Time to Say Goodbye

Since this is my final column as your President, I want to take this opportunity to say a few heartfelt goodbyes without “poaching” anything from my speech in Austin for the really, really final goodbye (I promise).

So, uppermost in my mind is saying goodbye to the most difficult, the most personally challenging, and the most rewarding office I have ever held…and I have held many offices in my lifetime, since I have wanted to boss around any group I have belonged to…just ask my Family Group!  I decided long ago that I would use this time given to me by you as an invitation to grow and learn, occasionally kicking and screaming, but mostly feeling curious and stimulated.  Yes, one of the things I have learned more about is how fulfilling it is to be of service rather than to control.

I say a heartfelt goodbye to the best team with whom anyone, anywhere, could have worked.   Our EC, our Committee Chairs, and our Editors have all really pitched in and worked well both alone and together.  I am really going to miss the honor of your permission to lead you and work beside you.  After a few months with us, Lyn Taylor and John Grazianno, both leaders at Cap Hill, said to me that they had never seen an organization where so many members volunteered for jobs, then worked so hard and cared so much about the jobs they were doing, as we do in AAP.  They only echoed my own astonishment at your generosity and love for this organization. The EC has supported me, challenged me, picked me up when I fell down, made me laugh when I felt like crying, and given me more good loving than I ever thought possible.  For someone who is still learning to ask for help, you were the perfect teachers.  I got all the help I needed and so much more.  Maybe best of all, I got company in the struggle.  For an only child, this is a revelation.  It’s these precious relationships with you around the work of AAP that I most grieve to let go.

There is no doubt among us that this job is not for the faint of heart; it is a crucible where you will have the chance to see your faults and their consequences, your character for better or for worse, and have at least some of your blind spots pointed out to you in no uncertain terms.  Sometimes it’s hard to feel grateful for this type of feedback, at least in the moment, but it can become a valuable insight into our deepest selves, if we can open to it.  As I step down, there are many such moments I treasure and will take with me.  I also saw my strengths in action, resulting in a more realistic appreciation of the particular gifts I do have as well as those that I do not.

On a lighter note, I say goodbye to the free President’s Suites, the free meeting registrations, the power and prestige, the blame and the doubt. Goodbye to copious emails asking for my opinion, or my experience, or my approval.  Goodbye to waking up in the night or the morning and having AAP be one of the top two things on my mind to worry about.  And I sure hope I can say goodbye to those anxious AAP dreams where I arrive at the school or meeting room unprepared for the exam…or I can’t find the room at all.

As I close this article, I feel sadness, pride, nostalgia, relief, and excitement about what will happen next for AAP and for me.  I believe we, your volunteer leaders, have done the best possible job we could do as a team for all of you.  I am proud of us and of what we have accomplished these last two years.  We have each done our part.  I leave with a full and happy heart. Mission accomplished and the captain is the better for it. 

Lorrie Hallman  

Who Is It You Think You See? Musings on Transformation

by Dairlyn Chelette

      The I&C committee did a beautiful job of elucidating their thinking about identity in the theme statement of the brochure, with transformation as a subtext.  Yet it was the notion of transformation, as it is introduced in the theme, which stirred my most vivid associations.    

  

     The critically acclaimed series, Breaking Bad, swept the Emmy awards this year.  Superb acting and scripting aside, its enormous appeal lies in the fact that Breaking Bad is fundamentally a story about transformation; to the dark side for sure, but transformation nonetheless.  Walter, the impotent, weak and un-noteworthy high school chemistry teacher receives a diagnosis of terminal cancer.  The diagnosis gives him new life and explodes his emotional cocoon.  He uses his knowledge of chemistry to become a master crystal meth cook and, in order to keep his operation running, transforms himself into a notorious outlaw who is willing to kill.

     We watch him descend into a secret world that unleashes aspects of his unrealized self.  In a pivotal scene, Walter’s wife, fearing for his life, urges him to turn himself in, plead for mercy and return to the limited, contained man he was before.  But it is way too late.  Walter is too far along in his transformative journey.  His ego has been opened to his sense of power, and he can never again deny the full range of who he is.  “I am not in danger,” he snarls… “I AM the danger!  Who are you talking to?  Who is it you think you see?”

     At the other end of the spectrum, psychoanalyst Ethel Person, in her book, Dreams of Love and Fateful Encounters, explores the transformative power of romantic passion, including the related dynamics associated with erotic transference.  She notes that falling in love creates a situation in which the self is exposed to new risks and enlarged possibilities.  “Love arises from within ourselves as a creative act that aims to fulfill our deepest longings, our oldest dreams, and allows us to both renew and transform ourselves.  Though seldom endless and never perfect, it is an extremely powerful force.” Whether self-transforming or self-deluding, under the sway of romantic passion, a part of the personality is freed. It is a force capable of changing the lover in profound ways.

  

     In his remarkable book, Traumatic Narcissism, Daniel Shaw delves deeply and personally into the traumatic impact of narcissism in interpersonal relationships in which one person’s identity and subjectivity (needs, feelings, perceptions) is seen as a threat to the narcissist’s sense of moral superiority, and must be suppressed.  He identifies this dynamic as the “traumatizing narcissist’s relational system,” which is characterized by “the complementary moral defense;” an emotional system in which claims of moral superiority and unyielding infallibility on the part of the narcissist require that the other accept and carry the burden of badness and moral failure, or risk abandonment.  In this system, one is always wrong, and cannot win.

For Alice, it was as though she were perpetually on trial before a kangaroo court, on charges of moral turpitude.  At the age of eight, she dreamed that a favorite toy, her beloved stuffed guinea pig, was suddenly staring at her, and as she watched it terror, it said, “You can say one thing before you die.”  Her last word before waking, was “Me.”

      At stake is her psychic survival: i.e., her ability to experience herself as a subject, rather than as the depersonalized, dehumanized object of the other’s requirements, demands, and judgments.

He gives a moving account of his own narcissistic lapse with this patient.

     

Initially when I feel myself under attack, I cannot see my own badness.  Most often, with Alice, what I can’t see is that sometimes when I think I am helping her, I am actually hurting her, and instead of being willing to recognize it and acknowledge it, I get mad at her for being hurt when I think that what she should feel is helped.  Whatever I said that triggered her or made her shut down or panic may have been right, but my rightness is not as important as the pain I am evoking in her.  If I can let myself feel my own shame about the pain I inflict, we can get somewhere.

Transformation out of objectification occurs in the process of repairing relational disruptions:  acknowledging fallibility, being accountable for doing harm, apologizing, making amends, forgiving--all of which are intersubjective processes.

     

Transformation can lead us down a path for good or ill.  Whether it comes in the form of a powerful emotional experience, or through the painstaking and careful dismantling of outmoded defenses, the essential element is its ability to throw personality in flux long enough to make room for buried aspects of the self to be revealed. Psychotherapy’s value lies in its capacity to offer opportunities for freeing the self from the cocoon of limiting patterns.  Our hope for our patients and ourselves is that we may come to know a fuller range of who we are and of life’s possibilities.  What I value so much about the Academy is its unique invitation to all of us to explore together what it is that transforms us in our work and in our lives, and to risk asking…who is it that you think you see?  

Southern Region News

Our Southern Region Committee has been actively and creatively planning and executing our fall, winter, and spring programs. We held our fall Salon in Atlanta on September 26, 2014.  Sharon Faro, PhD was our esteemed speaker and her topic was “Transformation in Psychotherapy Using Non-Ordinary States of Consciousness: A Shamanistic and Holotropic Approach.”  She held us spellbound with her training information and led us in a guided imagery process that deepened the experience for the participants. 

