Hi all,
I've spent some time reviewing all the resources provided by James, Ed, and Esther as well as everyone else's insightful comments. I'm anxious to move on this so we can follow up with the other critical decisions that are dependent on it.
In a nutshell, here's what our mission statement should reflect:
Who’s our audience?
What are our end goals for that audience?
What services are we going to provide to achieve those goals?
OR said another way in another order….
• What do we do?
• How do we do it?
• For whom do we do it?
Just so you know, the mission statement is different from the vision, description, or tagline because it's more about "doing" it seems. Perhaps there's still some value in the description or tagline I've been using from the inception (listed on the top left of the home page and reads):
"Depth Psychology Alliance: A global community for discussing Jungian and Depth Psychology, meeting likeminded others, & engaging in soul"
At this point, I'm going to post some words and phrases in another post below (so this one isn't any longer) I'd like to ask you all to add any terms or phrases that seem to be missing.
Then, we'll close that phase in a couple of days and I'll ask you to each try Esther's idea of coming up with a handful of statements. These don't have to be well-crafted---just include the elements YOU WOULD LIKE (even if it's not what you perceive the Alliance is currently offering or doing). When we have those, we'll start playing with them. What do you think?
Replies
Thanks to everyone who managed to contribute ideas for the mission statement. I had hoped to aggregate them into a document we could all assess by but got stuck on some time-sensitive deadlines like the newsletter, posting and promoting upcoming events, and putting out fires on the e-zine. I have something urgently due for my dissertation right now but hope to get back on track Monday or Tuesday so we still have time to achieve some assessment before the board meeting Sunday.
Or--if anyone has some time and creative organizational skills and would like to give it a shot, please don't hesitate. I'm flying by the seat of my pants here... :)
Sorry for being out of touch. Hope you're all well.
Dear Bonnie and all,
Here is my attempt to respond to Bonnie's request.
And, happy Valentine's Day!
Best,
James
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Participants
Anyone interested in the value of doing inner work
Benefits
Integrate head and heart
Connect with and form a lasting relationship with the higher Self
Content
Safe space
Sacred space
Educational programs on:
Jung
Depth Psychology
Practical techniques of inner work
Open dialogues on cultural events
Action Verbs
Empower
Encourage
Inspire
Additional Action Phrases to Consider
(can’t think of any)
First draft mission statements
Our mission is to empower, encourage, and inspire individuals to do their own inner work, and to empower, encourage, and inspire them to share the fruits of that work with the outer world.
Or:
Our mission is to empower, encourage, and inspire individuals to do their own soulwork, and to empower, encourage, and inspire them to share the fruits of that work with the outer world.
Hello shipmates!
First I just want to honor the humility I feel before the work Bonnie has done to build this community and the volume of people that have stepped into this circle. 2,100 people! that have a place in their life for depth psychology and turn to this umbrella, river, watering hole (choose your image) for conversation, nourishment, content, depth, a shoulder to rub up against, an ear, another voice. The actual image here for me, was of the warm and sunny cement steps I sat on after a good, but tiring and cold weather jog. The warmth and pause afterward was delicious! Because I had been running with my thoughts regarding this mission, my pause at the conclusion of today’s exercise struck me as the place of the Alliance. Strange, I know. But, a place of warmth, rest, replenishment, a pause after the rigors and sometimes challenging environments in which we practice tending psyche with others and the world. Of course I can see that we want the challenges and training to show up in the Alliance also, but perhaps we do want the Alliance to be a home for the common ground we share in depth work (whether purely personal or professional), a home and shelter from some of the rigors of the world outside depth language and practice. I hope this doesn't sound like I am putting the uninitiated into too much shadow. But just trying to stick with and honor the image that arose for me today.
Also today and ever since beginning to jiggle or juggle this idea of our mission, the following quote of Jung’s has resonated for me (I do not unfortunately know it’s source):
Our heart glows, and secret unrest gnaws at the root of our being. Dealing with the unconscious has become a question of life for us.
