The impacts of the coronavirus pandemic have hit us all hard. We have been forced to re-imagine the way we work. Our lives and those of our clients have been stressed dealing with health concerns and care disparities, economic impacts, and disruptions to our daily lives and those of our families. And we are uncertain of when this all will end.

That pain is now being compounded by the recent incidents of racial violence and trauma being inflicted upon so many members of our AAMFT family.

Historically, the AAMFT conference has offered us an opportunity to come together and discuss our role as MFTs in impacting societal change. We have been able to engage and join with our peers to reinforce our commitment to one another. There is certainly a great sense of loss in cancelling our largest event of the year, possibly at a time when we need it most, but ultimately the public health and safety concerns and uncertainty for in-person events dictate we must make this difficult decision.

But much as each of our MFTs have risen to the challenges and continue to do the work that is so necessary right now, I want to assure you that AAMFT will rise to this call. Staff will be using the weeks ahead to re-imagine our event with our speakers and researchers to move into a virtual format integrating opportunities for us all to learn and engage with one another in the ways we value.

As we have seen from our meaningful At Home series and the richness of our MFT Virtual Hangouts, we need to connect with others in the profession. Our members have been doing amazing work during this time and I have never been prouder to be an MFT and I believe our work can truly impact vitally necessary change.

So I encourage you to save the date on your calendar now for our Virtual AAMFT Annual Conference, to be held during the week of November 9, when we will gather together as a community and learn and grow together. I can promise you this will not be an experience you want to miss! And with our event now more accessible than ever, I hope you will be able to be a part of it.


Tracy Todd, PhD
CEO, AAMFT Research & Education Foundation