Monday, 19 October 2009 20:36
Last Updated on Tuesday, 06 July 2010 12:38
Written by Roy Hutton
Mambu Restaurant: September 25, 2009
Some NPI members may not realize that for several years now, current, incoming, and former board chairpersons meet over an annual dinner and brainstorm about the future of NPI. This year, Kacy Silverstein and Carleen Britton gently guided us through a spirited discussion at Mambu.
Groups over dinner is probably always pretty risky: jokes are easy, serious, warm conversation is hard. Kaci and Carleen added just the right touch of grace. John Waide would have as well, but had to leave just as we started to watch his daughter’s school event. Mambu the restaurant is in an old modified Victorian house on Hayes Street, the ideal setting for re-invention and cherishing all things good about the past. The food was great as usual.
The most recent meeting was, like those in past years, lively and provocative. And two themes from the past were again revisted and emphasized: building community by fostering small group formation and joining community by offering our power as an organization to the quality of life issues that touch all Nashvillians, not only our clients.
It seems that every year we speak with passion about developing small groups within our membership. We have had success with this goal, but we are never satisfied. Our ranks are getting ever larger, a success that brings more clearly to mind our need for the small, intimate group that is necessary for building trust, for taking reasonable risks, for getting ourselves into just the right amount of trouble so we can be better psychotherapists and take care of ourselves while doing it.
You may find some of the ideas and suggestions tossed around to be of interest, maybe enough to offer to take the lead, to act. Here are a few.
David McMillan suggested that NPI give its CEU granting sanction to the various small peer supervision, study groups, reading groups, and support groups that currently exist. Jamie Kyne felt that such groups are usually far more valuable for learning and growth than many offerings we might seek from the “CEU industry”. Sounds like a good idea, almost a no-brainer.
What creative uses can we make of our new and impressive website, developed over the past year by John Waide? We must all be grateful to him for those lonely hours at the keyboard, but he assures us he loved every minute of it. Now, how can we use it toward the two themes of community within and community with. The website might maintain a listing of existing groups, provide a forum for inquiry about topics of interest or creation of new groups, and provide an easy way for group members to download and print out certificates of attendance. Once established, the task would be maintenance and updating, perhaps done by groups posting their own updates. We might even generate blogs by group members, linkable from within the NPI website, so those not in the group could get a sense of the experience and the wealth of learning extended. Our own NPidea!!
The chairpersons spoke with varied passion and insights of the ways we need to be good organizational citizens in our city. There were suggestions by Dodge Rhea, Rod Kochtitzky, and others of the importance of more broadly giving back to those outside our organization, including mental health professionals who work in agencies and non-profit organizations. We know individually and collectively a great deal about what makes for positive well-being and the good life, so some thought we should figure out how to give that knowledge away to the city in ways other than those that occur in our therapy rooms.
Jennie Adams wondered aloud if it might be time to resume our brief practice years ago of giving an NPI Humanitarian Award each year to someone in the community, not a mental health professional, who contributes to the well-being of daily life in the city, often unsung for the contribution.
The observation was made that we are maintaining significant cash reserves that call for examination of “what for”. Rod reminded us that one purpose was to be able to bring in some conference or workshop leaders who might be expensive but valuable. Others agreed, but wondered if some of those funds might provide scholarships for NPI membership or conference/workshop costs to be made awarded to our non-profit agency colleagues. There might be many ways to create philanthropic outreach that is in harmony with our mission as an organization.
I left wondering if it might be time for some sort of strategic planning retreat, to examine our mission, assess how life around us has changed over the 25 years of our existence, and reaffirm our commitment, in these days of divisive energy all around us, to unity and diversity.
So each year there is the incubation event. All the former chairs are invited and many are glad to come. We think of our original chairs, Bob Stepbach and Jules Seeman. Bob passed away in January 1995 and though many of our members have only vague acquaintance with him, he is cherished by many of us. And who among us is not honored to share a lunch, a lecture, or merely a hello with Jules Seeman, with us from the first days and guiding us still. It was a good dinner and surely good things will come of it. Every member should consider yourself invited to join our efforts to grow another year forward. We all need inspiration these days.
Roy Hutton
September 2009
