| Chair |
M. Evan Thomas, Ph.D., LMFT, AAMFT Approved Supervisor (He/Him)
Dr. Thomas is an Assistant Marriage and Family Therapy Professor at Converse University in Upstate South Carolina. He is the Chair of the Marriage and Family Depart and the Program Director for the MMFT Program. Additionally, Dr. Thomas is the owner of a small private practice in Greenville, SC, and his work focuses on substance use and the Queer community. He obtained his MS in Marriage and Family Therapy from Purdue University and his Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Sciences, emphasizing Marriage and Family Therapy, from Virginia Tech.
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| Chair-Elect |
Amanda Veldorale-Griffin, Ph.D., LMFT, AAMFT Approved Supervisor (She/They)
Dr. Veldorale-Griffin has a Ph.D. in Family and Child Sciences from Florida State University. She is a Professor of Marriage and Family Sciences at the National University. They are a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Florida and an AAMFT-approved supervisor. She specializes in working with the LGBTQIA+ community, especially transgender folx and their families, and conducts research in the area of transgender families and LGBTQIA+ mental healthcare.
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Treasurer
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Micah Brown, MS (He/Him)
Micah Brown graduated from Purdue University Northwest in 2019 and currently resides in the Indianapolis area. He currently works in two private practice settings, Keystone Counseling and Northside Mental Health, working primarily with folx in intimate relationships along with some individual adults. He also volunteers his time on the elections committee for IAMFT (Indiana affiliate of AAMFT).
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Education and Training Officer
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Sheila Addison, Ph.D., LMFT (She/Her)
Raised by a feminist single mother in the Midwest, Dr. Sheila Addison, LMFT was taught early on that women deserve equal opportunities. In her training as a Marriage and Family Therapist, Sheila expanded her perspective on social justice to include intersections of gender, race, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, weight, and more. She earned her Ph.D. in Marriage and Family Therapy from Syracuse University, where she developed and co-taught one of the first academic courses covering LGBT issues in family therapy. Currently, she heads Margin to Center Consulting, which encompasses her private practice and supervision; cultural competency training for mental health professionals; and providing diversity and inclusion resources, including the Ally Skills Workshop, to corporate, academic, and community clients. She resides in Oakland, California, where her private practice, focused on couples and relationships, is also located. In 2018 she was named “Best Psychotherapist in the East Bay” by the East Bay Express.
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| Secretary |
Mary Nedela, Ph.D., LMFT, AAMFT Approved Supervisor (She/Her)
Dr. Nedela is an Assistant Professor and Clinical Coordinator in the Marriage and Family Therapy Program at Central Connecticut State University. She is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Michigan, an Approved Supervisor in Training, and Clinical Fellow in AAMFT. She earned her master’s degree in MFT from Purdue University and a Ph.D. in MFT from Virginia Tech. Mary is passionate about advocating for relational health and well-being among all queer and trans folks.
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| Past Chair |
Alex Iantaffi (They/Them)
Alex Iantaffi, Ph.D., MS, SEP, CST, LMFT, is a family therapist, WPATH-certified gender specialist, AASECT-certified sex therapist, Somatic ExperiencingⓇ practitioner, clinical supervisor, and author. As well as serving as Chair of the Queer and Trans Advocacy Network of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT), Alex is currently President-Elect of the Minnesota Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (MAMFT). They were the recipient of the 2019 MAMFT Distinguished Service Award, the 2013 Twin Cities Deaf Pride Community Organization Award for one of their research projects, 2012 Breaking the Silence Award at the University of Minnesota, and the 2000 Best Dissertation Award from the British Educational Research Association. Alex has researched, presented and published extensively on gender, disability, sexuality, relationships, and HIV. They are a trans masculine, nonbinary, bi-queer, disabled, Italian immigrant living in Dakota and Anishinaabe territories, currently known as Minnesota (US) since 2008. Alex is the author of "Gender Trauma: healing cultural, social, and historical gendered trauma" and co-author of the books "How to Understand Your Gender: a practical guide for exploring who you are," “Life Isn’t Binary,” “Hell Yeah Self-Care: a Trauma-Informed Workbook” and “How To Understand Your Sexuality: a practical guide for exploring who you are” with Meg-John Barker (Jessica Kingsley Publishers). They also host the podcast Gender Stories. You can find out more about them at www.alexiantaffi.com or follow them on Twitter and Instagram @xtaffi and @genderstories
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