During the Fall Meeting, there was a both symbolic and substantive milestone in the Association's efforts to serve its membership. President Bob Pyles hosted a reception for new members and their families and friends. The event was held to honor new members on the completion of their psychoanalytic training — with all the commitment, dedication, and skill that represented — and to welcome them to active membership in the American. Pyles formally presented certificates of membership. Photographs were taken as mementos for the new members.
The names of new members were printed in TAP for the first time in the December issue. On Saturday, there was a seminar sponsored by the Council and Board Membership Committees, designed to help new members make the Association work for them and to discuss how they could contribute in their areas of interest while developing a national group of colleagues and becoming part of an informal national referral network.
These events grew out of the work of the Executive Committee's ad hoc New Members Group, chaired by Jon Meyer. He commented to the Executive Council in outlining efforts devoted to new members:
The Association had gotten much better at being welcoming, helpful, and engaged with candidates as affiliate members. The problem was that once you graduated, it was almost as though you had stepped off a cliff in terms of the recognition, welcome, and help provided by the Association. These are beginning steps toward honoring, welcoming, and helping new members develop a coherent psychoanalytic identity and provide a productive and satisfying relationship with their national organization.