We had 50 attendees, including six brand new people, and fourteen non-member returnees. The rest were AAP members. We are in the process of planning our winter Salon to be held in January or early February.

The planning for our Spring Conference is well on its way. The location will be the Ridges Resort and Marina in Hiawassee, Ga.  This is a return site for us and may become our mountain home. The dates are March 20-13, 2015, so please “save the dates.”  Our theme, presenters, and program are in the making . Look for our brochure in early January. 

We have said goodbye to two pivotal and esteemed members of long standing.  Hannah Hawkins-Esther and Ken Turner have left to go on to other ventures.  We will miss their hard work, creative ideas, valuable service, and lovely presence. We wish them well!  Our two new members are Bob Coyle and Mitch Foy. They have hit the ground running and are bringing creative ideas and the willingness to work hard with them.

Our financial standing is solid and we have a system in place for reporting our finances to Central office. Our “Joel Rachelson” scholarships continue to give students a helping hand financially to attend our conferences 

We are grateful that we have such a great opportunity to both introduce new, as well as help returning attendees, get a “taste” of AAP. We are noticing an increase in diversity in our attendees, both at the Salons and Spring Conference.

Maureen Martin, Chair, Curt Arey, Treasurer, Nancy Moser, Secretary, Melissa Beddingfield, Lucie Lie-Nielsen, Don Murphy, Dairlyn Chelette, Bob Coyle and Mitch Foy.

BUTTERNUT SQUASH CASSEROLE

Contributed by Maureen Martin to make your holidays joyous!

1 butternut squash (Costco sells fresh cubed butternut squash which mashes into 4 cups)

1 cup white sugar

1 ½ cups milk

1 tsp. vanilla

1 pinch salt

2 tbs. flour

3 eggs 

¼ cup butter melted

TOPPING

½ box (16oz) vanilla wafers crushed

½ cup butter melted

1 cup brown sugar 

Preheat oven to 425 deg.

If not using Costco cubed squash do step 1.  Otherwise go to step 2.

1. 1. Put butternut squash in microwave and cook on high, until soft.  2 to 3 minutes.  Cut in half, scoop out seeds and cube. 
2. 2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Add squash and cook until tender, about 15 minutes.  Drain and mash.
3. 3. In a 9 x 13inch casserole, combine 3 cups mashed squash (4 if Costco’s), white sugar, milk, vanilla, salt, flour, eggs, and ¼ cup butter.
4. 4. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes or until set.
5. 5. In a medium bowl combine crushed vanilla wafers, ½ cup melted butter and brown sugar.  Crumble over cooked casserole and return to oven to brown.

Following an Example

Inspired by the example of other Academy members who have given time and money to the Academy, Hallie and I now join them by honoring Vivien Guze and Michael Fiveash with a contribution to the Scholarship fund in their honor.

In honor of Vivien Guze turning 90 whose 50+ years of courageous honesty, love and dedication have enriched so many of us.

In memory of Michael Fiveash, Classics teacher, who passed on his love of learning, life with rich kindness.

     

We honor honesty in the Academy in our truth telling words, one of our strengths. Showing appreciation with cash exceeds the warmth of words and adds a touch of permanence to this wondrous work we do.   

                      Hallie and Ray Lovett

Go and do likewise.

News from Endowment & Trust Board/Scholarship Committee

By Neil Makstein, along with the AAP Endowment & Trust Board, and Scholarship Committee

 At our recent Brasstown Summer Workshop, Damon Blank and I invited our members to contribute to AAP’s three voluntary funds (Endowment, Trust and Scholarship Funds) as a way of marking personal events in our lives.  We were grateful as members stood up in community meetings to announce contributions. 

• • Damon Blank pledged a contribution to the Endowment Fund in honor of his upcoming 32^nd wedding anniversary.
• • Murray Sher pledged a contribution to the Endowment Fund in honor of his 50th wedding anniversary.
• • Barbara Lidsky pledged a contribution to the Endowment Fund in honor of beloved member Jerry Travers, who passed away recently.
• • David Hawkins pledged a contribution to the Endowment Fund to honor his recent marriage to his partner James.
• • Jacob Megdell pledged a contribution to the Scholarship Fund in honor of the 53^rd anniversary of his Bar Mitzvah.
• • Neil Makstein, Bruce Ellman and Susan Levy pledged a contributions to the Endowment Fund to honor Damon’s wedding anniversary and his leadership of the Endowment Committee.
• • Carol Light, Ruthann Fox-Hines, Sharman Colosetti, Nick Kirsch, Barbara Thomason and Susan Levy all made contributions to the Scholarship Committee to honor their good work on behalf our Scholars Program. 

And more recently, 

• • Gordon Cohen made a contribution to the Trust fund in honor of his son Daniel graduating from High school. 

Many thanks to all of these members! If you would like to add your pledge in honor of significant life events or loved ones, you can do so online at the AAP website as well as on your annual dues statement or at the I&C. 

If you aren’t clear on how these funds work, here is a brief summary:

AAP’s Endowment, Trust, and Scholarship Funds:

• • The AAP Trust Fund was established primarily in order to assist members who are experiencing financial hardship, to participate in Summer Workshops and I&Cs.
• 
  
• • The AAP Endowment Fund was established in 2003 in order to provide the Academy with savings and investments to support future growth, as well as life-sustaining organizational projects (e.g. Voices).
• 
  
• • The AAP Scholarship Fund provides annual need-blind scholarships of $1000 to qualified beginning psychotherapists in order to help them attend our I&C, and to commit to their personal and professional development.

Membership is “Holding Steady”

This summer there was a brief but lovely interchange on the AAPnet which centered around our membership: the ebb and flow of those who join; musings on why we appeal to some and not others; and the steady, slow, methodical work that has been done by the outreach, retention, membership and mentoring committees.

As 2014 comes to a close, I do want to report a bit about our numbers. In this past year we have processed 14 applications for membership and we have 5 more to be considered at this EC meeting in Austin. If all are approved, that’s 19 new members for 2014!!  As of September 1, 2014 we have a total of 180 Full members, 105 Life members, 8 Associate Members and 2 Student Members. 

Our application and reference process is fully digital, reactivation is painless and we are now vetting members in the Associate member category for attendance at SW.  We have a new handout for easy reference extolling the “Benefits of Membership” and we have begun to track those who qualify for the honor of life membership certification. I want to express my gratitude to the mentoring committee: Laura June, David Loven and Giuliana Reed and especially to the membership committee: Denise Castro, Dairlyn Chelette, Susan Diamond, Susan Jacobson and Sandy Ebrahimi. I also want to recognize the community at large for their willingness to accept the change that new members bring while retaining the integrity of the whole. I look forward to 2015!

Nelia Rivers, LCSW

AAP Membership/Mentoring Chair  

Newsletter News

Newsletter News

This edition marks the end of my first full year as the Editor of the Newsletter.  I have deeply appreciated all of your contributions and the efforts you have made to send items to the correct email address:

academynewsletter@gmail.com

Deep thanks to my developing committee.  I have lots of competent help now.  Starting with the next edition, Brooke Bralove will be joining us as our “official” photographer.  

We still will be grateful for any snapshots any of you with photos care to share.

Mendie Cohn will be leaving us.  She is a great copy editor and I will miss her careful eye and perfect grammar, but she has family obligations that take her away from editing with me.  

It takes a village and I appreciate mine:  Copy Editors:  Mendie Cohn, Joanna Frederick, Sara Trace; Art Editor:  Pat Coyle; Photographer:  Brooke Bralove.

