MCPP Board of Directors Meeting Minutes January 2021

1/17/21  10:00 a.m.

PRESENT: Peter Wood, David Freiband, Sonya Freiband, Mary Nowak, Miriam Goldstein, rt Brickman, Linda Young, Lisa Larson, Shil Sengupta, Karen Weber, Eve Avrin, Liam Faulkner, Jerry Brandell

Minutes of previous meeting were corrected and approved

President:

Peter Wood raised the question as to whether or not we need to submit the incoming slate of officers to the membership for formal election, as opposed to simply appointing them, given that there are no other candidates who have come forward for any position.  Arthur Brickman suggested offering the names to the membership as approved by acclimation, if there are no objections.  Jerry Brandell suggested following the usual procedure of submitting the names for election.  The Board decided to follow Brandell’s recommendation.  Sonya Freiband indicated that she would contact Marybeth Atwell to send out the ballots to the membership.

Peter Wood indicated the importance of hiring an administrative assistant/secretary to handle a variety of tasks, including taking minutes at the meetings, working on the website, and managing other administrative details.  Shil Sengupta suggested further defining the nature of the job description, and questioned whether it is an appropriate position for one individual.  David Freiband read a note from Reena Liberman describing the nature of her work on the website, and what an incoming person might be expected to do.  He and Peter Wood also suggested that the role consists of two positions: one to do administrative work, coordinate membership, and take minutes, and another to manage the website, the two working in regular consultation.  Sonya Freiband indicated the importance in particular of having the membership chair working closely with the webmaster; she also suggested the possibility that one person could fulfill all these functions.  David Freiband indicated that CCP has the name of someone in North Carolina with whom they work the manage the website, and whom they recommend highly; he said he would get further contact information.  There was a discussion about the difficulty of finding someone to fill this position—or these positions--and various suggestions were offered.

Treasurer

Eve Avrin provided a financial report, indicating that the organization is in good shape financially.  She noted that, although she has indicated she is willing to continue in the position for another year, she still is hoping to find someone else to take over at that time, if not sooner.  She also noted that she has a large cache of back financial records that need to be gone through and, where appropriate, disposed of.  She noted that she needs assistance in completing this task, that she has someone in mind who could help, but that she would need to pay this person and asked for MCPP to pay that cost.  David Freiband suggested she submit a request for approval of this disbursement, indicating the hourly rate and the number of hours estimated to complete the process.

A discussion of investment of MCPP assets was deferred until the next meeting.

Membership

Lisa Larson reported that as of last night there are 50 paid members of the organization, either joined or renewed.  She indicated that there have been problems clarifying and communicating which people have paid-memberships; she noted that in the past people have been notified automatically when they had not renewed their memberships, and this practice seems to have been interrupted.  Problems have been reported with people signing up for the Solms conference at the membership rate, without in fact having paid their membership fees.  She discussed posting a letter to encourage renewals, particularly given that there is a new slate of officers for the organization.  This suggestion was supported by the Board.

A number of people reported problems they had been encountering with the website, including renewing their memberships or being listed as active once they had done so.

Training

Sonya Freiband reported that there are 6 people currently in class. She emphasized that we still have no Education Chair in place to oversee and coordinate any ongoing education and training program going forward, as of next December.  For that reason, she questioned the advisability of scheduling further classes until the position is filled.  Jerry Brandell raised the possibility of deferring training for a year, during which time MCPP could restructure and regenerate an analytic training and certification program.  The Board discussed establishing an ad hoc committee to explore this idea.  Linda Young supported the idea of study groups in a decentralized, more informal platform, either in place of or in addition to a more structured and formalized analytic training program. 

Programs

Art  Brickman reported that as of Friday there were 18 people registered for the upcoming Solms conference.  He noted that Miriam Goldstein has submitted the clinical material she will present; Mark Solms has reviewed it and has indicated it is “perfect” for the symposium.  Liam Faulkner indicated that another eblast is scheduled to go out tomorrow.  Liam Faulkner asked if it would be possible to provide CE’s for Licensed Counselors; David Freiband stated that someone would have to step forward to make the arrangements with the appropriate certifying body in order for MCPP to award CE’s in other disciplines. 

a password, but said that at this time it is not feasible to arrange the programming.  He discussed MCPP’s co-sponsorship of the Jamieson Webster conference last Friday evening.  He reported that he is organizing programs for next year, and has a number of names at this time. 

Linda Young raised the possibility of having future conferences presenting virtually as opposed to in-person.  The Board agreed to consider this option going forward, as circumstances permit.

Next Meeting

Peter Wood indicated that the next meeting would be a limited, one-hour meeting, the morning of Feb. 28, with a specific agenda.

Minutes respectfully submitted by Arthur Brickman