Depth Psychology Alliance

Visioning Task Force Meeting Minutes

August 14, 2015

Prepared by Bonnie Bright

IN attendance: Gary, Jesse, Donna, Brent, Eva, Bonnie

First, we articulated or reiterated some of the decisions, conclusions or direction we’ve traversed in the past few weeks on the Vision of the Alliance; then we expanded into some more recent and developing ideas:

AUDIENCE

 We seek to attract first and foremost those individuals who have already had some exposure to depth psychology (on a spectrum from either just a little to those who have graduate degrees or are therapists and experts. Some kind of campaign to introduce depth psychology to those who have never been exposed may be a focus in the future.

VEHICLE
 Depth Psychology Alliance is more than just the current web site and we will proceed to make it more visible, pervasive, and accessible by 1) opening the site to make it viewable to the general public (still need to sign up in order to post comments, events, blogposts, etc); 2) starting a Facebook “group” in addition to the current Facebook page as it will encourage and facilitate more interaction/discussion; 3) make the YouTube channel more robust; 4) Encourage local or regional in-person Depth Alliance Meetups, maybe chaired/hosted by key members in certain areas. These kinds of activities and the proliferation of portals to access the Alliance around the web and in key geographical areas will make the organization much more multifaceted, with multiple portals of entry.

IDENTITY
Now that we have ascertained that the organization is more than “just” a discussion forum or web site, we discussed tiers and the proposal that we form a formal “professional society” that would serve paying members who want support for either 1) individual soul work (learning opportunities, experiential encounters, connections) or 2) building or expanding depth psychological work in the world (training, collaboration, or discounted vocational services: (Examples might include such offerings as discounted web design, turnkey marketing and promotional campaigns, personal health insurance, training on how to use social media, discounted industry publications such as Jung Journal, etc.). We discussed how the so-called Depth Alliance professional organization would exist in relation to our expanding understanding of our current identity and mission which still aims to make depth psychology more accessible to more people; we debated how to formally refer to or term such a professional organization (some of us felt existing psychology “professional organizations” do not have good credibility or produce negative images of a “pro organization” (i.e., APA or CAMFT). We discussed whether “society” was a better word and how an Alliance pro org or society might be different (or differentiate itself) from existing pro orgs. We also questioned why people would join and pay for a professional organization and it was proposed that we might choose to focus on being an “incubator” for both individuals wanting to do personal work and those wanting to do depth psychology work as a vocation, including the many graduates with advanced degrees that don’t know what to do with their degrees. We also acknowledged that we need to stay focused on the vision, mission, and desire to offer soul and soulful experiences, connections, etc. and not lose sight of our intention to make this more accessible to everyone (i.e. not become too exclusive). Jesse reminded us that we must keep the Vision, Mission, and Values at the center of whatever structures, processes, and tiers we put in place.

We identified three tiers that would exist moving forward: 1) open access to the public via Internet and social media, including all the archived and ongoing content on the current site including events, blogs, discussion forum, groups, video archives, etc.; 2) registrants who want to post on the Ning site and/or who would sign up to be on our mailing list to receive additional notices and free content; and 3) paying individuals who want additional depth or support for personal growth or for offering depth psychology services. It is not clear at this time whether regional groups would occupy their own tier, or if we might classify them as part of tier 2) registrants who receive notices for local gatherings because they are on our mailing list.

CONTENT / INFLUENCE / OUTREACH

We reiterated our general desire to make sure what we define and proliferate depth psychology well beyond just the work of C.G. Jung, and to be sure to bring the work of other pioneers as well as contemporary thinkers into our circle of influence (i.e. more diversity of content in order to further differentiate us from Jungian societies).

MISCELLANEOUS AND NEXT STEPS

We discussed briefly the pros and cons of seeking non-profit status, the pros including tax benefits, discounts for services the Alliance uses and needs, potential for non-profit employees to have student loans forgiven, ability to get grant money, public perception of an org as a non-profit. We also acknowledged cautions on how much bureaucracy, policy, and politics can be involved in non-profit organizations and resolved there should be a task force focused on the process.

We also discussed if/how offering CEUS might bring more value to the organization and how quickly this could be done, while acknowledging this falls in the domain of the Education Committee.

We touched on the need to let members know right away that the Alliance will be opening to the public for viewing and give them a timeline (September or October 1 at latest). It was agreed we (Bonnie) can simply send a message to them now and give them time to remove anything they don’t want to make public.

We acknowledged the desire to create a new home page that is simplified and easier to use which would link to various parts of the existing community website (currently hosted on Ning). Bonnie will work with a contractor to put something together, even if it is transitional and we want to change it again in the near future. Members of the Vision Task Force were asked to look for existing web sites and make suggestions for features that we might be able to emulate.

On revisiting our current Vision statement, these findings and developments appear to support it well:

“Our vision is to make Depth Psychology universally accessible and to foster meaningful insight into the human psyche and the collective soul. Integral to this vision is the spirit of service. We aspire to serve as a source of warmth, replenishment, and interconnectivity in the ongoing process of tending to soul.”

With these developments and clarifications, it is recommended that the Vision Task Force has completed its work and can be dissolved, and a new task force be convened for visioning and creating the professional society and another for exploring the non-profit route, and perhaps a subcommittee (under Outreach?) for supporting or further developing a social media strategy.

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