AFTA President's Column 2000-2001: Integration and Generativity

Past midway into my term as president, we can take stock and reflect on what has happened at AFTA during the past year.

I believe we can be very proud of our ability as an organization to be in a both/and, integrative phase. After several years of dedicated commitment to diversity, it is no longer merely a desirable concept for AFTA. Diversity has become a reality at many levels: the board and committee representation, the annual meeting structure and the contents of our conversations everywhere. While these vital issues require continuous awareness in our thinking and actions, we are also refocusing our efforts to stay abreast of the major issues facing our field, our profession and the families we see. Many efforts are underway to boost our research components and have clinical applications consistently attended to. The need to include all these goals simultaneously never ceases for it is at the core of what AFTA's complexity is about.

The 2000 Annual Meeting in San Diego, under the careful, skillful leadership of Hinda Winawer, was an exquisite representation of these integrative, inclusive goals in a context of stimulating presentations from a variety of orientations. A spirit of collaboration, respect for differences and "connectivity" reigned. In our efforts to reach outside of AFTA and increase our interorganizational representation, we invited the presidents of all the major national organizations concerned with families and family therapy to the Annual Meeting. A large number responded positively and promised to make it a permanent reciprocal feature. This outreach effort will continue in the 2001 meeting by inviting the presidents of the major family therapy associations in the Americas.

This worthwhile and seemingly monumental project, the 2001 "Meeting of the Americas," the vision of my predecessor, Don Bloch, is blooming into a richly textured reality shaped by the loving hands of Lois Braverman. We can think of this meeting as a new chapter in the consideration of diversity and a laboratory in which to collect data about new integrations, formats, and panamerican dreams. For the first time and on an experimental basis, our AFTA "family" will open the doors to AFTA eligible non-members both from the U.S. and from the Americas. Thus, we hope to learn from excellent work going on in other countries along with productive interchange, greater visibility and new membership possibilities for AFTA.

AFTA has always been mindful of maintaining its "experienced" level conversation. Foundational decisions to limit and select membership have helped create a professional and social network that nourishes us intellectually and supports us personally. But accomplishing these goals while supporting the growth of the next generation — the future theoreticians, researchers and trainers of the field — has always been a challenge. To our well-established goals of inquiry, participation, diversity, inclusivity and connectivity we must add generativity. Erik Erikson defined this stage as "the interest in establishing and guiding the next generation." He predicted that a lack of generativity would result in stagnation, self-absorption, boredom and a lack of psychological growth.

As a way of learning more about what and how AFTA can do to offer guidance to the next generation, and encourage their participation, the Board has supported an exciting initiative to be tried at the Miami meeting. Each AFTA member will be able to recommend an outstanding student who holds promise to become one of the future leaders of the field. Please take advantage of this unique opportunity and send to Central Office the names of the students you would like to recommend for an invitation to attend the 2001 Meeting. Because of the budgetary constraints, we regret that we are unable to offer a reduction of the registration fee of this meeting for the invited students.

Nurturing of future generations will not succeed unless the older generation is properly recognized. The results of a very interesting recent survey AFTA conducted on retirement revealed a variety of needs shared by a fairly large number of AFTA members who will be facing retirement in the next decade. A subcommittee of the board will study the merits of their requests and their availability for forging linkages with the younger generation. A videotape project honoring the contributions of founders of AFTA is already underway.

Undoubtedly, we should focus on membership. To paraphrase a recent editorial of a journal that asks if anybody reads journals anymore, I am tempted to ask: Does anybody join organizations anymore? Given that there are so many organizations to join these days, why should people continue to join AFTA today? Motivations are ubiquitous. Some will join because AFTA is an as yet unparalleled place to hear the very best work in family therapy. Some will be enriched by AFTA as the one and only truly interdisciplinary family therapy organization. Some will be attracted to AFTA's authentic caring to stay relevant to the contemporary challenges families face. Some will join because of AFTA's keen involvement with social justice for families and organizations. Many will enjoy the possibility of being part of the only annual meeting where two-thirds of the attendees get to present their latest work to a distinguished group of colleagues and obtain meaningful feedback. Others will enjoy a place where learning from "experts"can be translated to personal experience and dialogue. Still many others will continue to come for the deeply secure base that evolves from the repetition of ritual customs.

 Your willingness to continue to join us is what keeps us going. Your willingness to tell your friends of the benefits of joining AFTA is what we need to keep this valuable communication network alive and vital. If you are part of the large number of our supportive members who do not come to meetings, venture out to Miami and bring your non-AFTA friends. You will help us make this unique encounter even more special.

The Board is intensely studying how to better serve the needs of members, as well as how to increase membership, and welcomes your suggestions at any time.

I am thankful to be working for AFTA with the support of a most caring and competent Central Office, an outstanding Executive Committee that takes its work very seriously, Board members and Committee Chairs full of robust enthusiasm for projects (see Newsletter columns). Creative endeavors maintain AFTA's internal vitality, but also apply our critical thinking and training to serve populations in need. This is what ultimately makes all of our work really worthwhile.

Celia Jaes Falicov, Ph.D.