Welcome from the President

Welcome to the NCAMFT 2021 Annual Conference!

If 2020 has taught us anything it is that we need community now more than ever. The COVID-19 pandemic shook the healthcare industry and tested practitioners' own wills and the balance of dealing with the pandemic while still caring for those who suffered and needed our help.

As for me, I know I leaned heavily on my close network to get me through working with clients' crises over the pandemic coupled with the political climate, even though I did not understand all that was going on fully for myself. Like most of you in 2020, I have missed concerts, large gatherings/celebrations, graduations, birthdays, weddings, hand shaking, hugging, and seeing/laughing/talking to most of my family and friends. And though we can find answers in solitude, it was reaching out to my community that instigated the feeling of solidarity. We are not alone.

As essential workers, we knew we would be on the front lines of helping clients survive and thrive. Whether you are in private practice, rehab settings, home care, agencies, clinics, and/or the prison system, the larger population realized the need to care for our mental health is just as important as dealing with the post-COVID acute and long-term musculoskeletal, respiratory, and cognitive issues. It is the calling and the rising for mental health services that unites us. Our mindset of looking at the biopsychosocial through the lens of the systemic framework creates unique opportunities to help heal not only families but larger communities.

A year ago, when our community went into lock down, we navigated our world through virtual platforms and telehealth. A year later, the virtual platform has made us more resilient and in some ways, created a global awareness in our mental health community. While we may not go back to "business as usual" any time soon, I believe we'll see long lasting effects as to how we deliver services to our clients, and thus, how we continue to educate ourselves to best practices. I hope in this conference you continue to engage, learn, be curious, ask questions, and build this ever so vital community with your own expertise. We are in this together.

If I have learned anything this year it is we all still have much to learn and relearn about the human life lived experiences. We have big lessons to take away from this past year, and I hope we continue to embrace them as we continue to take our field forward.

ENJOY this year's virtual conference!

Dr. Pearl Wong Abood