APsaA 2022-23 Elections Candidates’ Statements
DIRECTOR-AT-LARGE
Sue Kolod
I am honored to have been nominated for the position of director-at large of the American Psychoanalytic Association.
Several recent accomplishments have raised the profile of APsaA. These recent efforts are changing our image into an organization with its finger on the pulse of the present and the future. I would like to contribute as director-at-large to the continuation of APsaA's future-oriented endeavors.
During the pandemic, I collaborated with colleagues on projects that showed the relevance and importance of psychoanalysis during times of crisis. I was both a member of the COVID-19 Advisory Team and co-chair of the Committee on Public Information. Our work found ways to reach out to other mental health professionals through projects like the Peer Consultation Groups and Town Hall Meetings, and we published 27 posts on the APsaA blog, Psychoanalysis Unplugged, on topics relevant to the struggles and challenges of the pandemic. During my tenure, our blog reached over one and a half million people. We also developed videos specifically relevant to other clinicians and others directed towards the anxieties and losses of the general public.
At the same time, the Holmes Commission was established to investigate prejudice and racism within our organization, as well as the mental health field. Other than being an ardent supporter of those efforts, I was not directly involved in that work. But it is clear to me that the Commission is having a positive impact on our organization, and the field generally both nationally and internationally. I plan to continue this support.
In addition, I'm a member of the IPA Board of Trustees and was named to its Executive Committee. This gives me a clear view of the importance of APsaA's international involvement, both for us in APsaA and internationally. We need to engage with psychoanalysts in other parts of the world on issues such as remote training, racism and prejudice, climate change–induced migrations, and toxic polarization leading to war and displacement.
If elected, I will advocate for psychoanalytic treatments in the mental health marketplace, connect with the general public on the importance and relevance of psychoanalytic ideas and treatments, continue our exploration of the ways that psychoanalytic treatments can reach more diverse populations, connect with psychoanalysts around the world and engage with them on issues of global concern, and find ways to address toxic polarization both within the organization and the larger world.
In summary, I would do whatever I can to make APsaA a force for progressive change both in psychoanalysis and in the world.
Please consider voting for me.
April Crofut reports no ethics findings, malpractice actions, or licensing board actions.
Felecia Powell-Williams
It is with great pleasure to accept the nomination for director-at-large. I completed my post-graduate clinical education at the Center for Psychoanalytic Studies (CFPS), as an Adult and Child & Adolescent Psychoanalyst. As a faculty member of CFPS, I have been honored to hold board and committee positions, not only within CFPS, but with APsaA, Association for Child Psychoanalysis (ACP), Psychotherapy Action Network (PsiAn), and Alliance for Psychoanalytic Schools (ACP).
I joined APsaA during my candidacy. I was bright-eyed and excited about the various membership possibilities available. Being the only person of color at my center during that time, I was excited to meet other candidates and psychoanalysts with diverse backgrounds, but also members who were just as enthusiastic about psychoanalytic thinking.
I have the honor of being involved in and fortunate to serve on many APsaA committees, including the Governance Committee, APsaA Councilor representative for Houston Psychoanalytic Society, member of the Department of Psychoanalytic Education (DPE), and the current chair of the DPE Diversities Section. Being a psychoanalytic thinker, I have agreed to this nomination recognizing the need to reach within and outside of our psychoanalytic communities with an expanding focus on the diversities. This would include a more inclusive stance of outreach with diverse psychoanalytic literature and authors, and such groups as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), play therapists, community mental health and family service agencies, attorneys, judges, and many other national organizations that are not always considered as communities that are rich and welcoming to our educational contributions and psychoanalytic dialogue and training.
During the pandemic APsaA and local institutes and societies faced many obstacles never before experienced in our organization and successfully grew in the process. My service has allowed me to gain firsthand knowledge about the specific issues that not only affect our local centers, but nationally as well. We must remember APsaA has a history of contributing psychoanalytic perspectives on national and international levels, including providing consultation and educational research and advocacy on recognizing the need of mental health needs of children, adults, and families. Such organizational practices can strategically enhance diversity and inclusion needed for the future of psychoanalysis and mental wellness. It will be essential we courageously facilitate a climate that supports ongoing discussion to create a pathway to reach much-needed goals of quality psychoanalytic education and treatment within every community.
In hopes of representing our membership as director-at-large, I ask for your vote.
Felecia Powell-Williams reports no ethics findings, malpractice actions, or licensing board actions.
Alan Sugarman
I believe that APsaA's dual identity as both a membership and an educational organization is what makes it special and different from other professional organizations. That also presents challenges that are the responsibility of the Board of Directors. Now that both aspects of APsaA are unified and overseen by the Board, I seek election as a director-at-large to support APsaA's continuing commitment to quality education.
