Vann Pearsall
Last year, following input from members and donors, the PCC Board approved the 2023-25 Strategic Plan to guide our growth and enhance our programs and services. Much work has been done already, and it’s my pleasure to share the progress after the first quarter of 2023.
The first goal, and one of the utmost importance to our members, is to create a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive psychoanalytic community. The board has voiced its commitment to creating a new board-level committee and the Anti-Racism Task Force is engaged in developing the scope and charge for that committee. Once developed, we will recruit a chairperson to join the board and help us apply an intersectional lens to our mission and programs.
The plan also seeks to engage our members and provide more social opportunities for our members to gather. The Membership Committee, headed by John Riley, continues to host monthly in-person meet-ups, providing an opportunity for our community to reconnect after so much time apart.
The second goal focuses on the content and accessibility of our training programs. Understanding that the cost of training is a barrier for our trainees, we plan to strengthen our current funding programs and offer new opportunities for financial aid. Using donor-restricted contributions, eleven $5,000 grants have been awarded to matriculated students to help with the cost of supervision. Those contributions will also fund two $7,500 grants for newly matriculated students in the Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Track to cover training expenses. Thanks to a generous gift from Sandra and Steve Bennett, this year we will launch the inaugural Dorothy E. Holmes Cultural Factors Fellowship. One $5,000 fellowship will be awarded to explore how and to what extent the various elements of intersectional oppression may contribute to personal suffering – e.g., race, class, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, and/or other identity markers- and, whenever possible, ameliorate that suffering.
Finally, the Training and Education Committee has initiated the Curriculum Update Project to review and evaluate our current training curriculum. The committee, led by Psychotherapy Program Director Christy Tronnier, PhD, will release a survey later this week to gather an initial and anonymous perspective of the current PCC curriculum. Over the next two years, through strategic conversations with members, faculty, students, and program committees they will turn the research into recommendations. I hope you will take the time to participate and respond honestly when called upon to do so.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t express my gratitude to the members, board of directors, and committees who are contributing their time and talents to achieve these goals. If you are interested in learning more about the strategic plan or have feedback on the goals, please let me know.
Happy Spring,
Vann Pearsall
PCC Executive Director
