Welcome

Last week I sent an email outlining the timeline of communication with the APA Board, as we had not received a response to our letter after more than two weeks. Shortly after I communicated this to all of you, we received a response from Dr. Wendi Williams. I found the response both disappointing and predictable, in that APA largely dismissed the points I made in my letter. Onward.

Many of you may not know that the House Committee on Education and the Workforce released its report titled “Antisemitism at the American Psychological Association.” Unsurprisingly, Division39 is named in many parts of the report. What is absolutely abhorrent is that the names of some of our members appear unredacted in the report, following the disclosure of APA emails to the committee. It is disgraceful, as is the fact that almost all of the individuals called out by name in the report are women of color. I want to be emphatic and clear that usingDivision39as a cudgel to fomentdivisionis a fascist tactic of divide and conquer. As long as ourDivisionis being used in this way, I will call it out and remain steadfast in doing so. I realize that some of you will take issue with this stance. One thing I have learned in my role as President is that the words, intentions, and actions of leaders are easily distorted and skewed to fit other people's narratives. Perhaps the most dangerous narratives I have heard being propagated are allegations that APA andDivision39may have had advance knowledge of the attacks on October 7 or that we may have received funding from Hamas. Five years ago, these kinds of claims would have made me laugh out loud; today, I see them as highly irresponsible and dangerous rhetorical maneuvers. Please know that there are colleagues among us who are spreading these outrageous claims.

Last week I sawYou Can See Everything, the new documentary about Elizabeth Holmes, co-directed by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim. I highly recommend it. It is brilliant, and its central tenet is that it is remarkably easy to manipulate language and situations in order to plausibly deny harm caused and create opposing views, even when people are exposed to the exact same material. I believe this to be one of the defining issues of our time, and I see precisely this dynamic at work in the ways allegations of antisemitism are sometimes being used around the world, including within both our parent organization and our own.

Two other pieces of information I wanted to share. Tomorrow the APA Apportionment Ballot opens. In case you don't know about the Apportionment Ballot, it determines how many APA Council Representatives are allocated to eachDivisionand State Psychological Association. Each APA member has the opportunity to apportion a maximum of 10 votes to theDivisions and State Psychological Associations of their choice. Every state anddivision, no matter how small, automatically gets one APA Council seat, regardless of the number of apportionment votes.

Thus, by giving all 10 of your votes toDivision39, you can help us gain additional Council seats for psychoanalytic psychologists without compromising the guaranteed representation of any smaller state associations or divisions to which you belong. This year it is more important THAN EVER for us to VOTE TEN for 39. Last year we lost a seat on Council, going from five seats to four. I am optimistic that we can turn the tide and regain our seat, but we can only do so if you vote for us! If for some reason you do not receive a ballot, first check your spam folder and then email our administrator Ruth Helein at div39@namgmt.com. Lastly, I want to highlight the work of the Membership Committee, which has two new co-chairs, Sheera Harrell and Lucia Flores. They write:

We began this year with several goals focused on getting to know our members and understanding the needs of ourmembership, as well as growing theMembershipCommittee. We have begun this work and plan to continue reaching out and engaging ourmembership, starting with a survey of current and former members. We hope the survey will give us a more in-depth understanding ofDivision39members, their perspectives, values, and ways to engage with and improve their experience. We plan to aggregate the results of the survey and use these to close gaps and celebrate areas of connection that emerge. We hope for more engagement and continued growth. Here is a link to the survey. It only takes about ten minutes and will provide invaluable information, so we ask you to please complete it!

Complete theMembershipCommittee survey

Dana Charatan, PsyD

SPPP President