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Marriage and Family Therapy
is such a wonderful profession

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that can give

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people opportunities

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in various fields.

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I think that we're doing

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maybe a slight rebranding

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of being more
systemic professionals,

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because I think that embodies
more of what we do.

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We do not only work with
families and couples,

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we also work with individuals.

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But it's the 
how we work with people

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that makes us very special.

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I had an introduction to

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Marriage and Family
Therapy course,

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and it just changed

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my whole view of helping.

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And I learned that
in order to help youth,

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I have to help change

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family dynamics

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and systemic thinking in
Marriage and Family Therapy

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was going to do that.

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I'm interested

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in black mental health
because I am black myself,

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and I've always wanted
to use my knowledge,

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skills and resources

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to help people
that look like me.

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And so that first focused on

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the youth, the black youth,
and which I wanted to do

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since I was in high school
and undergrad.

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And then it evolved

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to looking at
black families,

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black women, black mothers,

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and just
black mental health all over.

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We learn how to analyze systems.

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We learn how to
then shift systems

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once we analyze them.

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And so you can take that skill

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into corporate America,

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You can take that skill
into non-profit work,

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you can take that skill
into owning a business,

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You can take that skill
into academia,

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you can take that skill anywhere

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Especially when people
and clients learn

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about the way that we do therapy

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then they really search is out

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because nobody wants
to feel like

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they are the individual problem,

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because they realize
that there are other things

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in their lives that are
influencing their symptoms.

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And we do talk about that

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concretely with them.

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Then they feel less pressure

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about some of the things that
are happening in their lives.

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So I think a lot of
younger people

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should come and join our field
of Marriage and Family Therapy.

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AAMFT has

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given me the space to develop

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as a professional

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Marriage and Family therapist.

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I have been on the
elections committee.

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I've been involved

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in the Journal of Marital
and Family Therapy.

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I've been to so many different

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AAMFT conferences

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and leadership symposiums.

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It's really
one of my professional homes

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and it's so nice to be around

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others systemic professionals

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that understand the need

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and importance
of what we do in our field.