My Goals for the Presidency of APsaA

If elected I will bring a "plan for the future" focus to the office. Future conditions for psychoanalysis will no doubt be drastically different from the present and very innovative new approaches are necessary for our survival and health. I will draw from the strategic plan we developed for the Association. The importance of this is that we would have a programmatic guideline for the next several years rather than our traditional focus of only one year at a time. Much of my vision involves looking several years ahead and taking a very forward thinking organizational view, rather than just focusing on my own term. My vision will also be significantly shaped by the results of the Congress of Institutes occurring during this meeting.

An overriding principle of my administration will be a commitment to participatory democracy. Each and every one of us must be able to participate in all areas of our organization. A second overriding principle is that we maintain, support, and expand and keep contemporary our long-standing commitment to psychoanalytic education, which was the primary priority in our Strategic Plan.

My specific goals include the following:

1. Assuring our compliance with New York Nonprofit Law and affirming the authority of our Board of Directors (the Executive Council).
2. Insuring that the Association’s agenda, and not just the President's, will be carried out and completed.
3. Strengthening our governance by expanding our Executive Committee by several members. The new members would come from the Board of Directors (currently the Executive Council) to guarantee that the Board has a major role in assuring that we achieve our agenda. The Executive Committee will truly be a Board Committee.
4. Beginning a process of development which will need to be an ongoing organizational priority.
5. Supporting the concept of local option. I have long favored expansion of the opportunities for Training Analyst (TA) appointment both from the standpoint of our Institutes and of our members.
6. Support for science and research in psychoanalysis.
7. Continued support for privacy and confidentiality.
8. Expanding our current privacy/government relations focus to include access to care.
9. Outreach, specifically to our collegial professional organizations in psychiatry, psychology, social work, and marriage and family therapy.