Culture Change
BY KERRY J. SULKOWICZ
Editor’s note:
As TAP was going to press, Kerry Sulkowicz stepped down as APsA president.
Greetings from a newly reimagined TAP! If you’re reading this in print, you’ve undoubtedly noticed something different about this issue: we are now in vibrant full color, including some remarkable original artwork. This is also the first issue for our editor in chief Austin Ratner, whom I’m pleased to welcome to his new role. Austin is bringing fresh ideas about content as well as style—about which more in his editor’s letter. For my part, I’d like to share an updated version of remarks I made to the APsA board at our meeting in New York about our Association and its future.
While the pandemic isn’t over, I think we can feel good—though never complacent—about how we, as an Association, have coped with it. The pandemic and the shift to remote work have probably changed us and our profession forever. But we still managed to have one of our most successful and lively National Meetings in recent memory, with nearly 1,000 people in attendance in New York. In addition to excellent scientific sessions, we had the opportunity to meet first-time attendees at a packed gathering, as well as reconnect with old friends at various social events, including a performance by two extraordinary artists from Jazz at Lincoln Center. It does feel to me like we’re heading toward some version of a “new normal,” but we’re not there yet. We need to remain open-minded and curious about what the future holds, and continually adapt to a rapidly changing world.
To say there’s a lot going on in APsA would be an understatement. We recently saw the passage, by an overwhelming 81 percent of our voting members, of the Expanded Membership bylaw amendment. Many of you devoted countless hours to the development of what I believe is a major step forward in our history as a professional association, formalizing the inclusive and expansive vision of what a psychoanalytic organization can be: a home for all psychoanalytic work. It is not without controversy, but that’s often the case with innovation and change. I want to thank those who have led the way in this endeavor, many years in the making, for their vision, courage, and hard work. You will be hearing much more about Expanded Membership in the months ahead.
Other important initiatives are either well underway or about to begin, including the Holmes Commission, which will be delivering its report and recommendations in the spring. There’s the newly launched Commission on the Economics of Psychoanalysis, which will be exploring what have been rather taboo topics, including the economics of our members’ practices, of training, and of local and national institutions. There’s the Inter-Institutional Leadership Initiative, in partnership with the Department of Psychoanalytic Education, bringing leaders of local institutes, societies, and centers together in small groups to share their leadership and organizational challenges with each other. There’s the Pathways to Membership project of the Membership Committee, which will be gathering narratives from as many of our members as possible, not only to help us learn how people went from their first encounter with psychoanalysis to becoming members of APsA, but also so that we can “reverse engineer” some of those experiences to attract new members to us. I think the experience of conducting and participating in these informal interviews will create new connections and inspire a greater sense of community among us. And there’s a task force that’s reimagining our national meetings for the future.
As noted above, we recently announced a new editor in chief for TAP, Austin Ratner. We’ve also welcomed a new editor for JAPA, Greg Rizzolo. Both Greg and Austin were selected by open applications for the roles from our entire membership and represent the next generation of editorial leadership. They bring ambitious, creative visions to their respective publications. We’re about to launch a new APsA website, which will support our redoubled focus on outreach and advocacy for our profession. Several new institutes have expressed an interest in joining APsA through our Institute Requirements and Review Committee, which I see as a sign of renewed excitement about our work. We have even moved our staff headquarters to a new space near Grand Central. This may be the best metaphor for what’s happening—moving from a dark underground space to a beautiful, light-filled office.
What I’m hoping to convey, more than a list of activities, is a process of culture change that is occurring in our Association. We’re opening things up, and trying to warm things up, too, by making APsA more welcoming of new and old members and guests, reducing administrative burdens of meetings, and creating more informal opportunities for members to socialize and deepen relationships. Many important committee chair appointments and other key roles are now being opened to expressions of interest from the entire membership, rather than being “tapped” by the leadership from a predictable pool. We will be instituting term limits for all roles, to ensure that leadership is refreshed and opportunities opened up for younger members to participate in every part of APsA.
Some of this change is anxiety-provoking and at times painful. Change inevitably involves loss, but also gain. Some people embrace change with gusto, others resist it tooth and nail. Most organizations are never fully ready for change, and never will be. One can’t wait to gain everyone’s emotional acceptance. Change would never happen if that were a requirement. What is necessary is a certain critical mass of readiness, achieved by respectful listening, by not-too-hard selling, and by pushing the organization forward despite the resistance. Some of the adaptation occurs with time after the change has already taken place, but not before. For APsA, I worry that if we don’t adapt—thoughtfully and deliberately—to our changing world, we will do ourselves, our patients, and our society a disservice. But one thing I am sure of is that the world needs psychoanalysis. As a clinical discipline, as a set of powerful theories with many applications, and—perhaps equally importantly—as a set of values, psychoanalysis can, in my view, serve as a kind of antidote to some of the prevailing and disturbing trends of our time.
I see APsA as being on the cutting edge of psychoanalysis today, and we want to learn and evolve not in isolation, but in partnership with diverse colleagues from around the world. APsA can be a laboratory for progress, while respecting that other psychoanalytic organizations have different traditions and histories, and other concerns and goals.
I’m honored and proud to be part of this noble profession and this vital organization. We can be on the cusp of a psychoanalytic renaissance, if we allow ourselves to think boldly, to liberate ourselves from aspects of our own history that hold us back, and to take some chances. Thanks to all of you for being part of this journey, and for all you do on behalf of APsA. ■
