by NATAA Communications | Sep 16, 2007 | Membership News |
Report to Membership Distributed at Membership Meeting August 2007
Governance, Committees, and Initiatives
NATAA Council Highlights
Spring and Summer 2007
Background on Council Elections
Article V, Section 5 ”When a vacancy occurs on the Council, the Council members may select a designee to serve as a full Council member pending a vote of the general members in an election at the next business meeting.”
We agreed that when a person resigns before the end of their term, the replacement will fill out the remaining time in the term, so the rotation is maintained. Lucy provided a chart showing that the Pacific (Anna Long), and Rocky Mountain (Abe Wagner) terms go through 2007, the Midwest (Ken Taber) and Southwest (Chuck Holland) terms go through 2008, and the Northeast (Marian Weisberg) and Southwest (Vacant) terms go through 2009.
Voting Members of Council; Inclusion of Committee Chairs
Two Standing Rules were proposed and accepted as clarification of the Bylaws.
“The voting members of the Council consist of the five members-at-large, the Regional Representatives, and the Immediate Past General Coordinator.”
“The Council can invite persons who are performing designated functions on behalf of the organization, including, but not limited to, Committee Chairs, Heads of Task Forces, and the NET Editor, and can authorize the reimbursements of their expenses for attending Council meetings when so invited to attend.”
Structure of Education Committees and Education Project
Three separate committees under the Coordinator of Education: Vision and Strategy Committee, for which we will need to recruit a chair and members. CEU Committee, headed by Bobbie Barry, and one will be a TA Practitioner Committee, headed by Val Chang. The Education Project will be moved to under the Coordinator of Programs and is currently chaired by Denton Roberts, who plans to transition it to a new committee now that the model programs have been designed and are being run in Dallas and Boise.
Social Justice Committee
We agreed to form a Standing Committee for Social Action, and accept Ken’s offer to be the point person and explore options for actions. Some possibilities are:
1) how can NATAA take on Social Action in general
2) how can we explore our own internal process to conform to our values
3) how might we (eventually?) support/fund social action projects of members
Since then, we have settled on the name Social Justice Committee.
Membership Recruitment
Our goal is the further expansion of TA in the US. Based on a market analysis, we have decided to focus on people in the counseling field first. If we do a few things well first, we can then build on a resurgence. We can then think about how to provide CEU’s or credentials for people in Education, Coaching, and Organizational Development.
There are about 4-500 ITAA members in the US, and about 125 NATAA members.Staying in touch, NET, Website, Blog
We agreed that the Council has an ongoing commitment to be transparent and welcome input from members.
The next NET will be the post-conference issue. Please write! Contact TA_neteditor@comcast.net.
After the conference, the current conference blog site can be used to update members on Council activities and regional events.
Education Project – Working with Local TA People
We discussed that the Education Project represents a paradigm shift in providing TA training in the US. Previously, individuals provided 101’s and advanced training independently. Training will now be available through the Project, and we also want to consider how individuals who provide training independently can do it in harmony with the modules, so that students can work toward our TA Practitioner status. Fanita has suggested another model, of a group of people in a local area (maybe people who got interested in TA at the conference), forming a study group to learn TA and invite trainers.
2008 Jamaica Gathering
Frenchman’s Cove, Port Antonio, Jamaica – a supporter of this conference – will again be the site, Feb. 1-8, 2008. An incredible week at an incredible price for a week-long stay for $750 per person.
Requests for Help
Southeast Regional Representative nominations.
Writing: Articles for NET and for the nataa.net site
Donations to NATAA Social Justice Fund
Recruitment of ITAA members and people new to TA to join NATAA
Volunteer to train or to host Education project modules
Join a committee: education, membership, program, finance, communications, social justice, website management
Run for next year’s council vacancies
by NATAA Communications | Aug 23, 2007 | Membership News |
NATAA held a general membership meeting at the International TA Conference on August 9, 2007. Here are the minutes submitted by Bobbie Barry, coordinator of communications.
