Board of Directors Candidates

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Dominique Barnes-Walker

Biography
Dr. Dominique Barnes-Walker is a mother, educator, researcher, and full-time clinician. She is dually licensed as a licensed marriage and family therapist and a licensed clinical social worker. She attended The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she obtained her Bachelor of Social Work then continued to earn her Master of Social Work. She holds a Ph.D. in Couple and Family Therapy from Adler University.

 Dr. Dom is a clinician at Chicago Counseling Services on the south side of Chicago. She initiated and developed the agency's first clinical training program and now serves as the clinical training program director. She has experience working with individuals, adults, children, including adolescents in the juvenile probation system, couples, and families. Much of her work now is with couples and families.

As part-time faculty at North Central University, Dr. Dom teaches in both the master's and PhD in Couple and Family Therapy programs. She is adjunct faculty at Adler University and teaches in the master of Couple in Family Therapy. She served as an apprentice reviewer for The Journal of Marital Family Therapy, where she provided written reviews and feedback for manuscript submissions for the journal. Dr. Dom has a passion for her research and giving back to her community. She researches Black women and families. Specifically, her research focuses on The Strong Black Woman Archetype and the impact on Romantic Relationship Satisfaction, which is a topic incredibly related to the mental wellbeing of many Black women and families.

Dr. Dom enjoys working out, traveling, and spending time with the people she loves; her family, daughter, two dogs, and friends. Dr. Dom is pro-Black and an advocate for equity and social justice.

Statement of Interest
I started as a student member of IAMFT in 2017 during my Ph.D. program and have continued to be a part of the affiliation since. I have had the opportunity to be a presenter at IAMFT since 2018, and I have always appreciated the opportunities that IAMFT has given me. I have been able to educate fellow LMFT’s and students in training and be educated through this experience as well. I have always been interested in being on the other side of the IAMFT of the affiliation and run for a board position. Within IAMFT, I would like to run for the director position. I believe this position would allow me to acclimate myself to the issues that the organization faces and educate and advocate to serve the people of Illinois. Not only would do I want to serve couples and families of Illinois, but I would also like to be able to provide the members of IAMFT with more benefits of their membership. Through my passion for educating, I would like to offer 1-hour lecture series on the subject’s that our members find of interest. I want to support our annual conference through recruitment and other ways necessary. Lastly, as a Black woman, I would like to diversify the board and bring more awareness to the issues that people of color face in Illinois so the affiliation could join together and fight for social justice.

Bahareh Sahebi

Biography
Bahareh Sahebi, PsyD, LMFT, is a practicing licensed marriage and family therapist and approved supervisor. She is a Clinical Assistant Professor of psychology with the Center for Applied Psychological and Family Studies at Northwestern University, and the Assistant Program Director of the Master of Science in Marriage and Family Therapy Program at The Family Institute at Northwestern University.
She has specialized training in the treatment of trauma and provides therapeutic services to children, adolescents, adults, families, couples, and groups. In addition to her clinical practice, she is also involved with the National Immigrant Justice Center through Heartland Alliance and Refugee One to work with families of refugees and asylum seekers.
In addition to her passion in providing clinical services to families and couples, Dr. Sahebi teaches courses at Northwestern University in Systemic Assessment, Family-of-Origin, and Child and Adolescent Development. Dr. Sahebi is currently part of the leadership team to launch the fully accredited online branch of the on campus MFT program at Northwestern University. Dr. Sahebi has more than 20 years of experience in program development and expansion efforts both within mental health agencies as well as in corporate settings.
Her scholarship has focused on program development and expansion effort, clinical supervision, teletherapy best-practices, multicultural and immigrant parenting practices, e-learning initiatives focused on systemic equity and inclusion, COVID-19 global mass trauma project, and couple’s health. Several of her publications have received special recognition from various professional organizations, and she has been invited to speak at numerous regional, national, and international conferences. Dr. Sahebi has also served as an associate editor of the Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy and an ad-hoc peer reviewer for numerous academic journals.
Dr. Sahebi is the co-author of the Handbook of Integrative Systemic Therapy, which will be published by Routledge in early 2022. She is also a co-author of the book An Integrative Systemic Therapy Approach to Supervision and Training.  

Statement of Interest
The experiences and opportunities I have been granted throughout my career have helped me secure the position that I hold today. With an abundance of energy and love for the work that we do as MFTs, I would like to serve on the board of directors for IAMFT and utilize the knowledge I have gained to give back to our field.

As a proud resident of Illinois since 1985, and as a practicing licensed marriage and family therapist, I am dedicated to and passionate about the work that we do as clinicians and educators in providing the most impactful and highest quality mental health support to the greater Illinois community. As an IAMFT board member, I would like to improve the practice climate by advocating for more collaborative efforts between organizational governance that include our association and other mental health professionals in our state with the goal of promoting and generating education and advocacy efforts that can get the attention of stakeholders at all levels. We are living in unprecedented times, ones that have been declared a national emergency impacting the mental health of our children and their caregivers. It is time for collaborative efforts with other mental health associations in Illinois, ones that bring attention to needed policy changes that impact us and the communities we serve. In the past year, I have worked on a proposal for a national expansion effort to mobile crisis response units that include mental health professionals on rotation for crisis calls. This experience has taught me the importance and methods of collaborative affiliations through governing association in moving much needed proposals toward policies for systemic change.