Thanks, Everyone,    Linda Tillman, Editor            

Photos from SW Workshop 2014 at Brasstown Valley Resort

President's Column

Our Summer Workshop in North Georgia has just ended with great success and satisfaction!  Everyone who spoke in Community Meetings expressed their heartfelt appreciation to Barbara Nama and Z Rosenzweig, Co-chairs, and to the whole committee for all of their hard work and attention to detail.  I am particularly grateful to the members of my family group, and a few important others, for meeting my request of them in such a generous way.  I was certainly “changed for good,” as I hope all of you who attended were as well.

Speaking of changes, Jessyca, our executive director, has resigned from Cap Hill and will no longer be our point person there.  While this is a good career move for her, it forces us to manage through another change at our Central Office.  I indulged in self-pity for about a day but then realized that we are all experts at this sort of change by now, as we have considerable experience with it.

Alyssa Adams, an employee of Cap Hill, will be our new Account Executive.  She has experience with association management and with planning national meetings for groups like ours.  I’m excited that they have given us someone with even more expertise and experience as we continue to mature as an organization and provide excellent meetings for ourselves and for the interested public.

Your Executive Officers and Committee Chairs are already consulting about their priorities with Brian, as am I.  We are all dedicated to creating as smooth a transition as possible.  And, while there may be a few hiccups, we will be fine.  Jessyca was very open that her resignation has nothing to do with her relationship with us and everything to do with looking for a new career opportunity.  She said that she enjoyed working with all of us and will miss us.  And we are sure to miss her sweet, competent self.  I thanked her in the name of the Academy for all that she has done for us and wished her well on her new adventure.  I’m only sorry that we weren’t able to say goodbye to her in person.

The Executive Council and Committee chairs had a satisfying meeting before Summer Workshop in that we came to consensus about the difficult issue of changing our dues structure to meet our budgetary needs.  I will go into detail about this in the next issue.  Our plans were well received by the attendees of our annual Business Meeting, held each summer.  In fact, I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone for the standing ovation you gave me and the whole team for the work we had done.  You blew my mind!

We have been hard at work for about two years planning ways we can raise enough income for AAP and the teamwork has been exceptional.  Many councilors and chairs have given considerable time and energy to developing this new plan.  I continue to be very grateful for the support and dedication of everyone involved.  You all make my work so much easier and more enjoyable.  Thanks for teaching me in such a loving way to ask for help and support.

As everything is changing all the time, it is my hope that we can accept change gracefully and sometimes even embrace it.  As resistance is the path to unnecessary suffering, mindfulness and courage can lead us to greater joy and wisdom for ourselves and for AAP. 

Lorrie Hallman,

President, AAP

Tom Burns' crossword puzzle

To work Tom's challenging but wonderful puzzle online, click here  .


Once you've done the puzzle, you can check your answers by clicking here.


     

Scholarship Fund Raffle Brings Energy, Fun, and Funds

By Frances Compton and Linda Tillman

Frances Compton, Joanna Frederick and Arthur Weinfeld organized a Scholarship raffle fundraiser for the Academy.  The 2014 Summer Workshop raffle is the kick-off to the fundraising season for the annual Scholarship Program which now sends TWENTY new therapists to the I&C. All the members of the Scholarship Committee sold raffle tickets at $10.00 per ticket. 

We raffled three donated art pieces: a Z Rosenzweig & Pat Coyle, a Fern Beu and a Frances Compton.  We also raffled two cash prizes of $100 and $200.  When the sales of the raffle tickets were totaled, we had close to $1900.00 after the two cash prizes of $200.00 and $100.00 were taken out.  The drawing of the winning tickets brought great fun to the dinner entertainment, with folks "drum rolling" their hands on the tables as each drawing took place.

At the Saturday night dinner, Joanna spoke poignantly about what it has meant to be a scholar and now a member.  Frances thanked all for their patience and generosity.  Arthur pointed out that the future of the Academy depends on programs such as these.

The winners were:  Sara Trace, new member and former scholarship winner, won Z and Pat’s framed art used for the cover of the SW brochure; Steven Ingram won Fern Beu’s piece; and Jenny Pelligrini won the Frances Compton piece.  Doug Cohen won the $100 prize and Don Murphy won the $200 prize.

Everyone had a good time with the raffle event and we gathered enough funds to pay for two scholarships at the I&C.  If you would like to donate to the Scholarship fund to help us bring new therapists to the I&C, click here.

Come to the I&C in Austin

59th Annual Institute and Conference

Austin, Texas

Bring Your Inner Cowgirl and/or Cowboy to Austin in November!

July is not too soon to begin making plans to join your AAP colleagues in bringing AAP’s unique focus on the person of the therapist to the “third coast” therapist community. If you haven’t read your brochure yet, NOW is the time! We have a fantastic program, a great Hyatt hotel location downtown on the shore of Lake Austin with direct access to the Hike and Bike trail and downtown Austin. Austin weather in early November is mild to warm days and cooler nights, so pack layers along with your walking/running shoes. 

 A program change: Z’s workshop, #21, is open to MEN only. 

 Remember that the cut off date BOTH for registering for the I&C AND for reserving rooms at the Hyatt Regency Hotel is September 1, 2014! 

Please note:  Our contact person at the Hyatt Regency Austin hotel STRONGLY recommends you register FOR YOUR HOTEL ROOMS online by clicking here.  By doing so you will be able to view all the options available in our room block and choose what best suits your needs.  You also are assured of getting our negotiated rate on any room in the block.  If you can't register online or need help, please you this number to contact a hotel reservation agent who SHOULD be able to help:  888 421 1442.  Please try these before calling the            Town Lake Trail         hotel directly.

If you have suggestions for books for the I&C Bookstore, please send them to Roy at mailto:royclymer@gmail.com

 If you have not received your brochure and would like a paper copy or extras for your local colleagues, please contact Allyssa Adams (518-463-8664/aap@caphill.com) or visit aapweb.com for the online brochure. 

Ellen Carr – Publicity & Volunteers 

Phyllis and Roy Clymer – Co-chairs

A Newcomer's Perspective on EC from Your Newly Elected Secretary

By Jonathan Farber

     I'd heard the legends, of course, told around the AAP campfire as the light wanes and the marshmallows splutter out, leaving us in the Darkness-That-Swallows-All. After the horrifying tales like the disallowed insurance claims dating from 2009 and the 60-page ethics complaint...

then is heard the whispered name of  EC....EC......E!...C!  I'd heard EC compared to everything from the Bellevue acute admissions unit to the North Korean Joint Chiefs.  But nothing I'd heard prepared me for the reality.  Because the reality was  surprisingly sane.

     For one thing, there is a great deal of structure to the meetings these days, and we all know structure tends to contain both interpersonal and intrapsychic pathology.   The agenda is set months in advance, and each committee has prepared a report which EC members have the chance to review ahead of time. The report summarizes the work the committee accomplished and the work yet to be done, and specifies the issues the committee wants addressed in the meeting (e.g. additional guidance, staff, or financial support).  The president (Lorrie Hallman) chaired the meeting, and because we all wanted to get the work done and get out of there on time, there were few complaints each time she chose to rein in extended discussion and refocus on completing the agenda.