Present: Over 40 members (the quorum is 10% of the membership, or 13 members)
The meeting was called to order at 5:05
Introduction of Council Members – General Coordinator Lucy Freedman greeted the participants and reported that the Council has restored staggered terms for members.
Lucy then introduced the Council members and asked them to check in.
Present were Members At Large Lucy Freedman, Bobbie Barry, Vern Masse, Toppie Lincicome, and Suzanne Wilson, Past General Coordinator Dianne Maki, Regional Representatives Marian Weisberg, Abe Wagner, Suzanne Wilson, Chuck Holland, Phyllis Jenkins and Ad Hoc Members Val Chang, Angela Berquist, Felipe Garcia, and Fanita English.
Ad Hoc Member Denton Roberts was unable to attend.
Marian (NE Rep) reported that she is also president of the Eastern Regional TA Association, which many of us might be familiar with from the conferences they have run every few years. She said they are appreciative of what NATAA is doing and are considering a cooperative or merger relationship with us in the future.
Chuck (SW Rep) announced that there will be a Gathering sponsored by the NATAA Southwest Region on April 11-13, 2008, to which everyone is invited.
Following these introductions, the election of the five At Large Members was approved by acclamation.
The minutes from the Membership Meeting in Nashville, TN on October 29, 2005, were also approved by acclamation.
Lucy reminded us that four of the people who were present at the first meeting proposing the formation of NATAA were present at today’s meeting—herself, Fanita English, Muriel James, and Felipe Garcia.
Finance Report – Vern Masse, Coordinator of Finance, gave a summary financial report. As of the end of 2006, we had over $50,000 in income and 24,000 in expenses. giving us net assets of about $26,000. Part of those assets were from the grant from ITAA to support our educational activities. As of June 30, 2007, our assets were $167,916.27. This number is large because it includes the income from the conference but not most of the expenses. He does expect that we will have positive net earnings at the end of this year.
Overview of Council Structure – Felipe Garcia provided historical background that NATAA’s aim from the beginning was to have a flat organizational structure, run from the regions, rather than a hierarchy of officers. We envisioned not a lack of structure, but a different type of structure, governed by consensus and cooperation. Lucy pointed out that this is now a preferred structure in organizations.
Lucy Freedman expressed the Council’s thanks to former Ad Hoc Council member Bill Krieger, for helping us do strategic thinking and to define ourselves as “The US organization of professionals who use Transactional Analysis in their practices.”
In the following discussion, she clarified that this definition is not meant to exclude anyone but simply represents the need for any organization to prioritize in its efforts to build membership. We decided that the most rapid way to spread TA in the US was to focus on counseling and psychotherapy, for which we could offer the benefit of Continuing Education credits for attending educational events. Due to the work of Mary Westphal, we can also offer college credits for conference attendance. Later we can expand by providing CEUs or other benefits for organizational or educational members.
Communications Report – Bobbie Barry reported that her duties include creating minutes and handling correspondence. In the interest of providing transparency to the membership, the Council has agreed that the Coordinator of Communication should also post a summary of Council actions (and, as Felipe reminded us, actions under consideration) on the NATAA website. Because of the press of conference-related business that Bobbie has also been involved in as Chair of the CEU Committee, she has been unable to do so yet, but intends to start after the conference. The Highlights of Council Business that Lucy prepared as a handout for this meeting are a summary of Council business so far this year. (see previous post in membership news)
The website committee and the NET newsletter committee also fall under the purview of the Coordinator of Communication, and are handled by Lucy Freedman (website) and Angela Berquist (NET). Angela reported that the next edition of the NET will have a theme of articles about the conference, and the deadline for submissions for the Fall NET is September 15. She has been soliciting contributions from non-US as well as US attendees at the conference. Everyone is also encouraged to submit any other news items, including workshops they have conducted. She requested that people submit articles as soon as possible, and not worry about the writing. Angela is available to help with rewriting, especially if she gets the material early. Her aim has been to choose topics that will be of interest to both us and the general community. The theme for the Winter 2008 NET is Nurturing and Parenting, and the deadline for submissions in January 10, 2008.