My goals as a new member on the board of directors of IAMFT include (1) a focus on advocating for LMFTs to be covered by Medicare, (2) increasing connections between LMFTs across the state for supervision, consultation, and mentorship, and (3) increasing the number of Approved Supervisors in Illinois in an effort to expand the number of high-quality affordable supervisions for our state’s MFT graduate and postgraduate trainees. My efforts will remain dedicated toward advocacy and education at all levels of governance focused on the ways of improving access to systemic family therapy, with special attention on issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) for people of Illinois who are most often constrained by larger systemic inequities. One related example of the collaborative work I have done in the past year has included resourcing therapists, parents, caregivers, and K-12 teachers struggling to navigate the stressors of education and providing a sense of normalcy for children during pandemic with special attention to DEI. To view the four part series please click each link provided here: Part I, Part II, Part III & Part IV
I am ready and willing to work tirelessly to help Illinois clinicians, teachers and families receive the attention they need, through my ongoing advocacy efforts as a new board member.

Additionally, in accordance with the AAMFT 2022 goals, I want to serve as a member of the board of directors to advocate for LMFT license portability, an ongoing, perennial, and crucially important concern for LMFTs nationwide. This task is not far from reach for LMFTs given the current need for our specialization to address the rise in adversities exacerbated by the COVID-19 global pandemic, which are embedded within every layer of the system. We are at a pivotal point where the current climate’s emphasis requires systemically trained clinicians who can work with problem sequences within the direct and indirect client systems. We are the mental health professionals trained for the challenging tasks and ready to showcase our specialization on a national level, and I know I have the personal and interpersonal qualities, the technical skills consistent with the trends in our field, and the leadership skills to represent us as MFTs as a member of the board of directors for IAMFT.

With your vote of support, I am eager to bring the Illinois chapter to the head of the table at the AAMFT state advocacy dialogue as leaders and trend setters for many of the relevant issues underscored here. With a collaborative spirit, renewed energy and readiness, and a dedication to the work of representing our field as frontrunners of systemic change for individuals, couples, and families, I would be humbled to serve as a member of the board of directors for IAMFT.

Jori Sparry

Biography
Jori Sparry is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with over 20 years of experience. She graduated from Central Connecticut State University with a major in Psychology and a minor in Religious Studies. She completed a Master of Science degree with a specialization in Marriage and Family Therapy in 2000. She has worked in a variety of settings including inpatient drug and alcohol rehabilitation, partial and intensive outpatient treatment, subacute for children, foster care/adoption, and crisis stabilization for teenagers. Jori opened a solo private practice in Connecticut in 2004. She relocated from Connecticut to Illinois in 2008 with her family. Her experience includes the development and facilitation of a federally funded grant program working with abused children. Jori has extensive experience working with military service members as well as law enforcement. She has lectured at large pre deployment and reunification programming for military service members. Jori is a clinical member of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy and a member of the Illinois Association of Marriage and Family Therapy. She is a certified mediator approved through the 10th Judicial District. Currently, Jori serves as the Vice President of the Washington Chamber of Commerce.
Statement of Interest
Hello! My name is Jori Sparry and I am interested in running for the IAMFT Board. I have lived in Illinois for the past 13 years and currently own a group practice in Washington, Illinois. After practicing for 20 years I feel now more than ever is a crucial time for our field. With this position I am open to learning new information and exploring more ways that IAMFT can support professionals licensed in Illinois. Now more than ever it is important to have a strong state professional organization support clinicians as we are seeing laws change on a state and federal level as well as keeping up to date on trainings that will help promote clinical skills. It is my hope to be able come together with other professionals around the state to collaborate how to best support clinical work for the residents of Illinois.

Elections Council Candidate

Marge Stiefbold

Biography
Marge works with a variety of clients and issues as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. She has been practicing for over 30 years and works with families, couples, children, and individuals who are struggling with a variety of problems.
Her specialty is working with anyone from a Systems perspective, that is, including a person's family history in addressing the behaviors or concerns of the person(s). This gives each person an opportunity to understand his/her behaviors and explore possibilities for change and growth.
She has worked for many years with students and parents in a private practice and in public and private schools as a guidance counselor/Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. This included efforts in providing an understanding of the needs and possibilities for children and families as well as work with problematic and conflictual families and couples.

Statement of Interest
I have have been active in IAMFT since the early 80’s, initially working on licensure downstate and in the Fox Valley area. A group of members made the trip to Springfield many times before we finally received our licensure.  I have been active thru the years serving on the Board, the Elections and the Conference committees, and organizing the Fox Valley members get togethers.

Working with many committed members of the organization during these years has been so rewarding and exciting. We all know how critical our work is right now as the country continues to be in a mental health crisis. We need members on our board who are committed to our organization and the work we do for the betterment of individuals and families. I will continue my work for IAMFT to help with finding these members and giving them the chance to carry on the legacy of our organization.

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