     Besides the sanity, another surprise to me was the amount of time spent checking and updating the Policy and Procedures Manual.  When people aren't sure how to do something...they consult the manual.  When we decide to change how we do something, we change the manual. So there is always a current and accessible description, in plain English, for every essential Academy function.   The past president (Margaret Nichols) has familiarized herself with this voluminous and evolving document with the obsessive passion of a Talmudist. Using what must be some kind of dedicated cross-referencing structure in her brain, she points out when a change in one place logically requires changes in other passages located elsewhere in the manual.  Considering the complexity, this also goes rather smoothly, and the result is that any of us doing work for the Academy has ready access to the experience of past members, and leaves guidance to future members.   

      The discussions were mostly to the point, and always respectful, and everyone's input was welcomed and considered.  About half the 20 or so who were present were not elected members: they were there as committee members or chairs, e.g. the historian (Sue Timms), the training chair (Stephanie Spalding) or the program chairs for future national events, or the Voices editors.  So there was sometimes a mild awkwardness when an official vote was required for the record, or as required by the constitution, and only the elected half us could cast a vote.  

     To me, the most impressive discussions involved the complex issues, because we integrated perspectives from diverse corners of the Academy. The matter of raising dues, for instance, began with our treasurer (Robin Truitt) showing us that the current budget was not sustainable without increased revenue, and then the membership chair (Nelia Rivers) and the retention chair discussing the implications for members; the program chairs estimating income from their future conferences...you get the idea. In some of the discussion, I realized afterwards, we played out our familiar Sluggers (“Face reality and balance the budget”) versus Huggers (“But we'll upset our friends, and maybe lose good people”). So we Slugged and we Hugged and developed various complex and creative solutions, until we settled on one plan, and voted to go with it. Even most of the controversial topics ended up with unanimous or nearly unanimous votes, and I assure you, this wasn't because these members were afraid to disagree with each other.

     Of course, EC is part of AAP, so it begins and ends with – you guessed it – a process group.  Negative experiences from within the room and from elsewhere in our lives were aired and addressed. Positive connections were honored and celebrated, and often proved contagious.  Overall, there was the satisfied feeling of having accomplished meaningful work. Together.      

      I'll be back.

      DAMMIT, who finished the graham crackers while I was talking?

New Faces at Summer Workshop

New Faces at Summer Workshop

By Nelia Rivers Membership and Mentoring Chair

As membership and mentoring chairperson, I have had the privilege of processing applications of new members. As they are accepted these members are recognized and introduced in the newsletter. For their full introduction, see section titled “Welcome to our most recent new members.“

This summer there were also some additional new faces who are not “new members” and I would like to recognize them by name. Carla Bauer and Curt Arey, who are associate members, were vetted by the membership committee to attend their first summer workshop. 

Other members in attendance for their first time were 3 new full members who were introduced in the newsletter of 5/5/14:   Catherine Clemmer, Alan Marcus and Sara Trace. 

Some of our members who have never attended a Summer Workshop were also there for their first time, including: Brent Coyle, Sally Atkins, James McCracken and Diane Schaffer. Welcome to 14 new faces! 

Looking Forward

Looking Forward

Gordon Cohen

Five work groups gathered during the Strategic Planning session during SW ’13 to determine our next long term goal.  Neil Makstein helped to consolidate the reactions of his group, which are reported below. 

This group focused on the question of promoting psychotherapy to the public, and unanimously decided that this issue should not become our next central goal.   While the group expressed gratitude to those members who are devoting time and energy toward this end, whether as part of the RAP Committee, or as individuals in public forums, they did not feel that AAP should elevate this issue above some of the other strategic goals which are aimed at the growth of our own organization.  

Letters to the media from our leaders and the RAP Committee have been attempted with the NY Times and elsewhere and these efforts are seen as a valuable contribution to our profession.  But, the group did not believe it would be a good expenditure of the energy of the “group as a whole” to try to influence the general public in their perceptions about psychotherapy.  

Most AAP members are also members of other professional organizations that have larger resources to devote to addressing the need for public education about psychotherapy.   So while members are encouraged to use their other organizational affiliations (state associations, national professional groups like APA or NASW, the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, etc.) to voice our concerns, this subgroup reached a consensus that AAP should focus more on the immediate internal organizational concerns.  One area, however, that might be worth exploring further is whether we could have some positive influence in graduate school training programs for future psychotherapists, particularly when the focus is on one’s own practice.

Avalanche Danger

ETHICS: In Search of Integrity and Responsibility in the Work Place

Ethics Committee Members: Jane Baxter, Tyler Beach, Damon Blank, Vivian Guze, Carole Light, Jack Mulgrew, Murray Scher, Avrum Weiss, Pat Webster, Marilyn Schwartz, Chair

Avalanche Danger – Dealing with Your Professional Licensing Board 

By Marilyn Schwartz

An alarming number of licensed mental health professionals in the state of Georgia have recently been caught either failing to renew their licenses in a timely manner or failing to submit a picture or evidence of citizenship, which is a new requirement. In the latter cases, the licensing board sometimes processed the renewal application and payment but did not actually renew the license. In a number of these cases, the mental health professional assumed his or her license had been renewed because payment had been accepted.  These therapists did not discover their error for months or sometimes even two years later when the licensing board charged them with practicing without a license.

If you discover your license has expired for six months or less, you can fairly safely call your licensing board and ask for your license to be reactivated by paying a small fine. If, however, your license has been expired for a longer time, you may need to call a lawyer first to help you deal with the licensing board. Communicating with your licensing board on your own can be perilous. Many clinicians naively assume that boards exist to help you resolve licensing questions or problems.  However, licensing boards are state regulatory agencies whose primary purpose is to enforce the laws of your state. Because they are charged with protecting the public by following the letter of the law, they may at times act counter to your interests or even your patients.

Licensing boards demonstrate that they are doing their job by identifying violators and administering penalties. Communicating directly with your board may unfortunately lead to your coming under their scrutiny. For example, if your license has expired for more than six months and you call your licensing board, you will be asked if you are still practicing. If you answer “yes,” be prepared for sanctions such as a “cease and desist” order barring you from practice, or an order to inform all your patients and their insurance companies that you have been practicing without a license, or a request for your patient records, or a heavy fine, and worst case scenario, threat of revocation of your license. 

With the exception of your initially applying for your license, you may be involved in a questionable legal situation whenever you have contact with your licensing board.  If you suspect this is the case, our best advice is first to seek counsel from a lawyer with experience in administrative law and with experience dealing with the licensing boards in your state.  

And remember: REACH OUT TO US, YOUR ETHICS COMMITTEE FOR HELP. We’ve acquired knowledge and experience dealing with licensing boards. We can advise you and we’ll support you.  

We can advise you and we’ll support you.  

The President's Column

Happy spring to everyone!  I hope all of you have at least felt intimations of spring by now.  And, if it’s spring, it’s time to register for Summer Workshop.  At the publication of this newsletter, we have 162 registrants.  I invite more of you to take another look at the brochure (on the website, if you’ve lost yours) and consider spending a few days with us in peaceful North Georgia focusing on yourself and your work with patients.  I, myself, am really looking forward to communing with horses and learning what they have to teach me about myself and how I approach relationships.  I just might learn something from humans too.

I want to welcome publicly and personally the new members voted in by EC conference call March 31^st: three student members and six full members.  Please read about them in detail elsewhere in this issue and be prepared to meet the new full members this summer.  Also, I hear from our Membership Chair that we have four more qualified applicants in the process of completing their applications who also want to come to the Summer Workshop.  You will have a chance to vet them for the required 30 days, before EC takes a vote on accepting them to membership or not.  Please give them your careful consideration as always.

It is with great sadness and appreciation that I acknowledge the death of two of our valued members, E. Mark Stern and Jerry Travers.  Each of these men made extraordinary contributions to our community during their lives and will be sorely missed by many of us.  You can read our members’ tributes to them within these pages.  Above all, I feel acutely aware of the tender fragility of us all and am grateful to be able to share this part of my life journey with each of you. 

