Behold I do not give lectures or a little charity When I give I give myself.
In March 2000, the Wisconsin Psychoanalytic Society organized its first formal outreach to students and trainees. We invited students and trainees in the mental health disciplines, the sciences, and the humanities to participate in a program titled “The Dos and Don'ts of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy as Depicted in American Cinema.” The program, organized around a society visit by Aisha Abbasi, co-chair of the Committee on Student Associates, introduced participants to core psychoanalytic concepts via the use of a pre-edited videotape of film clips. The event, attended by more than thirty students and trainees, was a great success.
Many societies have found that as with most good investments, the development of a student-trainee association pays dividends. Student and trainee involvement can energize the membership. Societies that have adopted the model recommended by the American's Committee on Student Associates — one that encourages an inclusive, encompassing stance — have seen the greatest interest and activity from students and trainees. This model accepts all students — in medicine, psychology, and social work — at the graduate level; psychiatry residents; residents from other specialties; and graduate students from other disciplines, such as the humanities, sciences, and allied health professions. The goal is to provide an atmosphere in which immersion in psychoanalytic thought and principles can occur, in the hope that students will use the knowledge in their vocational paths, be it clinical work, research, administration, scholarly writing, or other pursuits.
An underlying goal in developing student-trainee associations within societies is to promote psychoanalytic teaching as a standard part of training in academic programs (sorely lacking at present) by forming partnerships with educators and administrators in local graduate programs.
Outreach efforts, we've found, work best when individual factors and attributes of each society (size, level of member involvement, available budget, etc.) are carefully considered. There is no one-size-fits-all formula when it comes to organizing such an outreach. However, there are some fundamental considerations.
Most important is finding and forming links to local educational institutions. Identifying a society member or members who are faculty at local institutions is a great help. In the case of the Wisconsin Psychoanalytic Society's outreach, my employment in the Department of Psychiatry at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee was an important point of entry, allowing us access to faculty, students, and residents. My affiliations with professors in English, classics, and social work at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee provided another link.
Where no such links exist, building new relationships is key. For example, I placed phone calls to department chairs or administrators, spoke with them about the program and the society, and requested access to students' and trainees' mailboxes. Very few of the individuals I spoke with knew there was a psychoanalytic society and institute in Milwaukee! Most responses were positive and welcoming.
Coordinating the actual delivery of invitations to mailboxes proved to be the greatest time demand. Invitations were personally delivered to the mailboxes of one psychiatry program, six graduate psychology programs (including clinical, counseling, and educational psychology programs at three separate institutions), one graduate social work program, one English department, one twentieth-century humanities department, one film studies department, one psychiatric nursing program, and one medical school.
The invitation we designed offered students and trainees a film-clip presentation, lively discussion, and a hearty breakfast. One important inclusion was the self-addressed, stamped RSVP postcard. In addition to allowing us to anticipate the number of attendees, it also served another important function. On the RSVP card the students/trainees could indicate if they wished to receive information on future programs, society meetings, psychoanalytic training, psychotherapy training, film presentations, etc. Even those responding that they were unable to attend the program were asked to note their name, address, phone number, and e-mail address and to give their graduate training program and anticipated year of graduation. We believe it is essential to obtain this information for future programs and to stay in touch with students and trainees.
Mentorship, perhaps the most meaningful facet of association with the local institute and society, is the key to building a solid student association. Access to a real analyst to whom one can turn with questions and ideas is highly valued among students and trainees. After the outreach program it became clear that we also needed an inreach effort. Students and trainees did not simply turn up at
Brenda Bauer Eischen is a graduate student in clinical psychology at the Wisconsin School of Professional Psychology in Milwaukee. She is a co-chair of the Committee on Student Associates and a member of the Ad Hoc Committee on Community Clinics. This article was written in consultation with Aisha Abbasi, a member of the faculty of the Michigan Psychoanalytic Institute, who also co-chairs the Committee on Student Associates.
society meetings. Though they'd been invited, no new students or trainees joined us at the Milwaukee Society meeting the month after the cinema program. I asked analyst-members for their help.
We invited the students and trainees who had attended the program to meet quarterly to present and discuss case material. I asked for volunteer analysts to act as facilitators of those meetings. Another student/trainee initiative, the “Director's Conference,” brings students and trainees together with visiting and local analysts and community clinicians and academicians. The next step will be to develop a student and trainee roster to cultivate an identity within the society.
One other inreach issue was that of keeping graduate students from the humanities, sciences, and allied health professions engaged in the society's programming. Since student and trainee programming is frequently geared around clinical presentations, societies run the risk of losing students from non-clinical disciplines. It is essential that in societies with nonclinical members, those members be involved in student programming geared toward the non-clinical student.
When societies are ready to establish student and trainee associates, fees should be kept to a minimum. One society, sensitive to cost considerations for its junior colleagues, waives association fees for the first year, then asks for only $10 each subsequent year. The societies with the most successful student and trainee associations have had a significant number of analyst members who have served as mentors, thus helping students feel at home in the society. Some societies have involved students on committees, assuring that students' voices are heard in (for example) setting the scientific program and developing student oriented programs.
At a minimum, societies should grant the following benefits to their students and trainees:
Access to clinical programming at society meetings.
Local mentorship.
Special student programming.
Other programming, such as psychotherapy training, film series, and discussion groups.
It is important that students and trainees have all the benefits associated with joining the national organization, and society members should encourage them to join. Joining the American's Student Association gives students and trainees the following benefits:
Early announcements of the scientific program and advanced registration materials for the national meetings. The registration fee is a mere $20 for all five days of the meetings.
A subscription to TAP.
A subscription to JARA at the drastically reduced rate of $30 (regular rate is $115).
Student rates for the PEP Archive CD series.
Access to a local mentor.
This December's national meeting includes a special event on Thursday, December 14, for students and trainees, “Why I Chose to Become a Psychoanalyst: Everything You Wanted to Know About the Impossible Profession.” It is co-sponsored by the Committee on Student Associates and the Former Fellows of the American.
There is also a special four-session program at all national meetings for psychiatry residents and graduate students in psychology and social work, which all students and trainees are invited to attend. Topics are chosen by APsaA Fellows (themselves trainees) and are designed to specifically address the interests of those in training in the mental health fields.
Those in need of applications for the American Psychoanalytic Associations Student Association may contact Debbie Steinke, membership services coordinator, at 212-752-0450, ext. 26. Individuals interested in forming a student association within their society may contact Aisha Abbasi at 248-851-6339 or Gerald Melchiode at 214-373-6195 for assistance.