APsaA ELECTIONS: SECRETARY
CAMPAIGN STATEMENTS
I am excited to be given this opportunity to run for a second term as Secretary of the American Psychoanalytic Association. APsaA is undergoing a period of significant change because psychoanalysis demands it and because we are living in times that demand it. I would like to have the chance to continue contributing to our growth as we fight our racism, individual and systemic, cope with the pandemics of COVID-19 and anxiety, provide guidance, as needed, for our local institutes and support clinical work and research during these trying times.
In my tenure thus far I have initiated changes in the substance of the Executive Committee and Council minutes to include as much useful information as possible, i.e., to increase transparency, while adhering to Robert’s Rules of Order. I was a member of the Strategic Planning Task Force and am proud of the Strategic Initiatives that we produced. These eight goal areas, created with innovation based on APsaA’s hopes about the future, span all aspects of the organization; thus, the likelihood that they will be implemented throughout, rather than unutilized after having been endorsed in spirit, increases.
The COVID-19 Pandemic and accompanying anxiety have presented us with unanticipated organizational challenges. I have tried to contribute constructively on the Executive Committee as we have responded and as a Peer Group Organizer. We are also actively engaged in fighting racism and examining our whiteness in APsaA and society. I have been especially proud to participate in those efforts, again in Executive Committee planning, serving as a co-host for the Town Hall meetings and in the Peer Consultation Group effort. In a sadly appropriate way, the new APsaA was birthed and just old enough when the pandemic hit to be prepared to help our members and the entire psychoanalytic community in unprecedented ways. I also strongly support our emphasis on improving our relationship with the International Psychoanalytic Association, the necessity of collaboration so underscored by this worldwide pandemic. Finally, I support our efforts to meaningfully welcome into APsaA our psychotherapy colleagues who have comprised such a valuable part of our community without their being adequately acknowledged. We will get through these challenges as clinicians and an organization largely because we have pulled together as a community to help one another. I want to continue those efforts.
I said in my first statement that I was a relative newcomer to the scene despite my maturity in years. My age continues to mature (!) as does my knowledge about APSaA; I can no longer consider myself a newcomer. Serving as a member of the Institute Requirements and Review Committee (welcoming our first new institute) and as a member of the Membership Requirements and Review Committee have provided me with opportunities to help forge new entryways into APsaA for an increasingly wide variety of individuals and organizations, while I also learn about the needs of our institutes so that I am better able to respond to them as well. I also enjoyed learning about the workings of APsaA as a member of the Executive Director Search Committee.
I feel that my leadership experience prior to becoming APsaA Secretary is serving me well. I served one term as Director of the Greater Kansas City Psychoanalytic Institute from 2005 until 2010. I was President of the American Group Psychotherapy Association from 2000-2002 (responding to the crises of 9/11), before that I was the Director of the Group Psychotherapy Service at the Menninger Clinic. My interest and experience in the world of group dynamics has been especially helpful in all these positions, including that of currently being APsaA’s Secretary. Like many of you, I also teach, write, and present. My publications are about various topics such as addressing being a woman and an analyst, psychoanalytic group treatment of trauma, treatment needs of persons traumatized by or during the immigration process, today’s bridge between psychoanalysis and the group world as well as leadership.
The times are more challenging and chaotic than when I asked for your vote before, but I am proud of what APsaA is doing in these times. We are creating a significant place for us in this world that needs us. My group knowledge and experience ground me as this unprecedented environment makes its demands. I want to continue building on the new and timely initiatives as APsaA’s Secretary. Please vote for me again. Thank you.
Bonnie J. Buchele
reports no ethics findings, malpractice actions, or licensing board actions.
We have entered an era of change, calamity, and turbulence. Through APsaA’s remarkable leadership, we have attempted to respond to two major crises with fortitude. The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged psychoanalysis all over the world to respond to a situation that we have never had to cope with before, our isolation from our patients. APsaA has created Peer Consultation Groups, Townhalls and online meetings that have led to creating a supportive network for psychoanalysts and psychodynamic psychotherapists through these times of uncertainty.
Then the culmination of years of persistent racism in America happened. A man had the life drained from him by the brutality of a police officer as the whole world watched. When America could not turn away, a revolution was born anew, and APsaA has tried to rally. The rules of systemic racism are codified. Our only hope of improving our world and our institutes and societies depends on identifying and studying racism and no longer being complacent. We must grow together and change the way that all of us treat each other, as “others.”
