AAPC Northwest Newsletter Archive

In this Edition

Message From Marcia, Your NW Regional President

I tend to write letters like I think, and since this is a news letter, I will free associate a bit… I do have a theme, though. It is relationship. I believe that at the heart of the success of the goals for AAPC to recruit, revitalize and retain membership is tending relationships. My ramblings are about different ways to tend relationship.

I hope those of you who attended the fall meeting at Seattle University were as inspired by Karen Kissel Wegela’s presentation as I was. I am now captivated by two related books on this Buddhist approach that were recommended to me by a client and a family member. Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life with the Heart of a Buddha by Tara Brach, and Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn. I’ll write a review of them for a future newsletter. If you read a book that particularly speaks to you and you’d like to write a brief review for your colleagues, send it to Andrew Whitmont, our newsletter editor, at yakpsyche@yahoo.org . He’ll include it in the next newsletter.

The newsletter is just one way our region tries to maintain connection with members between meetings. Meeting only once a year makes it all the more important for us to maintain our connections by communicating electronically and in other ways. For those of you who were unable to attend the fall meeting, we missed you, and hope to see you next fall in Portland. It was announced at the meeting that the NW region now has its own website. It’s outstanding. Check it out at www.aapcNWregion.org . The website is the work of regional members, John Carr who provided content and facilitated the process, and Eddy Crouch with WebValence website design and hosting. The website was funded with $1,000 from the Association Action Council from return on investment monies which are made available to the regions on an annual basis.

The heart and soul of the craft of pastoral counseling is developing healing relationships with our clients. The heart of our professional organization, AAPC, is the professional and personal relationships we have developed with one another. What I am so excited about with Anthony Terndrup’s workshop planning is how he has used technology to reach out to develop more relationships with cohort organizations. When we reach them with information about our workshops, they are attracted not only to the theoretical perspective that is being presented, but in our process of theological reflection and psycho-spiritual integration. And of course, if they venture into one of our meetings, they like us because we’re such welcoming, interesting folk. Thank you, Anthony, for helping us to build relationships with members of other organizations. You took some bold steps in the venue and format of our meetings, which, I think, have revitalized our gatherings.

One last thought: After the first of the year, you will receive the 2008 ballot for officers for the Association. Our own, Keith Hackett, (for new members, Keith served 8 years as vice chair and chair of the NW region from 1996-2004) is on the ballot for vice president (which has a two year term, followed by serving two years as president). The other candidate is Doug Thorpe, who is the current chair of the Eastern region. For Keith to have any chance of winning that position, we all need to vote. When you receive your ballot, please don’t put it down. Fill out the ballot right away and drop it in the mail. It is valuable for us to have regional representation at the Association level to bring our particular northwest perspective to issues that are being addressed.

I’d like to leave you with two poems from Radical Acceptance. Blessings,

Last night as I was sleeping,
I dreamt—marvelous error!—
that I had a beehive
here inside my heart.
And the golden bees
were making white combs
and sweet honey
from my old failures.

Antonio Machado,
translated by Robert Bly

Enough. These few words are enough.
If not these words, this breath.
If not this breath, this sitting here.

This opening to the life
we have refused
again and again
until now.

Until now.

David Whyte

Message from Your National President

Several issues that I would like to call to your attention include the following.

First, that AAPC is growing. Of course, it could be growing faster still.

a. After some decline and some growth, we are now at 2700 members.
b. Most of our new members are students (over 90 came on in 2006-2007)
c. Most of our losses were non-dues paying members (over 130 left in 2006-2007). This is something that regions have direct influence over.
d. We have made a net gain of 17 members in 2006-2007. Because the majority of them were students, our challenge is to incorporate them into the life of the Association.
e. We are seeing increasing interest in our work on the part of non-theologically trained individuals.

2. There are several initiatives to be aware of that will benefit you in your practice and your place in your community. They are detailed on the following websites:

i. aapc.org, lists training available for those who want to work better to train others to work on addictions issues.
ii. stateart.com, is for those who are interested in participating in and promoting the “Men Get Depression” initiative.
iii. sidran.com is for those who are interested in a training curriculum for faith leaders supporting trauma survivors, called “Risking Connection: A Training Curriculum for Faith Leaders Supporting Trauma Survivors.”
iv. pathways2promise.org and mentalhealthamerica.net give examples of alliances being forged with other organizations to get information out to congregations and clergy.
v. Doug continues his work allying himself with the medical community to educate them about the integration of pastoral counseling with other treatment for physical illness.
vi. The Spiritual Care Collaborative continues their work to establish common standards for pastoral care and counseling training, supervision and ethics. A joint conference with other member groups will take place in Orlando, Florida on February 1-4, 2009.

3. Financially, the recent audit shows that our income as an association exceeded our expenses by $12,000. This is good news.

a. 2100 of our 2700 members have paid their dues, 600 have not—about the same proportion as last year.
b. Cash-in-hand exceeds our anticipated expenses. This means we are paying today’s bills with today’s membership dues, not next year’s. This is good news.
c. The Board regularly reviews our financial position at its monthly conference call meetings.
d. Requests for monies over and above regional budgets should be submitted to the Association office by November 15, 2007. The Stewards of the Mission Task Force will make recommendations for allotments to the Action Council at the end of January.
e. Remember that regional budgets are to reflect anticipated expenses and income for the next two years.

4. Finally, we are happy to remind you that the next Annual Meeting is scheduled for March 27-29 in Norfolk, VA. We look forward to seeing you there!

Message From Your Local Presidential Candidate

Keith Hackett from our region is running for AAPC president. His election will be the first time the AAPC will have been led by a member from our NW region.

Support Keith in this effort, not only for his identity as a member and past president of our region, but principally because of the excellent leadership we know he will provide. Keith will bring his unique and effective approach to the post while making the national organization a better and more efficient group, capable of reflecting the viewpoints of both sides of the continent.

Fall Meeting Summary
by Newsletter Editor
Andrew Whitmont

Contemplative Psychotherapy: A Buddhist Approach

Seattle University, Seattle, Washington
September 28-29, 2007

After the business meeting we had a moving worship service in which we visualized ourselves being showered by loving kindness. This was followed by dinner and a very interesting case presentation by a student at Seattle University. The case was interpreted through the lens of conventional pastoral counseling the Buddhist perspective, as represented by Karen Kissel Wegela, PhD, the guest presenter for the conference. Group members added their valuable insights, interpretation and theoretical synthesis of the material.

The next day Dr. Wegala, a faculty member at the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado guided us through a description of the Institute, its history, philosophy and program. She shared insights into Buddhist-based therapy practices, and walked us through experiential awareness-building exercises.

A brief summary of the teachings remembers that our central nature is spacious, clear and compassionate, called “Brilliant Sanity”. “Samsara” is the illusion of separateness as a solid, dense, ego through which confusion and suffering arise. The Institute teaches the use of skillful means, training the mind to stop clinging to the belief in a separate self, to concentrate without grasping or resisting and to cultivate “Maitree”, the process of being open to whatever arises, knowing that there is no real anything, only the experience of dependent co-arising in the interaction between what seems to be self and seems to be other. This style of awareness is called “Mindfulness”. Therapy happens by mindfully staying present in the relationship with the self and with the other, engaging in emotional energy exchange while seeking to experience the wisdom of the emotions that arise. This contrasts with “mindlessness”, a non-therapeutic absorption in the separate-seeming ego “self”, that desynchronizes body and mind, cuts off curiosity and compassion, and renders us irritable in response to interruption.

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