The Fall Meetings in New York were especially busy for the Executive Committee, who met almost continuously on business before it. The scientific program was also especially rich and well attended. Workshops and discussion groups have proliferated to the point where for the next meetings the Program Committee must begin some sessions before late Wednesday afternoon if it is not to require additional space. This speaks well for the vitality of our members and guests.
One gratifying matter was the success of efforts to emphasize issues of practice at the various workshops and network meetings arranged for local institute and society representatives. At the Meeting of Members a lively and well-attended discussion of practice issues built on these earlier events. Certainly in the 20 or so years I've been present, there have never been as many people in attendance at the Meeting of Members. I hope we can maintain the momentum at future meetings.
The National Task Force on Issues of Practice hopes to foster local workshops and discussions, and the newly named local representatives at the various institutes and societies will be called upon to work with us toward that goal. Joyce Root of Boston will be contacting these representatives to help set up the local workshops, as mentioned in a previous column, but the motivation must come from the local level. At the meeting of the National Task Force in New York, we discussed our wish to facilitate this process. One idea we want to implement is to encourage visiting speakers at local societies to add such workshops or discussion groups whenever possible, with the agreement and support of the local committees. Many of the task force members—Drs. Margolis, Holmes, and Rothstein, in particular—already plan to do this. As our Treasurer, Dr. Firestein, eloquently put it, “We must come out of the stockade” and promote or “market” our services and ourselves as analysts more assertively. We also hope to encourage the inclusion in institute curricula of a course on building a psychoanalytic practice. The two areas most frequently discussed at the various practice issues meetings were (1) the need for outreach programs to the mental health community and the lay public, and (2) the exchange of information and experiences among ourselves to overcome inhibitions and counterresistances to recommending analytic treatment.
Another important event at the meetings was the report at Board and Council of the Committee on External Credentialing by its chair, Donald Burnham. There is an increasing awareness of the need for The American to assume leadership in this area. Other organizations are already vying for the authority to credential in our field. Rapidly changing times make it imperative that we be proactive on this issue if we wish to maintain high standards and protect the public. Because we are convinced that this matter is important, we are distributing the Burnham Report to each society and institute for further discussion and ask that they report back to the Burnham Committee by April 1st. I urge all of you to give it your attention and thoughtful consideration. If carefully thought out and enacted, this initiative can be undertaken without sacrifice of our standards or prestige.
I also want to comment on the approval at Board and Council of the new compromise delinkage proposal by the Group of Strengthen Membership, headed by Drs. Sabshin, Buie, and Fox. The proposal was modified to further protect standards and the Board's autonomy by requiring certification of those voting on any bylaw amendments (not just those thought to affect the Board). Since most bylaw amendments might affect the Board, however indirectly, this compromise simplifies the proposal, further protects the Board, and eliminates the need to devise a means to determine what is or is not Board-related. The proposal was approved by the Executive Council with only one dissenting vote, and by the Board by a vote of 45-6. It also has the unanimous approval of the Executive Committee. It will go forward to a vote of the active membership in the near future and will require a two-thirds majority to pass. The delinkage proposal narrowly defeated a year ago (60 percent were in favor) was the same in all respects but the issue of the certification requirement. I hope that this new vote sees a larger turnout, and that all voters will insure their voting rights by signing the outer envelope—lest their ballots be discarded, as a good number were last year.
Finally, I can report that two new task forces under the Joint Committee on Strategic Planning are in the process of formation. One is the Task Force on Board and Council Structure and Function, co-chaired by Robert Pyles and Carl Davis, and charged with recommending changes to eliminate overlapping functions; making the two bodies more symmetrical and autonomous; and facilitating awareness and involvement on the part of the general membership. The second new task force is on Administrative Operations and will be chaired by Howard Schlossman. Its charge is to make recommendations regarding personnel, office space, computerization, and any other relevant issues in the administration of the organization.
Before closing, I want to congratulate our Atlanta Colleagues at Emory University for their achievement of full institute status after twenty years of development under Columbia's sponsorship. The Committee on New Training Facilities is now actively seeking ways to encourage the development of psychoanalytic training wherever large population areas are not served by facilities of The American.