I have been attending APsaA meetings since I was a Resident in Psychiatry. APsaA’s environment of collegial exchange, clinical mentorship, exposure to theories that are not easily available locally, all have added to the experience of my personal analysis and training at the Michigan Psychoanalytic Institute. This live think tank has fostered my development as a psychoanalyst. I have been the Michigan Society’s representative to the Executive Council from 1997 - 2001 and 2009 – 2015 and a Councilor-at-Large from 2016 to the present. I am deeply dedicated to helping APsaA thrive and to contributing to its growth and sustenance.
APsaA has been going through many growing pains. From the externalization of accreditation and certification to the enhancement of the Executive Council as an effective Board of Directors and the Department of Psychoanalytic Education as a body of study and scholarship, APsaA has matured enormously in a short time. This has evolved because the organization now facilitates the members’ embrace and discussion of a diversity of theories and clinical approaches.
The Executive Council tracks membership statistics and has informed the Board of Directors that APsaA is shrinking as our aging population of Senior Members grows and the pace of growth of our new Active Members is not keeping up. One of APsaA’s most important current tasks right now is to strengthen all membership categories and to encourage all interested and compatibly qualified independent institutes and societies to apply for APsaA membership. I serve on the IRRC working with applying societies to help determine whether their educational programs meet APsaA’s qualifications and to assist in the application process. I believe that diverse societies and institutes will help to produce a strong APsaA. In addition, I have supported the development of a full Psychotherapy Membership category, along with research, academic and student and resident/trainee categories that will replace the Associate groups that have existed for many years. I am a member of the Psychotherapy Membership Task Force that is currently working on a membership proposal to bring to the Board of Directors.
The Department of Psychoanalytic Education is creating many exciting initiatives generating outreach to our Societies and supporting vital research for psychoanalysis. Our Diversity and inter-cultural initiatives are important for developing a safe space for our patients and our members. I support the cutting-edge work of the Committee on Gender and Sexuality. Our hope is that the vital role that psychoanalysis has played in the history of psychology in the world will be confirmed by research supported by APsaA’s Science Department. Our Academic outreach and connection between analytic institutes and University Departments will lead to more ongoing collaborative research and education about psychoanalysis, neuroscience, and psychoanalytic theory. Now more than ever we need psychoanalysis to help communities and individuals that have been traumatized by racism and prejudice and uncover the unconscious forces in our institutions, society, and in ourselves in order to mobilize change.
As Director-at-Large who serves on various committees of the Board and on APsaA’s committees and Task Forces, I have learned a lot. I would like the opportunity to continue to serve our organization as the Secretary of APsaA and as a member of the Executive Committee. This will allow me to work more closely with the initiatives of the Board of Directors and to help it to achieve the goals of APsaA’s Strategic Planning efforts. That will further strengthen our newly organized Association. Please join me in working for APsaA’s growth and stabilization by voting for me for Secretary.
Sally Rosenberg
reports no ethics findings, malpractice actions, or licensing board actions.
APsaA ELECTIONS : DIRECTOR - AT - LARGE
The content produced by the APsaA Board of Directors is intimately tied to its processes, structures and vision. I had the privilege to serve on a Strategic Planning Task force that produced eight strategic goal areas that would be the primary foci of our energy, attention and funding, so that we might be a vital, growing organization into the future. These goals were approved by the Board in February 2020. While all eight of those areas are essential, I would like to highlight the need for more diversity and youth in our membership and leadership, which we will need to actively cultivate, rather than waiting for it to happen.
Over the past several years, we have undergone dramatic changes, shifting from a bicameral seat of power to the Board of Directors having full responsibility for all of the actions of our association. The Six-Point Plan has been mostly implemented, and I have had the honor of serving as the first Lead Director (Lead Councilor) to emerge from that initiative. The myriad changes so far have brought to light further changes that need to be made to keep the spirit of progress going, and so that we may settle into and consolidate our new structure.
