Dear Colleagues,
A fellow candidate for office has noted the appearance of “the elephant in the room”, notably certification, on our election list. As a Candidate for President-Elect my ideas are undoubtedly of interest to some of you so let’s have a conversation on this subject.
In truth I don’t believe that certification itself is the major issue. I believe there are two more fundamental matters that are at the basis of our organization’s dissension, a development which has alienated many of our members and must be addressed and solved. First is the exclusionary link between certification and TA status and second is the conflict between central regulation of many of our activities versus greater local autonomy. Quite frankly, I don’t believe that we can effectively address our myriad other needs such as outreach, practice development etc. until we get this briar patch out of the way. I want to bring us out of our stasis and I also want to recapture the attention and energies of our alienated, disenfranchised members.
My position on this is quite clear and it has been consistent for a number of years. I have also frequently posted my positions on these lists We simply need to find more and flexible pathways to TA status and we also need to move towards greater degrees of local autonomy within our institutes as opposed to the imposition of rules and regulations by a national body.
These issues are affecting us deeply, not only by producing organizational dissent but also by contributing in a major way to the turning off of many members to our national organization. I also agree with the supposition that these limitations on local autonomy are directly contributing to difficulties in candidate recruitment with resultant decline in organization morale as well as, ultimately, erosion in our membership and our financial base.
One possible solution which I strongly support is to vest control over the role of certification on TA decisions within our institutes. We can accomplish this with local option. While not a panacea, it would in my view significantly lessen tensions to the point where all of us could work together far more effectively. With local option in place some institutes would have an immediate increase in the number of new TAs and candidates.
Some cautions have recently been raised about this approach but I don’t see the substance behind the cautions. I’m not aware that it would in any way jeopardize our IPA standing. The Regional Agreement has become outdated since the IPA long ago agreed to accept non APsaA training programs.
Additionally IPA criteria for TAs are quite flexible and IPA has no such thing as certification let alone an exclusionary link to TA status. Indeed I believe local option could make our functioning more similar to that of IPA. While it t is true that decision making would move into local institutes it is also true that many are already yearning for this opportunity rather than fearing it.
It is also worth remembering that a robust 57% of our members supported this approach two years ago. I would however agree that we shouldn’t push for putting this before our membership unless we are reasonably well assured that it could pass with a 2/3 vote. I will strongly support this approach if I am elected.
While I have your attention I’d like to let you know about two additions to my webpage (www.wrprocci.org or http://warrenprocci.blogspot.com). The first, for these of you who might have some interest in my personal history, is a biographical statement. The second is an explicit statement of just what exactly will be my areas of priority if elected. Prominent among them are the two issues mentioned above. I will, of course, discuss these priorities in greater detail over the next several weeks. As always please feel free to contact me directly (wrprocci@sbcglobal.net or 626-793-7957)
Warren R. Procci, Candidate for President-Elect of APsaA
Friday, September 21, 2007
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Dear Fellow Members of APsaA,
The American Psychoanalytic Association is a remarkable institution, with a rich, complex history and a powerful presence in contemporary psychoanalysis. It also has the potential for a very positive and creative future. Yet many of you are put-off or even fed-up with our organization's divisiveness, politics as usual, incessant navel-gazing, and at times its unwitting elitism. We are, indeed, a pre-eminent organization, but we are in real need of both the strong leadership and thoughtful humility, that will continue to make our pre-eminence deserved.
We need leaders not just familiar with our organizational and governance structures, or even just dedicated to our unique and important educational agendas, but leaders who are and can be attentive to the diverse needs of our membership, who have the vision for a productively democratic future, and who are not caught up in grinding the same old axes that have hindered our growth and creativity for too long.
Many of our leaders, and those who aspire to leadership, are thoughtful, skilled, and very well-intentioned folks, some with long resumes and stellar credentials. But while governance experience and educational dedication are essential, they are not sufficient to the tasks ahead. Our future leaders also need to be able to generate ideas and proposals with the best interests of all our membership in mind, and similarly must have the capacity to listen, evolve, and create so that not only will our membership feel enfranchised in its own organization but so that our connections with the outside world becomes increasingly generous and robust. This has not happened with the sufficient speed or sensitivity that our fine organization deserves.
I am very earnest in telling you that my candidacy offers us all a chance to build on what we all know is great and generative about our organization. At the same time my candidacy is not subordinate to the old energy-depleting battles, the old unreasoned hierarchies, or the ways in which politics as usual has so often handcuffed our organization and its members.
Mine is not a radical campaign or agenda, nor certainly not a reactionary one. You'll have to look elsewhere for that. My long history of governance experience within our organization and my lifetime of dedication to educational values, gives me all the necessary bona fides for assuming a presidential role. But it is in my capacity to move towards the future with reasonable ideas, with attendance to the important concerns of all our members, and with a real interest in a dynamic future for our organization, that makes my candidacy so important at this stage in our history.
Please take a moment to click onto any of the links above. There you will find more specifics about my qualifications, interests, ideas, as well as opportunities to let me know about your interests and concerns. I will read and respond to every communication, as I am proposing that we all join in partnership for the best future of our organization.
Warm regards, Warren Procci (candidate for Presidency of the American Psychoanalytic Association)
The American Psychoanalytic Association is a remarkable institution, with a rich, complex history and a powerful presence in contemporary psychoanalysis. It also has the potential for a very positive and creative future. Yet many of you are put-off or even fed-up with our organization's divisiveness, politics as usual, incessant navel-gazing, and at times its unwitting elitism. We are, indeed, a pre-eminent organization, but we are in real need of both the strong leadership and thoughtful humility, that will continue to make our pre-eminence deserved.
We need leaders not just familiar with our organizational and governance structures, or even just dedicated to our unique and important educational agendas, but leaders who are and can be attentive to the diverse needs of our membership, who have the vision for a productively democratic future, and who are not caught up in grinding the same old axes that have hindered our growth and creativity for too long.
Many of our leaders, and those who aspire to leadership, are thoughtful, skilled, and very well-intentioned folks, some with long resumes and stellar credentials. But while governance experience and educational dedication are essential, they are not sufficient to the tasks ahead. Our future leaders also need to be able to generate ideas and proposals with the best interests of all our membership in mind, and similarly must have the capacity to listen, evolve, and create so that not only will our membership feel enfranchised in its own organization but so that our connections with the outside world becomes increasingly generous and robust. This has not happened with the sufficient speed or sensitivity that our fine organization deserves.
I am very earnest in telling you that my candidacy offers us all a chance to build on what we all know is great and generative about our organization. At the same time my candidacy is not subordinate to the old energy-depleting battles, the old unreasoned hierarchies, or the ways in which politics as usual has so often handcuffed our organization and its members.
Mine is not a radical campaign or agenda, nor certainly not a reactionary one. You'll have to look elsewhere for that. My long history of governance experience within our organization and my lifetime of dedication to educational values, gives me all the necessary bona fides for assuming a presidential role. But it is in my capacity to move towards the future with reasonable ideas, with attendance to the important concerns of all our members, and with a real interest in a dynamic future for our organization, that makes my candidacy so important at this stage in our history.
Please take a moment to click onto any of the links above. There you will find more specifics about my qualifications, interests, ideas, as well as opportunities to let me know about your interests and concerns. I will read and respond to every communication, as I am proposing that we all join in partnership for the best future of our organization.
Warm regards, Warren Procci (candidate for Presidency of the American Psychoanalytic Association)
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