I find that holding the office of president has given me a good look at the whole of us, some leaving and some coming in, some taking on the honor and responsibility of holding office or chairing a committee or working behind the scenes, and some watching or resting.  Your sincere caring for the Academy and our mission is most evident to me as we approach each of our national meetings.  You all warm my heart and some of you amaze me.  Giving my time and energy and heart to the Academy has come to benefit me in unanticipated, but deep and permanent ways.

For several years I have had the habit of listening to music while I take my walks and imagining myself singing many of these songs to you in the talent show.  I just recently realized that a part of that fantasy (the part that doesn’t have to do with exhibitionism) has to do with wanting to sing you love songs, songs about ecstasy and despair, about unrequited love and being steadfastly loved, about falling in and out of love, songs about how beautiful you are and sometimes how not beautiful you are.  In my dreams and in my life, you are my chosen family, for better and for worse, in sickness and in health, and, just maybe, until death do us part.

Lorrie Hallman, 

AAP President

Straight from the Horse’s Mouth

The SW conference is hosting our first ever equine therapy workshop and I am inviting you to “take the reins and join in.” For those of you who have had a fear of horses in your life, past and present, after all “horses are big, they kick and bite,” and/or anyone that is interested in examining their role in relationships in a life changing way, I am inviting you to take my workshop.

First, I would like to clarify that this is a ground working experience and there is no riding involved.

The first day of the workshop is co-led by me and a horse expert, who is bringing three of her experienced and vetted equine therapy trained horses that are used with children, adolescents and adults. The horses are mostly “rescue” horses that have had to deal with loss and traumas in their own lives and have recovered and healed. The use of the horse in relationship examination and self-awareness is based on scientific research and learning theory that helps the participant achieve a true paradigm shift that can be life altering and changing.

Second, there are safety structures in place that are used in all the ground work exercises.  

In addition to the expert and myself, there is a “safety net” person attending all that participate and are involved in any time with the horse. The horses and expert are present for the first day of the workshop and will not be present for the second day.

Third, and this is very important, this may be one of the most life altering therapeutic experiences you ever allow yourself to have.

The second day of the workshop is designed for “process.” Within this structure, I will present an opportunity to deal with the feelings and self-learning from the experience, to connect the structured equine activity to psychotherapy theory and research, and to provide a container to consolidate the learning that the horses collaboratively offered.

I invite you to come and experience this unique modality and experience what can be learned from our non-verbal equine partners.

Please feel free to call me personally and ask any questions. 404 863-0449

Maureen Martin, lifelong horse lover and receiver of equine magic

A Hospitality Inspiration: Spiced Ginger Cashews

Contributed by Sharman Colosetti

3 T. sugar

1/2 t. coarse salt

3/4 t. ground ginger

1/2 t. cayenne

1 egg white

2 1/2 c. roasted cashews

Mix sugar, salt, ginger and cayenne.

Beat egg white til frothy.

Toss nuts with egg white.

Stir in seasonings.

Spread in a single layer on a parchment-lined cookie sheet.

Bake at 300 for 30 minutes, stirring after 15 minutes.

Y O U C O U L D W I N the R A F F L E !

Beloved Academy Members, 

Frances Compton, Joanna Frederick, and Arthur Weinfeld are spearheading a unique plan to raise funds for the AAP Scholarship Program at the Summer Workshop in Georgia.  Ten dollar raffle tickets will be sold at venues throughout the workshop, and a few lucky winners will receive MONEY and/or prizes. The remaining funds will help support the next round of scholarships for twenty beginning psychotherapists, bringing them to Austin for the Academy’s 59th I&C.  This year, the two process groups for scholars will be co-led by Jack Mulgrew and Debbara Dingman, and David Pelligrini and Fern Beu.

Is this a worthy cause? See for yourself!  

Below are some quotes from the (anonymous) evaluations written by last year’s scholars:                                                     

"This experience was one of the more powerful I have ever engaged in. The group facilitation for the scholars group was amazing, and the connection between scholars was better than I had imagined..."

“I had an amazing experience as a scholar and am so grateful for the opportunity.” 

“The AAP scholars program has launched me both personally and professionally to be more confident and aware. The community that we were allowed to be part of ...was welcoming, nourishing and invigorating.” 

Buy your raffle tickets early and often! We thank you.

AAP SCHOLARSHIP COMMITTEE: Tyler Beach, Frances Compton, Susan Eig, Joanna Frederick, David Hawkins, Doris Jackson, Laurie Michaels, Lyn Sommer, Linda Tillman, and Arthur Weinfeld 

2014 Elections

The nominations committee is again pleased to announce that we have a full slate of members to run for councilor in the 2014 elections. Three of these six candidates will have the opportunity to participate in the governance of the Academy by serving on the Executive Council for the next three years.

We continue to seek nominations for both president and treasurer of the Academy.

Lorrie Hallman, our current president, will finish her term at the I&C in Austin and the office will be handed over to our president elect, Gordon Cohen.

It is an honor and a privilege to lead this multidisciplinary community of psychotherapists as president or to serve as the treasurer, reporting on our financial wellbeing. The president’s term is six years, two each as president-elect, president, and immediate past president, and the treasurer’s is four. 

We are not able to hold an election until we have candidates for all positions. If you are a seasoned member of AAP, and if the community has been your professional center for the majority of your career, it might be a time to consider running for president. If business and finance are your areas of strength, then serving as treasurer would be the right job for you.   

As most of us consider AAP our “tribe," it is an important and personally valuable experience to take your place among our leaders for the wellbeing of all of us.  Our committee is pleased to be able to offer you this experience.  Please take a moment to either decide to run yourself or offer a nomination of a full member for president or treasurer.  You may do so by contacting any of the people below.

Thank you for your consideration.

 Margaret Nichols, Chair, drmnichols@gmail.com

Ronnie Koenig, rkoenigphd@gmail.com
Nelia Rivers, neliar@bellsouth.net
Loretta Sparks, loretta@selfcarepower.com

Call for Nominations for Fellow

The Fellows Committee invites your nominations for the honor of Fellow.  Please submit your nominations to me in writing along with your reasons for nominating the individual.  These are the criteria that the committee uses as we make our recommendations to Executive Council.  The ultimate decision to bestow this honor is made by EC.

• • Full active life membership in good standing. 
• • Provides exceptional and distinguished leadership over time. 

• • Manifests leadership within the Academy by the strength of their character, which may or may not include holding office or chairing meetings. 
• • Personifies highly valued core values of integrity, truthfulness
• responsibility and investment. 

The honor has been awarded to the following members.  In the case of the first six members, it was awarded while the member was living.

Irma Shepherd                 

Sol Rosenberg

Dick Felder

Howard Halpern

Jeanne Shaw

Ann Mckain

Vivian Guze

Herb Roth

Howard Fink

Grover Criswell

Joen Fagen

David Hawkins

Murial Roth 

Jack Murgrew

Monique Savlin

Murray Scher

Katheryn Van der Heiden

Carole Light

David Loftis

Lee Blackwell

Pat Webster

Rhona Engles

Ed Sharp

Leonard Schwartzburd

Grover Criswell  

Email:   gec444@gmail.com

Chair for the Fellows Committee

Southern Region News and Views

Our Southern Region Committee is happily resting on our laurels right now after an incredible Southern Region Conference at Myrtle Beach on March 21-23, 2014. We were very delighted to have our theme, “The Cost of Virtue: Managing Our Inner Saboteurs” enhanced by our illustrious presenters and our workshop attendees. Our presenters included: Gordon Cohen, Dairlyn Chelette, Lyn Sommer, Jack Mulgrew, David Donlon, Bob Rosenblatt, Anni Tuikka, Steve Eichel, and Suzanne Imes. Our opening experience leader, committee member and theme theorist, Ken Turner, kicked off the experience in his unique, talented way. Each presenter brought their A-Game to us and provided a container to explore our “inner saboteurs.” We all learned about how to be friends with and to change and/or modify our “saboteurs” with full understanding of how these behaviors have protected us. 