Education Committee Report – We reviewed the structure of Education activities. Toppie Lincicome is Coordinator of Education. Val Chang is Chair of the TA Certificate/Practitioner Committee and Bobbie is Chair of the CEU Committee.
We also have a proposed Vision and Strategies Committee, for which a Chair and members are needed. The Education Project has been headed by Denton Roberts. It was under the Coordinator of Education and is now under the Coordinator of Programs, Suzanne Wilson. As the Project moves out of the pilot stage Denton would like to turn over the ongoing administration to someone else.
Education Project Report – Since Denton was unable to be present, Chuck Holland reported on the events so far. Chuck stated that one of the goals of the Project is to make it easier for people to begin a TA credentialing process without having to invest $2,000 to 5,000 right away. He said that the current structure is to have a mini 101 followed by four modules of 16 hours each. In Dallas, Jim Allen and Barbara Little Horse did the introduction, Denton and Chuck did the first module, Jon and Laurie Weiss will do the second module, and Val Chang will do the third module. Claude Steiner will do the introductory 101 in Boise at the end of September. Suzanne reported that we have received the first two portions of money from ITAA and decided not to ask for the third this year. Our original proposal had been to hold training sequences in all six regions of the US. We now need hosts for the remaining regions. Hosts do not need to act as presenters. In this initial stage, trainers have agreed to present with expenses paid but no fee, so that we can keep prices low for attendees.
M & M Award – Lucy introduced the giving of the “M & M” Award. This award was named after Muriel James and Mary Goulding. Among their many contributions to the well being of NATAA, at the very beginning they put on a conference and donated the proceeds to NATAA. Dianne Maki introduced this year’s recipient, Jonathon Wagner. Jon has had a long career of contributions to ITAA and NATAA, putting tremendous energy into both organizations at great cost. He is past General Coordinator of NATAA and continues to work for ITAA . Jon was given an engraved silver bowl and a bag of M & Ms, which he put in the bowl and passed around for everybody to share!
TA Practitioner Certificate Report – Val Chang reported on progress in specifying the requirements for receiving a certificate for a “Transactional Analysis Practitioner Certificate: Foundational Level”.
A draft of the requirements and learning objectives for each module was circulated to those attending the meeting. We will need people to provide training and to be on all the Education committees. Several people announced TA training programs they are starting. Jo Lewis will start a training program in Oct./Nov. in Atlanta. GA. Fanita will start a twice monthly consultation group in San Mateo, CA, on September 15. It will meet 2 – 5 on Saturday afternoons. Felipe is also starting a group in San Antonio, TX, on how to cooperate. Jo requested information on how to coordinate with the Education Project/Practitioner’s Certificate program.
Fund Raising Progress Report – Steve Karpman announced that he had already made $375 from a half day of sales of his artwork on display at the conference. He will donate the total proceeds to NATAA.
Social Justice Report – Ken circulated a draft for the charter of a Social Justice Fund and asked for responses. He said our goal is to take action, not just raise awareness. We need to be institutionally, as a group, willing to create social justice by our actions. People can donate to the Fund for designated projects or make a general donation. The Council has also agreed to align ourselves with the United Nations Millennium goals (which can be found on their website) and to donate a small percentage of general donations to the Fund to the UN to forward those goals. We still need to set up guidelines for evaluating proposals and administering grants. Phyllis Jenkins and Vi Callahan agreed to join Ken in creating those guidelines. We are about making a difference, which we have already done by supporting part of the travel expenses of Jamaicans who have taken our module courses to attend the conference.
Regional Representatives – Lucy read the list of states included in each region. She announced that Abe Wagner has recruited Dan Cauble to run for the Rocky Mountain vacancy when Abe’s term expires at the end of the year. Lucy has also talked with Parvin Bonab about taking on the vacant Southeast Representative position, either by herself or jointly if someone else is willing to share the position.