Of course the collective “us” is no small part of what resonates. Interesting to note the gnawing “unrest” after my image of rest above. That interplay, paradox, and tension comes up often in my reflections on my personal midlife step into this work. Perhaps also, the conversational home for this quotation is not in our mission, but elsewhere.
For now these are my initial, albeit unstructured, reflections, as seeded by those others that have already contributed their pieces of the puzzle. I hope that still more of you, when the time allows, will feel free to cast your lot into the net. I think the more we freely work the material before our meeting at the end of the month, the more authentic and meaningful our final construction will be. And anything that feels too outside the box of our discussion can be recognized as the necessary rumbling and tumbling of a newly formed community inside of a larger amorphous community building a sense of understanding and relationship that will better serve the journey ahead.
Yours in these organizational depths,
Mark
The Depth Psychology Alliance is a temenos for the connection of like-minded individuals as well as the preservation and continuance of Depth Psychology in its many forms...
The Depth Psychology Alliance is a global community of those sharing a common interest in the preservation and continuance of depth psychological scholarship, clinical practice and interface with the humanities...
The Depth Psychology Alliance represents a global community of practitioners and lay persons dedicated to cultivating soul in the world...
The Depth Psychology Alliance serves as the umbrella organization for practitioners and lay persons alike who share a common interest in cultivating psyche in the world...
These are a collection of relevant words and phrases that occurred to me--please reply to this and add your own words, thoughts or phrases to any category. I'm sure there are many I haven't thought of.
If you can weigh in by Friday at noon PT (I know it's short), we'll close this phase and move to creating the sentences using whatever terms we've collected here). If the timeframe is too short for your schedule, don't worry. We should have enough words and ideas to work with by then and you can jump in on the full sentences phase... :) (I'm also open to other ideas if anyone doesn't like this process or has insight on how to improve it...)
Starter Phrases
Depth Psychology exists to…
Depth Psychology Alliance’s mission is to…
Depth Psychology Alliance aims to…
Who is our target participant? Who do we want to appeal to?
Depth psychology community
All those interested in depth psychology
General public
What results/benefits/end goals do we want for them?
Learn
Connect
Participate
Discuss
Share
Explore
Grow in consciousness
Make meaning
Find healing
Deepen relationships
Discover a sense of purpose
What is the content members/participants will encounter on the Alliance
Ideas/Theories of leading thinkers in Depth Psychology
Ideas of C.G. Jung
Concepts of Depth Psychology
A depth psychological understanding of current or historical events
What action verbs describe what we/the Alliance does (or wants to do)
Serve the depth psychology community
Educate
Provide…
Offer…
Disseminate…
Engage
Bring together…
Increase…
Build…
Develop…
Imporove…
Additional “action” phrases to consider
Further/Increase understanding and insight
Develop educational programs
Develop networking opportunities
Offer teleseminar or webinar events
Host online study groups
Hold “real world” events
Connect individuals
Build community
Enable (individuals) to pursue inner growth
Get depth psychology out into the world
Help make “depth psychology” a household word (term)
I like the Jung quote that Mark offered "Our heart glows, and secret unrest gnaws at the root of our being. Dealing with the unconscious has become a question of life for us." I also like Brent's wording on this one. "The Depth Psychology Alliance represents a global community of practitioners and lay persons dedicated to cultivating soul in the world..."
I offer "Depth Psychology Alliance’s mission is to provide connections and avenues of exploration of the many facets of Depth Psychology in our efforts to bring deeper meaning, understanding, and insight into the human psyche and the collective soul of the world."
I like this better "The Depth Psychology Alliance provides a forum where the theories of depth psychologies of the past and present can give understanding and insight into the current human conditions in order that we can fully engage the greater collective soul work of the world."
Hope this helps. I am off to Pantheacon in San Jose through the 19th and I am not taking any technological connections with me!
Jesse