I would like to put to use the leadership experience I have gained over the past few years by leading or serving on more of the committees, task forces and working groups, where most of the work is done, that will be instrumental in our continuing to evolve. We have a number of major issues to be dealt with soon, such as distance analysis, membership for psychotherapists, the TA/SA system/function, and relations with the IPA. Each one of these issues involves factions with strong feelings that the “other side” is trying to destroy psychoanalysis, when in fact, all involved are deeply invested in the future of psychoanalytic thought and work. We need to become nimbler by moving many of our practices from our bylaws into policies and procedures, which would further give the Board of Directors the latitude it needs to attend to the priorities of our members. On numerous occasions, I have been part of testy group discussions that seemed hopelessly deadlocked, only to have some softening, and the emergence of something like consensus we could all live with. I find these processes to be deeply rewarding, and I hope to continue being a part of them as Director-at-Large.
Timothy Raynor
reports no ethics findings, malpractice actions, or licensing board actions.
I am honored to be nominated for Director-at-Large, hoping to join our dedicated colleagues in governance working, guiding us into a challenging future. Known for listserv posts, TAP articles, interspersed with details about who I am, I could enumerate achievements: TA/SA, Child SA, society president, service on several faculties, committees as member, chair, local and national levels, consultant, University Forum Chair, Plenary panel, unparalleled credentials, writer, educator, recruiter, humble clinician. Enumerating triggers ambivalence because sometimes, we depend on things we have, status and credentials we have achieved, to fashion our ego ideal of who we are. For me, who I am and what I believe about psychoanalysis exceeds credential or status.
I am a TA, yet I support questioning and revising the system. I value standards, yet I call attention to past exclusionary and hierarchical misuse. I welcome vigorous debate, healthy questioning. I find value in all points of view. I am an African American in a field I love but historically that love is unrequited. I believe in diversity, quantitative and qualitative. Who I am as a psychoanalyst rests on deeply held convictions.
We must rebrand ourselves. We must create a new psychoanalytic ego ideal. So I ask, who are we, what do we want to be? We must show the world: what we do is art, is science, is a relational transferential basis for profound human transformation, not just theory; psychoanalysis saves lives.
While fighting racism, the intractable problem of the modern world, be mindful that, antiracism as policy is easier to pen than to live. Rather than slogan, antiracism is a state of conscious revolution heralded by fighting what is not so good within us, every minute, every hour, every day with all of our being. For me, the lifelong voice in my head questions, no demands, keeps me up nights wondering, in loving thy neighbor as thyself, can we rehabilitate ourselves from projecting onto, hating thy neighbor as the Other, and utilize psychoanalysis for our collective salvation? How do we come together while facing the threat of falling apart?
Can we face the darkness yet keep the potential for goodness within? We must be unyielding, and with vigor, with dignity, and with human compassion, call each other to the higher task of progress. James Baldwin said, “I do believe that we can become better than we are.” This is what I believe. This is how I approach life. This is how I approach being a psychoanalyst. This is how I will approach governance. I humbly ask for your vote.
Beverly J. Stoute
reports no ethics findings, malpractice actions, or licensing board actions.
It is my honor to run for Director-at-Large and respectfully ask for your vote in order to continue my service to APsaA. I welcome your ongoing questions, feedback and opinions; especially from those of you who do not have a local home society.
My decade of service on Council has given me an understanding of the complex issues facing APsaA. I have served as a Council representative to the Executive Committee, the Membership Requirements and Review Committee, and as chair of the Policies and Procedures Committee.
At no time in my memory has the relevance of psychoanalytic values and understandings been more important. I am proud of the quick response that the leadership of APsaA has organized.
I support immediate strategic efforts toward inclusivity and diversity within APsaA and believe racism must take priority at this time. I stand committed to being active in the process of understanding in what ways implicit racism exists within myself and within the institutions to which I belong. I support implementing the “Five Policy Recommendations” proposed by Dorothy Holms (TAP, 2017), accompanied by actionable steps to assure enduring change.
The identity of APsaA as a membership organization is evolving, or to be more precise, being created. I support a Bylaw change that extends membership to qualified psychoanalytic psychotherapists. While I appreciate that some may be concerned that psychoanalysis as a treatment will be compromised by such a change, I do not share this view. As a devoted psychoanalyst myself, I believe the value of psychoanalysis can be enhanced and its future assured, by the full collaboration of psychotherapists, academicians and researchers.
Although our relationships with other professional organizations have grown stronger and more collaborative, there is still ongoing work to be done. Our relationship with IPA is especially important as it affords us the opportunity to participate in a global community rather than isolate.
