Did you know that, just as MetroMFT is a professional organization for DMV MFTs, there are similar organizations for various states that also started as divisions of AAMFT?

Since our beginning, MetroMFT has kept in close contact with the other branched off divisions. We even developed a professional organization support group as we collectively navigated the waters of creating our own separate structures and systems. Informally, we call this group COAST (Coalition of Associations for Systemic Therapy).

COAST holds virtual and in person meetings to provide assistance and advice to each other. Last week, our President, Kirsten Sidell, visited Salt Lake City, Utah to attend the most recent in-person COAST meeting.

Among the items for discussion was how to support AAMFT divisions that have more recently become independent. It was decided that current COAST members would reach out to representatives from those additional states to include them in the next virtual meeting this summer. As COAST continues to evolve, inviting other states to join in and offering support seemed important.

What will happen as COAST grows? Is it just a support group for the growing state associations? Will it become a formal national organization? Something else? We do not know for sure, but it has been so helpful for MetroMFT to have the support of other MFTs from across the country.