Our randomly assigned (leaderless) process groups on Sunday morning offered an opportunity to consolidate the weekend experience and provided a valued place to deal with unfinished business. Our non-therapist attendees, spouses and partners, were invited into our unique experience and given a taste of what their family member experiences in our organization. Non-members, students, young therapists, and new therapists also received a divine introduction and experience into our “inner sanctum.”(This idea of a randomly assigned Sunday morning process group may be of interest and value for our Summer Workshop and I&C formats.)

Sixty-six persons registered and 63 attended.  Thirty attendees were AAP members and the others were non-members, including nine students. (Two of the non-member attendees submitted full membership applications at the end of the conference and will be coming to Summer Workshop.) Five of these students utilized our Joel Rachelson scholarship funds. Forty attendees signed up for CEUs. Participants came from North Carolina, South Carolina, Washington D.C., Tennessee, Florida, and Georgia. We are very pleased with the attendance and are already pre-planning our next Spring Conference. 

Our hospitality queens, Nancy Moser and Lucie Lie-Nielsen, provided a welcoming Hospitality Suite that stayed open until the wee hours of the morning. Nancy and Lucie also provided our Saturday afternoon mentoring meeting for anyone who wanted more support and information during the conference. This group of “newbies” gave helpful feedback to us for our committee’s consideration. For example, they recommended holding the mentoring meeting on both Friday and Saturday. Questions such as: “What is going on here, you are so different than any other organization that I have seen?” “What is the community meeting about and why is there one?” “What is the opening experience and why is it handled this way?” were asked and answered. The mentoring group attendees asked our committee to consider having a mentor assigned to all new first time attendees. They also suggested that the committee provide a list of all of the attendees and emails for networking purposes. (We don’t do this for our conferences at AAP, but everyone is invited to make any personal contacts that they wish.)  All shared appreciation for the time and energy that AAP members gave to them at breaks, meals, etc. and all felt welcomed, if somewhat overwhelmed.

Our registration process, including brochure, was captained by Curt Arey, who also handled the CEUs. He is our computer and organizational wizard and did a yeoman’s job. Our treasurer Hannah Hawkins-Esther kept us clear and solvent. As she works on the accounting, the early feedback is that we made a safe and helpful profit. Melissa Beddingfield was our “Gal Friday”. Wherever we needed a good steward, she was there keeping all running smoothly. Our chair for the conference, Don Murphy, could not make it due to his attendance at Jerry Traver’s funeral, but he sent many encouraging messages to us before, during, and after the weekend.  We are a well-oiled team that helps each other with the grace and hard work that is required to provide such a valuable experience. I love being the captain of this ship and am having more fun than I can tell you.

With appreciation and pride,

Maureen Martin, Chair; Hannah Hawkins-Esther, Curt Arey, Nancy Moser, Ken Turner, Melissa Beddingfield, Lucie Lie- Nielsen, Don Murphy, and Dairlyn Chelette

Looking Forward

The Strategic Planning work group, which addressed racial diversity in the Academy, was headed by Loretta Sparks, who gives her report below.

Within the Academy concerns have been raised, over the years, that our membership is not racially diverse.  EC has reflected those concerns as well.  In the last few years, we have seen increased diversity in the attendees at Salon and Chapter events as well our Scholars Program.  However, our new membership has not reflected that increase in diversity.  

Clearly, more than concern is needed if we are to take our desire to have a membership that reflected greater racial diversity off our wish list and move it to our work list.

What we need is you!  We need you to offer workshops that explore the many aspects of diversity at I & Cs and Summer Workshops.  We need you and one or two others who are willing to put the time into liaison between the academic and professional psychotherapy communities and the AAP committees at the heart of our outreach, Membership, Salons, Chapters, Scholars and I & Cs, to see that procedures are developed and functioning to ensure increased minority outreach and hopefully membership.  

Loretta Sparks, 

Past President

Short and Sweet

As Publications Chair, I have the opportunity to witness directly the challenges of our relatively new editor.

Admittedly, I have a bias; that being: Shorter is sweeter.

I feel protective of our editors and the volunteers that devote their time and energy to AAP. I am very committed to keeping the positions manageable and fun.  To that end, I encourage you to present your material for the Newsletter in a clear, succinct, and well-edited form.  For example, get someone you know who is meticulous and grammatically evolved to read your article before you send it to be published.

As a couple of examples of concise writing, here you go:

Do you think my mind is maturing late, or simply rotted early?
Ogden Nash

Geeks are people who love something so much that all the details matter.
Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo

While I’m at it, if you want to be sure that your submissions to the Newsletter are published, send them as a Word Document to Academynewsletter@gmail.com rather than to Linda’s personal email.

Your Faithful Publications Chair,

David Loftis

EDITOR's NOTE:  The above article with signature is only 179 words!

Do You Really Think You Are Going to Live Forever?

I have just finished reading Jerry Travers’ magnificent obituary on the website of the Ippolito Funeral Home in Summit, NJ. I am through with sobbing for now. The feelings of “this can’t be true – that he is really gone” still come and go. His wake and funeral will be another step in dealing with the reality of his death, but I do not expect to fully grasp that he is no longer with us for some time to come. The narrative arc of Jerry’s life was thrilling to read in its condensed but rich form, and many of the remarks brought him back to life for a few minutes. The way his early life informed so much of what we came to know of him in AAP was lovingly captured, along with the sense of his heartfelt searching, longing to connect in his shy way, and his quirky Irish-Canadian wit. He had brains to spare. Murray Scher and Jerry held up the extreme ends of the continuum of sartorial attunement and expression in the Academy, while they simultaneously shared a tight contiguity and connection in matters of truth telling, intellectual acuity, a sometimes mordant sense of humor, and deep curiosity about the art and science of psychotherapy. Such are the odd couples who are the lifeblood of our band of wandering Arameans. The immediate message I received from Murray upon his hearing of Jerry’s death contained his memory of a remark Jerry made years ago during the nadir of the AAP Talent Show – “Murray, you know, the talent show is what killed vaudeville.”

Jerry belonged to a long-lived (over 30 years) and vital AAP “family group.” Its current members include Elaine Levin, Jennifer Savitz, Debbie Schwartz Kuhn, Don Murphy, Ray Lovett, Kitty LaPerriere, Karen Smith, Matthew Leary, Brooke McLaughlin, Mindy Meachem, Elizabeth Echeverria Field, and Kelly Barclay.  Within the last few years they have lost to death longtime members Sol Rosenberg, Jeannie Shaw, Bruce Schell and now, Jerry. This is both statistically heartbreaking as well as emotionally staggering when we recall the contributions to AAP these now-absent members made over the years of their participation – a president, several EC members, workshops chaired, and innovative workshop and I&C presentations given too numerous to even try to count up, never mind the behind-the-scenes committee work, unofficial consultations, and PR work they did for the Academy.  Like many family groups, they have been through thick and thin with one another. Unlike many family groups, they have dealt with the problem of succession with more courage, vitality and forethought than I believe most of the rest of us have. They have a real age range in their group. In my group, since the death of Alice Umbach, the mean, median, and modal age are almost the same number. I do not, of course, have reliable demographic data on all of the other “family” (a term I do not really like) groups in the Academy. My sense however, is that the issue of succession is related to a number of other dynamics that are beginning to be more directly addressed by us, including an unclear notion of how one gains admission to a group, entrenched notions of specialness, and the denial of death.

