1976 marks Helen Fischer's twentieth year of service with The American Psychoanalytic Association. In observance of this Anniversary. The Newsletter recently conducted an interview with her.
Among those who know the inner workings of The American Psychoanalytic Association, there is general agreement that the single most indispensible person in the Organization may very well be Helen Fischer. In a recent talk with our Administrative Director, a Newsletter reporter asked for her reaction to that view of her role. “Nobody is,” she said, “and flattery will get you everywhere.”
It is a matter, not of flattery, but of simple fact, however, that Helen Fischer and her staff at the Central Office perform a variety of functions vital to the Organization. What may not be clear to many—especially to some of the younger members who have had little contact with Mrs. Fischer and the Central Office-is just what those functions are.
“I don't make policy,” Mrs. Fischer says, “but one of my main jobs, in addition to managing the office, is to carry out policy. This sometimes can be a complex business.” As an illustration of the challenging tasks she must face from time to time in carrying out policy, Mrs. Fischer cited a recent decision to make the past Chairman of the Board on Professional Standards an Ex-officio voting Fellow. The idea behind such a policy change is to allow the Association to benefit maximally from the experience and expertise of the immediate past Chairman of the Board. Implementing this decision, however, requires a By-law change and this ordinarily takes many months to be approved by the membership. Since it is the desire of the officers of the Association and the members of its governing boards that the recent past chairman, Dr. Weinshel, assume
this newly designated position by the time of the fall meetings, Mrs. Fischer has had to find a way to hasten the process of obtaining a By-law change. This she has done by submitting the legally approved amendment to Council members by mail and arranging for it to be voted on by the membership in October. In this way, Mrs. Fischer hopes to be able to save as much as a year's time in the implementation of this most recent policy decision.
Working with her to coordinate all the complex activities of the Association, Mrs. Fischer has a staff of seven at the Central Office. Viriginia Reminick serves as secretary to the Membership Committee and also helps keep track of the ever-changing committee appointments. Margaret Chernis has the demanding job of Assistant to the Secretaries of the Association and, in addition, handles the difficult task of scheduling the committee meetings. Ruth Wanser handles the bookkeeping which, as Helen Fischer points out, is terribly detailed, while Vivian Mendelsohn keeps the membership records and is responsible for compiling the Roster of Members. She also works as assistant to Bess Gerber for the Program Committee, and this year, with the initiation of the new project of a two-day Workshop for allied professionals, both are under considerable pressure, along with others on the Staff, in handling complex arrangements for the weekend meeting. Bess Gerber, in addition to functioning as Mrs. Fischer's Assistant and Office Manager, works exclusively with the Program Committee and is, in effect, the manager of the two yearly meetings. Mrs. Gerber has worked for the American and with Mrs. Fischer for nineteen years. Maria Orro is the clerk in charge of the workroom with responsibility for the mailing and reproduction of materials, while Mary Byrne serves as receptionist and general assistant. In addition to this permanent staff, the staff of the survey being undertaken under the aegis of the Committee on Psychoanalytic Practice works out of the Central Office and utilizes its facilities.
How did Helen Fischer come to be our Administrative Director?
“I'll tell you the real story,” she says. In 1956, Helen Fischer, then a certified elementary school teacher in the New York City Public Schools, returned from a stint of three years in the Middle East where her husband's work had taken him. Expecting to return to teaching in New York, Mrs. Fischer was astounded-if not dismayed-to discover that because of her absence from the school system she no longer qualified for an appointment and would, in order to regain her position, be required to take the licensing examination once again. With characteristic determination, Helen Fischer went out to look for a new job. Her search took her to the offices of the American Psychoanalytic Association, where a vacancy on the staff had occurred. As part of the application process Mrs. Fischer was asked to see Dr. Harry Weinstock, whose offices at the time were in the Squibb Building, only a few blocks away.
“And what,” asked Dr. Weinstock, “do you think your qualifications are for the job?”
“Well,” Helen Fischer answered rather hesitantly, “for the past several years I've been teaching Kindergarten.”
“A decided asset,” replied Dr. Weinstock. And Helen Fischer's new career was launched.
In the twenty years that Helen Fischer has been an integral part of the Association, she has lived through, not only much of the recent history of the Organization, but of American psychoanalysis as well. What experiences stand out in memory now with particular vividness?
“What comes to mind are difficulties the Institutes have had in the past. These experiences showed up deep divisions and as a result, the Association was torn apart in many ways. But the positive part about it is that the issues were settled, analysis goes on now in those places, and the bad feelings have been dispersed. For a while they prevent us from getting into anything else. People forget that we are only about two thousand strong and that there is a finite limit to the amount of energies in the Association. However, we came through those difficult times and to do so in the ways we did were really strengthening.”
From her vantage point, what changes in the Association have been most striking?
“One very significant change,” Mrs. Fischer remarks, “has been the concern in the Association for what is happening immediately outside of psychoanalytic practice. When I first got this job we were very unconcerned-consciously unconcerned-about anything happening in psychiatry, medicine, government. I think the pendulum has begun to swing the other way.”
Mrs. Fischer feels, too, that analysts themselves have changed considerably over the years.
“The stereotype model of the analyst no longer holds true, although it did when I first got this job. The young analyst looks, sounds, talks, acts very different from his predecessors. The younger people getting into analysis have changed in their perspectives, in the attitudes they have about themselves, in their openness, in their concern about what is happening in related fields.”
Helen Fischer has worked closely with twenty Presidents now. She remembers Grete Bibring with great fondness. “Perhaps because she was a woman and I was considerably younger, I was at first a bit afraid to work with her,” but things did work out well, as they have with each of the Presidents.
“Each has been an experience,” Mrs. Fischer says. “And through the uniqueness of his personality each has changed me in some way.” Married to a Management Consultant, Mrs. Fischer lives in Manhattan and spends weekends year round at a beach house. For relaxation she gardens and listens to music for which she has a special love.
Attractive and energetic, Helen Fischer is looking forward to many years of work with the Association. She feels that it is becoming a more vital organization every year.
“Analytic ideas have become an integral part of psychiatry,” she says. “Other disciplines, too, owe a great debt to psychoanalysis. In the American now we have a strong membership as well as a growing number of Associate and Affiliate members. The reports of our demise,” she adds with a laugh, “are greatly exaggerated.”