Blog – Felipe brought up the question of how we can get input from members before the Council makes decisions. Lucy said that after the conference, the conference blog will be available for member communication with the Council.
Membership – Lucy reported that the ITAA has decided that, because of the attachment of individual members to ITAA, it will have only individual members, rather than also having organizational members with joint membership dues. It will facilitate cooperation among national or regional organizations as part of its role. Lucy reiterated ITAA President Gianpiero Petriglieri’s statement that we need our local TA home for roots, and our global TA home for reach. She reminded us that NATAA dues are included in the price for those attending our yearly Jamaica winter Gathering.
Conference – Lucy announced that 9 of our 10 scheduled preconference Institutes took place, with additional people signing up on site.
She said that NATAA had videotaped the TA 101 Theory and Practice of Transactional Analysis workshop. We will need to raise extra money to edit it. One way we can support that is to preorder the CD, at a 20% discounted price of $85.
We may also use some of NATAA’s money to edit the recording, to spread knowledge of TA and with the expectation that we will eventually receive income from the sale of the tape.
Lucy expressed thanks to Jo Lewis for facilitating the process for attendees at the 101, as more people attended than originally planned and the room had to be rearranged. She also said that Taibi Kahler has agreed to record a segment on miniscripts in his own studio, which can be added to the final version. The tape will not be distributed until there is a final edited version.
Steve Karpman also arranged for his two workshops, Game Free Communication for Couples, and Drama Triangle 2007, to be videotaped. They will be available from his website, www.KarpmanDramaTriangle.com.
The meeting was adjourned at 6:20 PM
Respectfully Submitted,
Roberta (Bobbie) Barry, Coordinator of Communication
August 23, 2007
by NATAA Communications | Feb 26, 2007 | Membership News |
Special Workshop Offered by Eastern Regional TA Assn. – See below for details! ìIt Takes a Lifetime to Develop a Scriptî with Fanita English ERTAA ñ The Eastern Regional Transactional Analysis Association Invites you to an Advanced ëSeminar with Processí Saturday & Sunday, March 10 & 11, 2007, Marriott Courtyard, in Mahwah, NJ. Description by Fanita: My unorthodox views on Scripts were first described in the chapter, ìWhat Shall I do Tomorrow?î in the book, ìTA after Eric Berne,î edited by Graham Barnes and published in l977. There I also spelled out my concepts about differing Child ego states in the same individual and suggested a ìScript exerciseî. These concepts have been tested, refined and expanded considerably over the past 30 years, especially since many professional participants of my workshops have themselves been teaching them in most countries in Europe. This workshop will be interactive and experiential and based on the particular interests of participants. However, we might discuss: Existential positions and character development Survival conclusions, as differentiated from scripts Shame and guilt, Emotions, feelings, and racketeering Different, squabbling, ìinnerî children Script development Scripts and Integrated roles Cultural scripts Distinction between Scripts and Episcripts Unconscious Motivators And, last not least: How to help clients have an enjoyable well balanced approach to life! Who should attend? Professional persons and advanced students in all the helping professions: Psychologists, social workers, marriage & family therapists, counselors, religious leaders of all faiths, teachers, human resource personnel, doctors and nurses. Questions? Email fredclark@cox.netMake room reservations at the 100% smoke-free Marriott Courtyard Mahwah, 40 Route 17 South, Mahwah, NJ, 08540 Phone: 1-201-529-5200 or Fax: 1-201-529-1991 Mention ERTAA – The rate is $94.00 per room, plus tax, if reserved by February 21, 2007. This seminar costs $75.00. It begins with (and includes) breakfast at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday morning. Formal sessions will begin at 9:30 a.m. with a lunch break at 1:00 p.m. The process portion of the weekend will include Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. ERTAA will meet briefly on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. Contact: Fred Clark, 261 Spring Street, Cheshire, CT 06410, fax 1-203-271-3733 Register by March 1, 2007
by NATAA Communications | Nov 15, 2006 | Membership News |
NATAA is now listed in the International Directory of Professional Associations. Click here for our listing!
by NATAA Communications | Oct 30, 2005 | Membership News |
Held at NATAA Nashville Conference
October 29, 2005
Minutes
The meeting was called to order by General Coordinator Dianne Maki slightly after 5:00 PM. Over 45 members were in attendance.