I support APsaA speaking out publicly regarding social and ethical issues, especially racism, violence and other human rights violations. Events in the context of the polarized, politicized culture in which we find ourselves, provide teachable moments and we have much to offer. Relevant public communications that are informed by our psychoanalytic values and understanding have potential for changing the tone of public discourse, promoting social justice, and contributing to the well-being of humankind, while keeping psychoanalytic understandings in full public view.
If elected Director-at-Large, my pledge is to remain open-minded, listen, respectfully and thoughtfully discuss options, and vote my conscience based on what is best for APsaA.
M. Jane Yates
reports no ethics findings, malpractice actions, or licensing board actions.
The Nominations Advisory Committee reconvened in an effort to consider a fourth nominee to run for the office of Director-at-Large in the February 2021 Election after receiving notification that one of the candidates nominated withdrew their nomination. Finding none at the time of this printing, the election will proceed with the three remaining candidates for the office of Director-at-Large. As stipulated in the Bylaws, Article IV, Section 2(C): “Any twenty voting members of the Association may nominate one or more eligible candidates for each office by sending a signed petition to the Secretary at least sixty days prior to the fall/winter Meeting of Members at which the elections are to take place.” The deadline for receipt in the National Office of such petition nominations is December 7, 2020. Proxy ballots will be distributed electronically from APsaA’s electronic voting firm during the second week of January 2021.
APsaA ELECTIONS : CANDIDATE DIRECTOR - AT - LARGE
My interest in serving on the Board of Directors as the Candidate Director-at-Large stems from my years of involvement in organizations and committees that represent my professional values. However, the current state of human affairs demands much more of us than that.
The COVID-19 pandemic has shocked the nation and forced mental health professionals to adapt quickly and even practice in ways that many may have deemed unconventional. But as the oldest and largest professional organization for psychoanalysts in North America, APsaA’s swift response was remarkable – a response, in fact, that could not have been possible without the sensitive guidance and collaboration amongst the Board of Directors and the association’s members. As we continue to move forward, we also continue to navigate uncharted territory while maintaining the high educational and professional standards that have always characterized our association.
These challenging times have also forced us to confront long-standing social issues, not just within the United States, but across the world. As an immigrant, I feel compelled to acknowledge and challenge internalized biases.
If elected to the Director-at-Large position, my goal is to be the bridge between the Executive Council and candidate members, encouraging participation from those who bring with them diversity in both perspective and experience—those who represent the future of this association and psychoanalysis as a whole. I would contribute to the growth of the association by offering innovative ideas and brainstorming solutions to the myriad challenges we are encountering, both institutionally and globally. Most importantly, I am looking forward to adding my unique cultural perspective to the great work that is already being done at APsaA so as to foment a more culturally inclusive environment.
Mariela G. Shibley
reports no ethics findings, malpractice actions, or licensing board actions.
I’m honored to be considered for Candidate Director-at-Large. The events we’ve been through this year have demanded flexibility and agility from APsaA, which has been responsive and resourceful in meeting those demands. We’ll need to continue adapting to our rapidly changing professional and social environments as we move forward. We’ve now added a global pandemic and a grassroots demand to face systemic racism to our already full docket of issues. We’ll need to continue drawing on the experience, knowledge, and creativity of our members, including our candidate members.
As Treasurer of the APsaA Candidates’ Council, I’ve become more aware of issues affecting candidates and more aware of our candidates’ views on issues. This will be helpful in allowing me to represent the views of our candidates as Candidate Director at-Large. I’m also Vice President Elect for North America for IPSO (IPA’s candidate organization), which is furthering my global perspective on analysis, training, and collaboration. In addition, I’m on the Education Committee at my local institute, where we work to optimize training as we navigate the many issues involved. I also have experience in leadership from 20 years as an active duty Air Force officer, having retired as a lieutenant colonel in 2012.
Our candidates have important perspectives on the issues we face, along with creative ideas on how to address them. The challenge is to generate deepening dialogue on those issues so we can bring those perspectives and ideas forward and benefit from them. If elected, this will be a focus of mine, and I’d like to work closely with the Candidates Council to do so.
We’re facing many challenges but we’ve shown we can face them and adapt as we move forward. To do so, we need effective communication and collaboration across APsaA, which is where I’d like to help if elected.
Gerard Sobnosky
reports no ethics findings, malpractice actions, or licensing board actions.