This is more than the usual “carpe diem” pep talk that often accompanies the death of a loved one. I hope that these thoughts prompt us all to think of the ongoing life and vitality of AAP, our reverence and devotion not only to one another now, but our awareness of the quality of the legacy that will go on after we’re gone.

Hallie Lovett

JERRY TRAVERS HAS DIED.

       Long time dedicated Academy member, joining around 1975 or so, Jerome Travers died on March 18, one day after St Patrick’s Day, so fitting a deeply Irish man, buoyantly proud of this heritage and prouder still of his Canadian heritage.

      He attended almost every national meeting during his long AAP tenure. He was very active in the former NJ/NY meetings, served on EC, is a long- standing member of the Voices Board and frequent and admired contributor to Voices and other professional journals. He and Mark Stearns created a respected series, called The Psychotherapy Patient, with titles such as: The Difficult Patient, The Self Righteous Patient, The Interminable Patient.

Jerry presented a vast number of workshops, noted for their intellectual depth, lucidity, and appealing manner.

      About 5 months ago he suffered a stroke, was in intensive care for a time, then to a rehab facility where he continually fought infections and minor strokes until this past Tuesday, March 18.

     Referring a patient to Jerry elicited warm satisfaction, even envy, of the patient, knowing the devoted, well thought out care coming the patient’s way. Jerry had some faults, but they are so far removed from memory now, one feels only the void of his empty chair, the silence of his soft manner, his ever present search for the humor in life, and the sadness that no one, absolutely no one, can ever take his place.

    Jerry leaves his wife of many years,+46, the scholar Dr. Mary Segers, his daughter Suzanne, his son John Paul, and two beautiful grand daughters: Evelyn and Julia.

   You can leave an email message for the family at the funeral home website:

  www.ippolitofuneralhomes.com

Even the briefest message can lessen sorrow.

Ray Lovett

Mark Stern and Jerry Travers: Some Personal Memories

          As I read that Mark and Jerry had both died recently, I felt a wave that I know well as grief move through my stomach.  Although I was not extremely close to either of them, I was a long time professional acquaintance of both.  I placed them in apposition as I thought of their substantial co-creation, The Psychotherapy Patient.  Identifying various kinds of psychotherapy patients in practical terms based on the therapist's experience of them, rather than strictly adhering to DSM classifications, Mark and Jerry published a unique journal.  Each issue was dedicated to one such kind of patient.  Cleverly, they published each issue simultaneously as both softbound journal and hardbound volume, thus creating two categories of potential readers, journal subscribers and one-time book purchasers.  Three times I contributed to their project: "Comment" on "The Many Faces of the Hesitant Patient" by Robert J. Willis in Psychotherapy and the Uncommitted Patient (1984), "A Gestalt Therapist's Perspective on Grief" in Psychotherapy and the Grieving Patient (1985), and "On Monomania" in Psychotherapy and the Obsessed Patient (1987).

            Mark was the editor of Voices when I proposed to extract all of the substantial articles having to do with Gestalt therapy from the first twenty-five years of Voices and get this collection published in book form.  He encouraged me in this project and early on was my liaison with EC.Published in 1992, and still in print, the result was Gestalt Voices.  Mark had earlier invited me onto the editorial board of Voices, and through these two involvements he taught me a good bit about the art of editing.

            Jerry, too, perhaps unrecognized by him, gave me a gift.  Overhearing him in a tête-à-tête at an AAP gathering discussing Sebastian Brant's The Ship of Fools (Narrenschiff, 1494), I paused and was invited by him into the conversation.  A man after my own heart, he was, demonstrating contemporary application of arcane knowledge.  I soon purchased a copy and still consult it not infrequently!

            And, so I remember Mark and Jerry with fondness and appreciation.

                                                                                    

Edward W. L. Smith

President's Column

As I sit down to write yet another Presidential Column, I realize that there is little in the way of EC business that I feel pressed to relate this time (if you are experiencing serious symptoms caused by the deprivation of hard facts, see the last Newsletter online or your doctor).  Instead, I thought I’d take the opportunity to let you in on my musings about AAP in general.  In no particular order, they arrive and leave my brain, seemingly at will.  And that is how they will appear here as well.

I wonder why so many of us have not paid our dues yet.  We have sent a statement and two reminders by snail mail and still we don’t pay on time (the deadline was February 15th). We have instituted a late fee (10% of your dues amount) and still we don’t pay.  We on EC wonder if we have created this monster by being too lenient and/or by being too willing to make phone calls to remind and cajole.  Needless to say, this puts an enormous burden on our Dues Chair, our Central Office, and on those of us who are responsible for the fiscal health of our organization.  Coming after late-payers each year costs us money, time, and energy.

  

You will be increasingly aware that EC has lost patience with this problem because, starting now, you will actually have to pay the late fee if you send in your dues late and you will be dropped from membership after April 1^st if you still haven’t paid.  Then, if you want to be a member and come to the wonderful Summer Workshop 2014, you will have to reactivate and pay both the late fee and the $25 for re-activating your membership.  Inactive status, (where you got most of the benefits of membership except attendance at Summer Workshop) without paying your dues for a year, was a category we felt we needed when we first had to clean up the mess in our membership rolls, but it is not in our best interests now.

  

"Mama" has resigned and we must now each take responsibility for ourselves.  Fair warning: the days of AAP’s finances being run like all too many family “budgets” are over.  There now; I hope that I have gotten that off my chest and onto yours.  I’m beginning to sound like my mother, a phenomenon that seems to be occurring more often as I age, as in the familiar phrases from my childhood: “How many times do I have to tell you?!” “Are you listening?!” “Get your nose out of that book and help me make dinner,” and my personal favorite, “You should want to do the dishes.”  Well, I don’t dream that most of us will ever want to pay our dues, but we do pay them because that’s the way the world works. Now, more than enough said.

We are now in the process of vetting Associates and Post-graduate members for possible attendance at the upcoming Summer Workshop.  The qualifications for attendance are listed in Nelia’s column in the last Newsletter, if you’re curious.  In this process, we realized that we are requiring more attendance from them at our I&C and/or Spring Conference process groups than we require of people applying for Full Membership, which guarantees an invitation to SW.  I suspect our anxiety about rolling out this change in tradition has caused us to be overly careful about who we will invite to attend.  However, I am not yet worried about that since this change is experimental for three years, and we can alter what doesn’t work as we go along.

I would have said,  “Please give us/EC feedback on what you think of this new program,” but I despair of getting much, if any, feedback.  We are a wonderful team and really help each other, but I am acutely aware of how often it feels like we are working in a vacuum.  Sometimes we get comments from members in the food lines at meetings,  in the Hospitality Suites, or by hearsay.  While all of these count in various weights, they are no substitute for serious feedback and suggestions.  I don’t know how to solve this problem (like I don’t know how to solve the dues payment problem) and would welcome suggestions…LOL.  

The current forums for your criticism, praise, and ideas are as follows:  the Newsletter as a whole, the blogs now available for each article in the Newsletter, the Annual Business Meeting at the Summer Workshop, and the emails of each of your EC members and officers listed in the Newsletter. 