1. BRAGS AND CELEBRATIONS:
Membership and Conference Participation
We already have three new members as of this conference. 30 states in the US and 11 other countries are represented in the conference attendance. More people said they will be sending in their dues shortly.
Felipe Garcia, co-chair of the Conference Program Committee, acknowledged the contribution of presenters and participants to the success of this conference.
NATAA Education Project and ITAA Grant
Anna Long reported on NATAA’s proposal that was written earlier this year and submitted to ITAA in Edinburgh, Scotland in July.
The project is to conduct systematic training programs in the US
We plan to work through existing TA networks and fill in areas that do not have TA people locally
The grant, including this year’s seed money already transferred from ITAA, is for $167,000 over two to three years to develop programs to introduce clinicians, educators, organizational development professionals, and counselors to TA.
The programs will be built around the TA Modules structure that has been presented in various locations over the past few years.
Anna says there are many ways to participate in this project and we invite members to indicate their interest in doing so.
Prison Project
Denton Roberts reported that through Edie Beaujon, we are exploring a partner project with a Master’s in Divinity Program to bring a communication training module into Sing Sing prison. If all goes right, there could be an HBO documentary under the auspices of the highly respected Southern Law and Poverty Center in Atlanta of which Edie would be one of the producers.
We will know more about this project in a few months. It could serve 20 prison inmates annually, offering them an introduction to TA skills.
The NATAA Council has referred the development of the project to the Education committee, to be managed as part of the Education Project.
2. HOW COUNCIL AND MEMBERS WORK and WHAT WE NEED
Felipe Garcia emphasized the US in NATAA, reminding the members that we need to make sure we are fully involved in the organization.
The Coordinating Council works with and for the membership.
The nominating committee is made up of Ray Quiett, Mark Wise, and Lucy Freedman.
The Council consists of five rotating elected positions, from which the specific functional coordinators are appointed, and six regional representatives. Currently the elected council members are Dianne Maki (General Coordinator), Lucy Freedman (Coordinator of Communications and Acting Coordinator of Programs), Vern Masse (Coordinator of Administration and Finance), Felipe Garcia, and Denton Roberts.
Additional at-large members can be appointed by the Council annually. Currently these are Fanita English, Jerome White and Morris Haimowitz, In addition, the immediate past General Coordinator is on the council ex officio. Lyman Rigby resigned this role which is currently being covered by Val Chang, who was previously General Coordinator.
Ray Quiett announced the completion of his term as Southwest Representative and confirmed that his replacement will be Toppie Lincicome.
Dianne announced that Bobbie Barry has been selected and has agreed to serve as the Midwest Representative, which has been vacant.
Other regional representatives are: Southeast –shared by Shirley Jaeger and Mark Wise, Pacific –Anna Long, Rocky Mountain – Abe Wagner, and Northeast – Barbara Little Horse.
Committees are to be drawn from the membership. We welcome members’ participation and request that those interested in being involved give their names and addresses to the appropriate council member. Lucy Freedman and other council members will follow up with volunteers on committee membership.
3. EDUCATION COMMITTEE REPORT
In addition to the exciting Education Projects described previously, Ray Quiett has successfully put together our CEU program and registration with the National Board of Certified Counselors. Ray announced that CEU certificates are available for this conference and that people who would like CEU credit should submit their completed attendance forms to him to obtain certificates for their records.
4. NATAA NET REPORT
The NET is our newsletter. Several issues this year were edited by Lucy Freedman and Anna Long, respectively. Angela Berquist was introduced as the new editor for 2006. Anna Long will be the editor of the remaining issue for 2005.
