The Six Point Plan will usher in, for the first time in the history of APsaA, a plurality of training standards. Institutes will have the choice of following current APsaA requirements, or IPA requirements as guidelines, or creating their own, all while remaining in APsaA. For some, the freedom to set one's own standards is rich with possibility. Others feel no particular lack of freedom with the current standards. As with any unprecedented change, it is not possible to predict with precision what the standards landscape will look like in the future. What is certain is the external regulatory climate for professions such as ours will become more demanding.
Under the proposed reorganization of APsaA, the Council would be authorized to set/approve IPA or substantially equivalent entry standards for new institutes wishing to affiliate with APsaA. The Board on Professional Standards would sunset, and its non-regulatory functions would be relocated in a new Department of Psychoanalytic Education (DPE). Regulatory functions would be externalized in the American Association for Psychoanalytic Education (AAPE). Institutes would have the following choices regarding standards: Follow the new APsaA standards, which would be IPA requirements as guidelines, or follow current APsaA standards. IPA standards do not require certification. “IPA requirements as guidelines” are meant to offer flexibility, but how it will be interpreted is to be determined. We believe that institutes should familiarize themselves with the substantive issues involved. The substantive issues are the merits of external accreditation, the merits of current APsaA standards, which meet or exceed IPA requirements, the merits of the proposed new APsaA standards, which are IPA requirements as guidelines, the merits of certification, and finally, what constitutes optimal procedures for training analyst appointment. Choice of standards and membership in AAPE will not affect affiliation with APsaA.
The American Association of Psychoanalytic Education (AAPE) aims to become the external standards organization for those institutes interested in continuing with current APsaA standards. In addition to curricular and supervisory requirements, these standards are notable for the value placed on certification, the training analyst system, and the minimum required frequency of analytic sessions (three per week in the William Alanson White model, and four to five per week in the original APsaA model). In addition, AAPE is working on a memorandum of understanding with the Accreditation Council for Psychoanalytic Education, Inc. (ACPEinc) that will make AAPE accredited institutes eligible for simultaneous national accreditation by ACPEinc. Rigorous standards, one site visit, national accreditation—this is what AAPE consolidates in one organization. AAPE will grandfather any APsaA institute in good standing that meets AAPE standards.
AAPE is designed to work in a complementary, if not synergistic, way with APsaA, bringing to fruition a dream of many for membership and accreditation functions to work together constructively. In practice, this will mean AAPE and the new APsaA Department of Psychoanalytic Education (DPE) will function in separate, and sometimes overlapping, domains—AAPE concerning itself with regulatory matters, including national accreditation, and the DPE with a wide range of educational and consultative functions. We hope that as both AAPE and DPE mature, there will be opportunities to work together on shared goals in psychoanalytic education.
Two ancient struggles within our membership involve certification and the training analyst system. AAPE takes a positive stance on both. AAPE will require objective and subjective evaluation of clinical competence in the TA appointment process. AAPE considers training, graduation, certification and training and
supervising analyst appointment as a pathway for professional growth. We believe experience and peer review, under whatever name, will hold value to all in our profession and to the public. Regardless of APsaA's fraught history, we feel the process of certification and TA appointment, when transparent and subject to checks and balances, is an enriching combination of evaluative, developmental, and aspirational goals necessary in any profession.
AAPE's board will have members of the public as well as professional organizations such as APsaA that promote psychoanalytic education, standards and research. This is a far broader representative body than the Board on Professional Standards. Candidates will be vital contributors to the establishment and development of AAPE through a Candidate Advisory and Liaison Committee. The AAPE board composition will reflect the needs and experience of seasoned as well as younger analysts. Unlike the Board on Professional Standards, both APsaA and non-APsaA institutes are welcome to become affiliated with AAPE.
ACPEinc, as an independent national accrediting agency, uses its core criteria (including minimum of three sessions per week frequency, certification or its equivalent, and curricular and supervision requirements), but conducts accreditation of an individual institute by referring to standards the institute follows in addition to, or different from, ACPEinc baseline standards.
Through a pending memorandum of understanding between AAPE and ACPEinc, any APsaA institute grandfathered by AAPE will become eligible for simultaneous provisional accreditation by ACPEinc based on the findings of the most recent COI site visit and meeting other ACPEinc requirements. The proposed collaboration with ACPEinc will result in future site visits being conducted by ACPEinc, with a number of site visitors drawn from AAPE accredited institutes.
ACPEinc is also anticipating being recognized by the U.S. Department of Education (DOE), at which point it will become the only national psychoanalytic accrediting body with DOE recognition. AAPE standards will become appropriately influential in the national conversation about psychoanalytic education standards via ACPEinc.
As the incoming chair and secretary of the Board on Professional Standards, we are committed to assisting our institutes to survive and thrive while upholding standards. We are planning to work hard and work together with our colleagues as we move toward innovative and responsible change. To achieve this, we welcome dialogue and discussion from the membership.