Formats that are not available for EC feedback are the Net, which is not owned and operated by  AAP, but by Josh Fendel at his most generous, and the Ladies’ Room, where I, at least, go for peace, relief , or socialization, not for business (I suspect that the same reluctance may be true for the EC men in the Gentlemen’s Room, though I could be wrong).   

We would welcome invitations to conversations about AAP business and programs over food, coffee, and walking or sitting in our still beautiful natural surroundings, in person, over the phone and by email.  Some of us even text, though that would not seem to lend itself to complex dialogue.  Most of us do not welcome them in the hot tub, in process groups, at the dance, or on the plane home (perhaps this one is idiosyncratic, as I have escaped into my current book and am as reluctant as ever to get my nose out of it).

I must admit that, as an introvert, it feels funny to be asking, nay, begging, for contact.  But it is hard to do this job well in the aforementioned vacuum.  Granted, I don’t ask for help easily (merely one of my character flaws that begins to glare in this job) but I am asking here and now.  I’ll only speak for myself, but I believe that I have a few companions in this statement: If you like what I’m doing, tell me.  If you don’t like what I’m doing and can offer a better idea, for G-d’s sake, tell me.  And, if you feel nothing, wake up, your beloved organization is entering the 21^st century, albeit slowly.  

Join us,

Lorrie Hallman, President of AAP

Don Murphy's Mother's Cake - Enjoyed so often by all at the Hospitality Suite

Don writes:

Mother had never written down the recipe so our daughter Jodi shadowed her in the kitchen as she made it, jotting down what she did.  Old fashioned cooking at its most obvious. 

Ingredients:

2 sticks butter

3 cups sugar

6 large eggs

3 cups self-rising flour (sifted 3 times)

1/2 pint heavy whipping cream

1 tsp vanilla

Mix softened butter & sugar.  Add eggs one at a time and continue beating.  Add sifted flour and cream alternately.   Bake 1 hour and 20 min @ 325 degrees.  Leave in pan 1 hour to cool.

From Your Editor

Secrets to successful online writing

• Less is more - around 500 words or less, if possible.  Online readers scan - they don't want long sentences or paragraphs that run over 10 lines.  In the column format, a paragraph that might look short in your Word document may appear long online.
• Simple is better - use as few words as possible to keep your sentences short.

• Less punctuation (semi-colons, colons, multiple commas).

• Kick-ass first paragraph to grab the reader's attention right away.  

• Enhance by using links.  If your article refers to something else that can be found on the web, link it.  Readers like the movement and interest of links.  
• Lots of white space keeps attention drawn to your writing.

How I think about editing                                                                                                

I imagine that every AAP newsletter editor has taken a different approach to the editing process. I want to share my way of thinking about it with you.  It is my burden and my truth that I am an English fanatic and feel driven to fix misused apostrophes, awkward sentences, and misspelled words.  I was the spelling champion of my grade every single year from first grade all the way through my senior year in high school.  I'm sure I can blame that on my parents, because in my family, the only way to get love was to over-achieve. Despite years of therapy, I am still deeply influenced by that.   

So I will be editing, rather than just collecting, the articles you send.  I do promise to do my best to be respectful in this process. 

Linda Tillman, Your AAP Newsletter Editor    

SECOND CALL FOR NOMINATIONS!

In 2014 we are electing a president elect, treasurer and three councilors.  The president elect will spend two years in that position then two years each as president and immediate past president.  The treasurer’s term is four years and neither the president nor the treasurer can serve consecutive terms.  

Each councilor will be elected to a three-year term to which he or she can be reelected.  

We need at least two candidates for each position and are asking for your suggestions. Your input is essential if we are to obtain the best leaders to represent you for the next three to six years.  Don’t be shy!  Feel free to nominate yourself as well as a colleague. 

The new deadline for the submission of candidates is March 20th.   Send your nominations to any one of the four members of the nominations and elections committee.  We will be happy to answer any questions you might have.

Thank you for your contribution to the governance of the Academy.

Warmly,

Margaret Nichols, chair, drmnichols@gmail.com

Ronnie Koenig, rkoenigphd@gmail.com

Heads Up Regarding Summer Workshop Registration Process

As we enter our very first trial of online registration for Summer Workshop, our committee has struggled to address the ongoing issue of attempting to be fair to everyone.

     

Online registration will begin at 12:00 noon EDT on Monday, March 17 (St. Patrick’s Day - Good luck).  Assuming you are planning to register online yourself, be clear that others will be sitting at their computers awaiting the clock striking 12:00.  Workshops will automatically fill as your AAP friends enter their preferences.

     

We wanted to respect those of you who are less comfortable with the computer by allowing you enough time either to fax or to mail your registration to central office.  This will ensure that you have an equal chance to get the workshops of your choice.  

     

To that end, here’s how it is going to be done:

The brochures will be mailed no later than Monday, March 3.  As stated earlier, at 12:00 noon on March 17, online registration will open.  If you are not registering by computer, to avail yourself of the best chance of getting what you want, plan to mail or fax your registration so that it will arrive at central office before that date. Jessyca will begin entering the registrations in the order that they have been received at 12:00 noon on March 17. Your chances of getting your preferences will be as good as those members who are doing their own typing.

Please note: If you wish to pay by check, you must MAIL your registration to central office (address will be on the registration form).

In the unlikely event that the Postal Service fails us (it's happened before), and you do not receive your brochure by Friday, March 14, then we would suggest that you call an AAP computer savvy friend and ask for their help to get you registered online.

We hope this works.

Hugs and Kisses,

The Summer Workshop 2014 Committee

SUMMER WORKSHOP PROGRAM NOTES

In a few short days you will be receiving the beautiful hard copy of your AAP SUMMER WORKSHOP 2014 brochure. The workshops you will find for your selection will cover a wide range of subject matter, format and presenters. Both Kay and I have tried to assemble a program that represents the best that our Academy has to offer. 

I recently had a conversation with an esteemed older member (not Ray) who shared with me that he had decided to return to therapy and, to his surprise and to mine, had decided to work with a younger therapist. This was after very careful consideration and after consulting other well qualified therapists. 

Upon reflection, his decision captured for me an aspect of a fundamental ethos of AAP, namely, that of being willing to try out thoughtfully something not immediately endorsed by prevailing standards or practice, but based on wide clinical experience, mature wisdom, and a willingness to try something different.  His decision was careful and quite deliberate. Our discussion reminded me of how Kay and I tried to approach the putting together of this summer’s program of offerings. We wanted to:

• Pay close attention to the self-care of the therapist
• Introduce new content areas while respecting more traditional schools of thought and practice
• Experiment with therapeutic and training experiences that would take place out of doors
• Introduce first-time presenters and new pairings of presenters for our experiential workshops

We hope that you will find making choices difficult because there will be so many enticing possibilities from which to choose.

See you in June!

Hallie Lovett

Voices 50th Anniversary Issue

In celebration of our 50^th year, our Winter 2014 issue will feature the Best of Voices.  We are in need of nominations for your favorite articles, poems, photos, graphics, cartoons from Voices.   

We are looking for selections from “way back” as well as those more contemporary or current.  We hope this will be a project that includes our entire community, as well as our Voices Editorial Review Board and our editors.  

In addition, we hope that this issue will be an issue our readers will want to share with friends and colleagues, through gifts and special orders, in celebration of the Academy’s contributions to psychotherapy.  

Please nominate your favorite selection from Voices to Kristin Staroba (Kristin.staroba@gmail.com  or Penelope Norton psynorton@aol.com.