Editors will gladly work with authors and contributors on articles they submit. Everyone is invited to write for the NET. Contact information for Angela will be available on the NATAA.ORG website as well as in the upcoming issue of the NET. She receives email at zadekim@comcast.net.
5. WEB COMMITTEE
Members are encouraged to subscribe to the Professional Listings service at NATAA.ORG (requires payment of a fee and submission of your contact information and a profile).
Photos are requested for the website and can be emailed to webmaster@nataa.net for posting.
Please include captions for the photos you send.
The newly designed website will offer new functions, to be added as time goes
on. We invite and encourage people to join the web committee (several volunteers
offered to help). Interested people are asked to contact Lucy Freedman at lucy1@syntx.com.
Suggestions for the website were made as follows:
Val Chang – suggests that conference presenters write a paragraph or two on the content of their Nashville presentations.
A “bright ideas” section to be a place for posting ideas by members.
Laurie Weiss volunteers to be a writing coach for anyone who wants help preparing their material for the web.
6. FUTURE CONFERENCES
ITAA will be holding a conference in Istanbul, Turkey in 2006.
NATAA has proposed co-sponsoring a conference with ITAA in 2007. Felipe Garcia offered to be the coordinator for people who will volunteer to help organize the conference. A sign-up list was started.
One of the possible sites is the Asilomar Conference Center in Pacific Grove, California, on the Monterey Peninsula an hour and a half south of San Francisco and approximately forty-five minutes from the San Jose airport. It is a beautiful and reasonably priced seaside retreat center. The dates available at Asilomar are the week including July 4 (July 2-8), 2007. A majority of those at the meeting said that they would attend a conference held that week. Jean Clarke noted that this date seemed ‘anti-family’ as many people attend family gatherings at that time. Although Asilomar may only be available for us that week, one week later was said to be a better choice.
We have received assurance that there will not be a European conference competing with those dates. (NOTE ADDED 12/1/05: We have learned that EATA will in fact be having a conference on those dates and our plans will need to be reconsidered. –lf)
Dianne Maki announced that we will be returning to Frenchman’s Cove in Port Antonio, Jamaica January 29-February 5, 2006, for the 11th Annual NATAA Gathering. People are encouraged to send in their registrations. CEU’s will be awarded. Information on the Gathering is posted at WWW.NATAA.ORG.
7. BUDGET REPORT
Vern Masse, Coordinator of Administration and Finance, reported that the budget for 2006 is currently being prepared. The treasury currently has about $58,000 in the bank, with expenses for this conference and other obligations yet to be paid. Anyone wanting detailed budget information is invited to contact Vern.
8. OTHER BUSINESS and ITEMS OF INFORMATION
It was noted that there are 400 ITAA members residing in the US. NATAA has something over 100 members. Everyone was asked to contact ITAA members and colleagues to ask them to join NATAA.
Sam Gaft recalled having sent a payment to a US organization and wondering how come that wasn’t dues to NATAA. It was clarified that his payment was a charter membership contribution to the Americas TA Association, or ATAA, which was formed several years ago and held a conference last year in Calgary.
Ki Roberts asked about how TA identity is presented in articles and trainings, etc. (no record of the ensuing comments).
Dianne Maki indicated that a list of conference attendees would be posted on the Web, based on information collected by Suzanne Wilson at the conference. Jo Lewis requested that people be asked before their information is posted on the web. This will need to be sorted out and action will be taken accordingly.
Margaret Reed asked about Scholarship funds available for TA training, so she could inform her colleagues who would be interested. This is available from ITAA’s Scholarship Loan Fund, of which Elaine Childs-Gowell is the chair. Applicants need to be members of ITAA.
The meeting was hastily adjourned at 5:50 as the hotel needed to set up the room for another function.
Respectfully submitted,
Lucy Freedman
Coordinator of Communications
November 19, 2005