My entire professional career of almost fifty years has been dedicated to education and scholarship. Serving as the first head of the Department of Psychoanalytic Education and as a member of the TA Survey Task Force has honed my understanding of the importance of our educational standards having buy-in from our membership. As a director-at-large I will bring this experience to the Board as APsaA helps its institutes to provide excellence in the context of increasing inclusiveness and diversity.
My other strong professional interest is child psychoanalysis, serving as an Association for Child Psychoanalysis councilor, on the IPA's Integrated Training Committee, and chairing a parallel APsaA subcommittee. Child analysis has traditionally been a stepchild of psychoanalysis; many child analysts were excluded from membership in APsaA. Although this is changing, much remains to be done, internally in colleagues’ attitudes, and externally, reaching to gather in child analysts from many different backgrounds to enrich our organization and our field.
I suggest that APsaA create a Department of Child Psychoanalysis. To date, child analysis is only formally represented in the DPE with the emphasis on child analytic education. That section has developed creative and innovative programs. But child analysis needs to be represented more broadly and deeply. Promoting practice and bringing a child analytic/developmental perspective to bear on issues like diversity, gender, research, and more would benefit APsaA. In addition, the department could liaise with other organizations to broaden APsaA's societal visibility and potentially enlarge its membership. Children, adolescents, and families are in need, and APsaA has much to offer them in a time of social stress and rapid change.
As a director-at-large I will promote such efforts while supporting all the other important functions of APsaA. I view myself as a psychoanalyst, committed to the development and evolution of psychoanalytic education and the profession and discipline of psychoanalysis, while also appreciating its traditions and the value of accumulated wisdom. As DPE department head, I tried to encourage a progressive emphasis on respectful, rigorous, and scholarly debate about all aspects of education. If elected, I will do the same thing about all matters important to APsaA and its members.
Alan Sugarman reports no ethics findings, malpractice actions, or licensing board actions.
April Crofut
I am honored to be nominated for the position of candidate directorat-large. I have enjoyed increasing involvement with APsaA over the past two years through the Candidates’ Council, organizing and chairing the new Candidates’ Online Seminar Series and chairing the Lee Jaffe Psychoanalytic Paper Prize. Through these activities, I have connected with candidates from around the country and would welcome the opportunity to serve as their representative to the Board.
I have been involved with three member institutes at different levels over the course of my career—completing a psychotherapy program at the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis, engaging as a community member and psychotherapy faculty at the Oregon Psychoanalytic Center, and now training in psychoanalysis at the Seattle Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, where I am a member of the curriculum committee and president of the candidates’ organization. Through these experiences, I have seen the functioning of varied psychoanalytic organizations and appreciate the value that APsaA offers local institutes in sharing resources, fostering innovation, and serving as a stabilizing force.
This is an exciting and challenging time for APsaA. The pandemic and our overdue national reckoning with racial injustice have prompted deep reflective work in responsible organizations, compelling us more than ever to dismantle structures of inequality and exclusion—especially those that derive from and reinforce white supremacy. I am excited about what this means for the future of psychoanalysis—repair, renewal, creativity, and vibrancy. As we inherit the rich wisdom of our profession, I believe that candidates have an essential role to play in designing its future. I look forward to sharing my ideas and connecting candidates to the national conversation.
April Crofut reports no ethics findings, malpractice actions, or licensing board actions.
Christopher S. Rigling
Along with having been an executive leader in a large non-profit behavioral healthcare organization for a decade of my career, I have been committed to active participation and leadership in a variety of professional associations. As a candidate member of APsaA, I have had the rewarding experience of participating in a number of committees, and it is an honor to be nominated for the position of candidate director-at-large.
We have all been confronted by the dramatic effects of recent events in our history. This has shed light on the necessity for growth and change within our organization. APsaA is in the midst of an inflection point which calls for flexible and adaptive responses. Our most recent discussions, in preparation for the recent annual meeting and in the presentations reflect the efforts that our organization is making to face a variety of important challenges.
As a nominee for candidate director-at-large, I see the primary role as bringing greater participation of candidates in collaboration with the Executive Council. Candidates’ voices offer important perspectives on current challenges in education, training, diversity, and inclusion—in issues of theory and practice. I have found that executive leadership and my candidate peers welcome new perspectives. If elected, I will bring my experience as a leader and dedication to the field of psychoanalysis to every forum. I will encourage the consideration and inclusion of diverse ideas, reaching out to candidate membership and representing the diversity of opinions as we work collaboratively towards an exciting future for APsaA.
Christopher S. Rigling reports no ethics findings, malpractice actions, or licensing board actions.
