Meet Our Board of Directors
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| Advocacy Officer – Viviana Azar, LCMFT Did you know that Viviana Azar is from Buenos Aires, Argentina? Or that she graduated from the University of Maryland in 1991? Or how about that outside of her work with MetroMFT? Viviana (she/her) works as Manager of the Adult, Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health Services for the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services. As a family therapist, Viviana believes in the healing power of strong and healthy family relationships. Therefore, she hopes to help individuals, couples and families move to a place of mutual understanding and respect so that they can overcome the challenges of life together in a healthy and productive way. Her passion continues to be working with families of all ages as they transition through different stages in their lives. Viviana’s position as Advocacy Officer is to keep the membership informed of the legislative agendas in the Metro area and the national trends for license portability or compact bills that are being promoted in other professions. She works closely with our Maryland lobbyist to ensure we have representation during the legislative session. When asked, “What are your personal Metro MFT goals within your position?”, Viviana responded: “I hope to create a committee of members from the different jurisdictions to share information and, if possible, come up with a reciprocity bill for the Metro area that will make it easier for MFTs to be licensed in Virginia, DC and Maryland. My dream goal is to see if we can work at a national level to reach out to our representatives and see whether other professions are working towards a national license or something similar to allow for Telehealth regardless of where the client resides.” Fun Facts About Viviana:
If you need to reach Viviana, you can find her here: Email: viviana.azar.cft@gmail.com Please contact Viviana with your interests! Also, if you have a Delaware, DC or Virginia license, she would love your input to inform the rest of the membership about what is happening in your state. |
Operations Officer – Alexandra Simione, LGMFT Alexandra (she/her) is originally from New Jersey, but she has called the DMV home for over 10 years. She’s lived in DC, MD, and VA! Alexandra graduated from the University of Maryland Couple and Family Therapy program in 2021. She also holds a Bachelor of Accountancy (2012) and Master of Accountancy (2013) from The George Washington University. Alexandra is therapist and owner of Alexandra Simione Therapy. She primarily works with couples, adult families, and individual clients, specializing in ENM/polyamory and kink/fetish/BDSM. Alexandra’s position as Operations Officer is to lead and promote networking/social events, to ensure that the website remain up to date and to facilitate ongoing communication and transparency of board activities to our membership through our Quarterly Newsletter. Alexandra is excited to bring her previous experience working on a Board of a non-profit organization to help continue to accomplish the MetroMFT mission as well as implement new initiatives. Fun Facts About Alexandra:
If you need to reach Alexandra, you can find her here: E-mail: alexandra.simione@simionetherapy.com Website: http://www.simionetherapy.com/ Instagram: /@alexandrasimionetherapy |
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 | Member-At-Large – Jane Connor, LGMFT Jane Connor grew up in Brooklyn, NY and settled in Maryland 13 years ago. She received a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison as a young person and spent most of her work years as a professor of Psychology and Human Development at the State University of New York at Binghamton. She has had a life-long interest in bringing greater peace and understanding to families and became an MFT in her “retirement” after receiving her MFT degree from Capella University. She recently opened the Center for Healing Family Relationships in Silver Spring which specializes in working with families experiencing estrangement or disconnection between parents and children of all ages. It draws substantially from the Emotionally Focused Family Therapy model. As Board Member At-Large she is responsible for all member communications and acts as a point person between the membership and the organization. Jane’s goal is to support the growth of our profession and the value that our organization brings to its members. Fun facts about Jane:
If you need to reach Jane, you can find her here: E-mail: janemconnor@gmail.com |