a way of staying connected, and further advancing their unique professional and network goals. With the Interest Network infrastructure already in place, there is experienced leadership at the helm, and movement well under way toward making the shift to more virtual platforms of engagement and online adaptations. Their opportunity was enhanced to carry on through these uncertain times calmly and effectively.
In other areas of governance, the Board remains poised in connection with members to further advance the goals of the association. In a concerted effort to better inform members about the needed changes to the AAMFT bylaws, we conducted a series of virtual town hall meetings to highlight those changes and answer member questions. The four topics of those town hall meetings, which we held two times for each topic, were distinct, but very interrelated: global challenges, strategic planning, bylaws amendments, and mitigating risks. Though we began the town hall series in February, the opportunity to proceed with them as scheduled was not deterred by the pandemic; we held the last one in late April.
Since January of 2020, we have published a series of governance columns in the biweekly Family Therap-eNews on how our policies and roles function within AAMFT. These intentional efforts are designed to raise member awareness about how AAMFT governs and how the Board guides the future direction of the association. We plan to continue governance series throughout the year and hope it might inspire you to see the opportunity of your future leadership role in the association.
And speaking of future, at the Board level, we are continuing the rigorous planning calendar we staked out last year. The Strategic Planning Steering Committee is working diligently, meeting every other week, to embed strategic thinking into our governance processes, and in all units of governance. We are aiming to do that by intentionally engaging members and stakeholders in that process of thinking strategically. You will see more developments and opportunities to engage in more future focused feedback for AAMFT’s strategic planning later this summer.
Extending the theme of care, the Approved Supervisor Inclusivity Task Force is continuing their good work to find ways to lift unintended barriers, enhance inclusivity, and further incentivize systemic family therapists into the path toward the designation of AAMFT Approved Supervisor. We are also looking at ways to make the supervision fundamentals course more culturally attuned and relevant to our global members, as well as provide alternate pathways to the designation in contexts like the Veterans Administration. This opportunity offers a way to build a larger, stronger systemic supervisory network across the country and the globe.
We are looking forward to this summer’s election season. The Board of Directors is very hopeful that our concerted efforts to clarify—thorough virtual town hall meetings, Board highlight reports, and earlier columns in the FTM—what we see as an ever emergent need to modernize the bylaws. The Board responded to the feedback from last year, made some important clarifications to the amendments, and remains confident the changes are needed for advancing our strategic goals. It is important for members to know the Board envisions success for AAMFT that is aimed to make the world a better place by enhancing access to systemic family therapists in healthcare, and for systemic family therapists across the globe to find a more inclusive home in AAMFT.
I know that does not relieve the far-reaching impact and devastation of this COVID-19 pandemic. Indeed, the losses are unaccounted, the multiple layers of grief untold, the disparity of impacts are enormous. The role of family and community care in meeting the unmet needs cannot be overlooked, and the vital need for mental health access and treatment is painted in ever stark terms. I would argue the need for relationally centered care is ever more pressing, and the crucial role that marriage and family therapist serve is ever more obvious.
The loss of life, livelihood, and the countless patterns and routines we all took for granted will no doubt keep mounting. And the importance of care from systemic family therapists to enhance health, well-being, and repair is only further evidenced in these painful pandemic days. Together, we must care and seize the opportunity of this moment. We must strenuously advocate for our profession and practices of marriage and family therapy. AAMFT is the only association which seeks to increase the influence, recognition, and parity of marriage and family therapy at both the state and federal levels.
And let us not despair in this moment, as there is always a turning point. As ever, there is opportunity to do some real good in the world. As systems thinkers and family therapists, we know in our bones that relationships matter. Stay safe, be well—and continue to care. Thanks for all you do.
Reference Capra, F. (1983). The turning point: Science, society, and the rising culture. Bantam, NY.
