My First Campaign Letter to APsaA Members

The most valuable and important asset of any professional organization is its membership. That is why I am writing to you directly, to ask you to support my candidacy for President-Elect of APsaA. I know that a lot of you have been bored or put off by the postings on the listservs. But those members with little patience for politics "as usual" are often the ones who turn out to be most interested in progressive ideas, so I want to tell you who I am and where I stand. Despite its history of stalwart support for psychoanalysis, APsaA must make some major changes if it is to survive the challenges that face psychoanalysis today. Each of us will soon have to decide who we want to have leading our Association and helping to shape these changes. In this letter I'll tell you something about my background, qualifications, and values. In subsequent communications, I will outline the goals I would embrace as President of APsaA and my vision of the future for psychoanalysis and our organization.

It's been a long journey into this world for me, coming as I did from the blue-collar, working class, Italian-American Staten Island of the 1950s. Going off to the University of Wisconsin for medical school and psychiatric residency was an eye-opening developmental step. That was where I met Joe Kepecs, the charismatic Chicago geographic TA, who first aroused my interest in psychoanalysis.

My training analysis in Los Angeles, where my wife and I moved after my residency, was another great stimulus for personal and professional growth -- a life-changing experience. It set me on the road I have followed ever since, seeking out opportunities to learn, to teach, and, eventually, to lead. For 13 years I was a full-time tenured member first of the USC faculty and then at Harbor/UCLA Medical Center. There, as Director of Residency Training, I pushed hard to involve residents -- not only in matters pertaining to their training, but in all the other aspects of department administration as well. Even then, inclusivity, democracy, and pluralism were key ideals for me and integral to my beliefs about how an organization should be run. I moved into full-time psychoanalytic practice in 1988 and have retained a quarter-time faculty appointment as Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harbor/UCLA.

I graduated from the Southern California Psychoanalytic Institute in 1984. Between 1992 and 2001 I served as President-elect (1992 to 1994), as President (1994 to 1996), and as Chair of the Education Committee (1996 to 2001). In these positions too I pushed hard for candidate involvement in all aspects of Institute life, as well as for reforms regarding candidate admission, TA appointment, curriculum design, etc.

I first became involved with APsaA at SCPI's request. It was the early '90s, and we were frustrated by what we saw as cumbersome and restrictive policies regarding the admission of “non-medical candidates," as they were called then. I argued for fewer restrictions, including the abandonment of waivers and shifting admissions decisions from the national level to the local institutes. I think I played a role in the eventual development of less restrictive procedures and greater local autonomy.

At APsaA I was a Fellow to BOPS between 1996 and 2001, and nationally elected three times -- once as Councilor at Large (1997 through 2001) and twice as Treasurer (2002 through 2005 and 2005 to the present). I’ve been an officer of APsaA and an Executive Committee member for five years, and a member of our Board of Directors (Executive Council) for nine. Between 1997 and 2000 I also chaired one of our most important committees, the Committee on Government Relations and Insurance (CGRI). During my tenure as CGRI Chair, we made a significant shift to a stricter defense of the privacy of the psychoanalytic setting, and we also hired our current and extremely effective government representative, Jim Pyles.

As officer and Board member I have consistently and vigorously supported such progressive causes as: an expanded membership proposal; a by-law amendment to grant voting rights to candidates; a BOPS-generated proposal to expand the opportunities for TA appointments; a by-law amendment to extend to all members, not just certified ones, the right to hold office; a by-law amendment to remove references to certification from our by-laws; a bylaw amendment to assert Board (Executive Council) oversight; and a by-law amendment to shift authority for TA appointments to individual institutes.

One other significant leadership experience has helped prepare me for the presidency of APsaA. In 1999, I was asked to join the Wagner College Board of Trustees. Soon after I accepted the invitation, I had assumed a leadership position as a member of the Board’s Executive Committee and as Chair of the College’s Committee on Academic Affairs. In these roles I have had opportunity to deal directly with issues pertaining to administrative oversight of academic matters -- a matter clearly and directly relevant to controversies within today’s APsaA. I have participated significantly in the development and implementation of a strategic plan for the college, and in the college’s capital campaign to enlarge its endowment. This is also relevant for APsaA, and one cornerstone of my presidency would be the establishment of a program of development.

I hope I have persuaded you that I am the right person to be APsaA’s president. I don't think it's immodest to assert that few of our prior presidents have been as well prepared, or to point out the advantages of having a chief executive who won't have to learn the administrative ropes on the job. I hope I have also demonstrated a long and consistent history of support for the principles of pluralistic government, inclusive membership, and wide participation, and for local autonomy over central regulation. If you elect me to lead you, there will be no surprises about the positions I take, nor about my willingness to provide effective leadership in dealing with the serious challenges in front of us.

I believe that if we can get beyond our current dissension, a great future once again awaits our field. I would relish the opportunity to lead us toward it. Please feel free to contact me by phone or email and please visit my webpage as noted above.

With best personal regards,

Warren R. Procci, Candidate for President-Elect of APsaA