APsaA ELECTIONS: SECRETARY
Bonnie J. Buchele
Serving as secretary of the American Psychoanalytic Association during this period of turmoil in our world has been important for me. I would like to continue for a third term. APsaA was entering a period of change when I first decided to run for secretary pre-pandemic. I believed then and do now that we have not utilized our unique knowledge effectively enough to improve our collegial relationships and provide help to a troubled world. Then the pandemic hit and unwanted change was forced on us. I am proud of how we have pivoted in response not only to COVID but to other important issues of the day, particularly racism and making ourselves open to increasing awareness of our own racism. We have been adapting but also changing APsaA's culture.
My orientation to group life has provided a foundation for my knowing that cultivating enriched communication, conscious and unconscious, is required to maintain our sustaining connections to one another. I treasure serving as secretary because I have opportunities to facilitate communication within the organization. First, the minutes of the Executive Committee and Board are an important pillar of our communication network; I try to keep them informative, succinct, and timely. Secondly, I have traveled (via Zoom) with past president Bill Glover, meeting with you in your local institutes, hearing how to improve relationships between local groups and APsaA by listening to your needs and concerns. Thirdly, a rich experience for me has been participating with Bill Glover and now President Kerry Sulkowicz as a leadership team for the Town Hall meetings; here I have benefitted more than facilitated! Fourth, with others I continue to brainstorm about ways to improve and maximize the constructive potential of our listservs—a work in process. Fifth, I am chairing the Task Force on Future APsaA Meetings, the charge of which is to think boldly about a new format for our in-person meetings in order to update them and to make them more relevant and financially viable in light of increasing costs, hybrid options, and difficulty finding affordable hotels that can accommodate our current space requirements while preserving the excellence that makes these meetings so special; this is a challenging but exciting task to update this important forum for our interacting with one another as well as other citizens of the psychoanalytic community and the general public.
The pandemic has been traumatic for us and the entire world. But, as is the case with any trauma, because everything is turned upside down, there is opportunity for constructive change amidst the pain and suffering. For example, the COVID Response Team created the Peer Consultation Groups—opened to all in the psychoanalytic community (not only APsaA members) and now integrated permanently into the Membership department. Our community has discovered a way of connecting that was previously unimaginable. Finally, to diversify we must expand our membership to psychotherapists, researchers, educators, and community members, but especially important is that we must focus on eliminating our internalized and systemic racism; I am grateful for the work of the Holmes Commission which will aid us in discerning what we must do to fight and eliminate our racial biases. To help the world, we must first look inside and discover our biases separately and together. Indeed, we are reimagining and changing APsaA in many ways. I hope you will vote for me so that I can continue to aid in those efforts.
Bonnie J. Buchele reports no ethics findings, malpractice actions, or licensing board actions.
APsaA ELECTIONS: TREASURER
Julio G. Calderon
As I complete my first three-year term as treasurer of our Association, I want to acknowledge the invaluable guidance of our executive director, Tom Newman, the staff, and the strong leadership of our outgoing president, Bill Glover, and our incoming president Kerry Sulkowicz. The oversight of the entire Executive Committee and our Board of Directors is also critical to achieving our strategic goals while remaining diligent in securing a stable financial future.
Although the Association is well positioned financially, the continuing challenges posed by the COVID endemic and the recessionary market downturn in FY 2022 require strong leadership and a coherent vision of what we aspire to achieve as an organization that both represents the profession and science of psychoanalysis. Making an impact in our patients’ lives, our society, and the global community requires a vision that will serve to guide our decisions about how best to allocate our financial resources while looking to find opportunities for new sources of revenue and continuing to grow our membership. We face a significant decline in revenue as the number of active members continues to decline and the number of dues-exempt senior members continues to increase.
I am seeking your support for a second term in my effort to strengthen our financial position by continuing to oversee several important initiatives. First and foremost is streamlining our budgeting process which has seen a major overhaul resulting in what I hope will be a viable and sustainable breakeven business model for years to come. The opportunities for new sources of revenue are of critical importance, especially developing our virtual learning platforms that also allow for more access and inclusion from other mental health professionals outside of APsaA. A reassessment of our investing practices resulted in a major move to a less expensive passive investing Vanguard Balanced Index Fund that can potentially offer a better yield over time than from traditional active management of our reserve funds. Efforts to “brand” psychoanalysis as an evidence-based treatment and to rebuild the APsaA-brand that has suffered amidst years of infighting that have affected the perception of APsaA even among our own training programs and members. Currently less than 50% of our candidates in APsaA-affiliated training programs join APsaA. Expanded membership is also important in our efforts to address exclusionary and systemic “isms” that have limited our healthy growth as a profession.
As treasurer of the Association, I vow to be prudent in all matters related to ensuring the long-term financial health of our Association. I hope you will share in my vision for our Association and put your support behind my bid for a second term as your Treasurer.
Julio G. Calderon reports no ethics findings, malpractice actions, or licensing board actions.