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Minutes of the PHANA Council Teleconference
January 17, 2005, 7-9pm ESTPresent:
Roddy Duchesne (Canada); Ann Norfolk (Nittany Valley Pathwork, PA); Jan Rigsby (Australia); Cynthia Schwartzberg (Georgia); Dottie Titus (Minnesota).1. Attunement
2. Chair and secretary for the teleconference.
Cynthia volunteered to chair this meeting.
Jan volunteered to act as secretary and prepared these minutes.3. Member check-in
Suggestion was made that we focus our check-in upon how we personally view and feel about where PHANA is going and what its new vision might be.4. Next meeting will be March 23m 7-9pm EST. Roddy has arranged the teleconference bridge.
5. Minutes from November 23 were approved. Open action items were reviewed:
5.1 Member liability insurance. Dottie has not been able to obtain information as her source has not returned multiple calls. Suggestions were made (and phone numbers exchanged) for alternative sources that might be good options for those helpers who do not already have liability insurance (i.e., they would want something inexpensive and that did not require additional professional credentials).
5.2 Meeting date for NAPAC. Roddy: probability of a Sevenoaks meeting August 12-14 that would include NAPA council, helpers and helpership students. We noted that this felt like an overlap with PHANA interests for a helpership conference, and we expect to plan a PHANA council meeting concurrent with this event.
5.3 PTH. Dottie reported that once all the Portuguese translations are mounted, almost 1/2 of the documents will be in Portuguese. This creates a strong international presence on the PTH site. Also, she will check with Andi to see if the workload exceeds Andi’s available time as some of the documents are still in queue and not mounted.
6. Setting up agenda for this meeting, it was decided that determining the PHANA co-ordinator and the mailing details were secondary (and dependent upon) discussion of PHANA’s mission and vision. This followed up on contributions made during the member check-in and consumed the majority of the meeting time. The notes following are intended to communicate the sense of the discussion, as we agreed that more discussion will be required.
Views expressed during this segment:
6.1 Dottie - want PHANA kept separate from NAPA, especially to provide for PHANA’s role in conflict resolution. Looking for a collective empowerment for Helpers, plus providing services, with emphasis upon connecting. Dottie’s Suggestions:
6.1a Helper conference yearly/biannually, since the biannual IPF conference has not been highly attended by US Helpers when it occurs outside the US, the planned NAPA conference might be an excellent starting point for this idea.
6.1b Helper to Helper dialogue; website forums (her Pathwork Circle uses some free software that PHANA might mount on it’s website with little or no financial or time investment. See www.pathworkmn.org/PWC/ for an example of how this software might be used.) This software can be used for both private and public discussions on specific topics that can be chosen by members without requiring more than token administrative assistance. If we used such a form, there could be a category for discussions around ethics as one example.
6.1c The website prepared by Category4 does not meet our needs and creates twice the work to use it than seems necessary.
6.1d Membership numbers dropping feels like a response to us doing the same things we’ve always done. We need new pathways, new stuff.
6.2 We discussed concerns about fees becoming a major issue, with numerous overlaps. PHANA requests membership fees from Helpers. Centres request membership fees. NAPA requests group joining fees based upon students. Sevenoaks solicited their NAPA fees from individual Helpers this year. Helpers are carrying a large portion of this fee structure. The IPF may wish to impose fees based upon number of Pathworkers, PTP students and/or Helpership students.
6.3 Who is a Helper and what are they accountable for / to the community feels like the regulatory portion. Networking and connecting is the community portion. Could NAPA take over the regulatory aspect of Helpership Certification that PHANA has been handling?
6.4 What were some of the circumstances surrounding the period of intense growth in Pathwork centers? Are we in a mid-life crisis, where the enthusiasm is dampened by conservatism, organizational energy, and caution that has a numbing effect on the original Eros? Pioneer energy doesn’t have time for caution, and this energy feels like an essential element of those Helpers who are creating new chapters and areas.
6.5 We noted that PHANA council has attracted this energy in their membership, as the members who have continued for any period of time have come from chapters rather than affiliates. Perhaps the sense of community is fulfilled for those Helpers who belong to an affiliate, and PHANA members at large may also be attracted by this sense of pioneer energy.
6.6 Roddy - the domestic only / North American aspect of PHANA versus reaching out to a more international membership would change PHANA’s mission and vision significantly (IPHA is the shorthand term we use to describe this idea). We could also become PHA (Pathwork Helpers Association) and bypass the North American or International issue for now.
6.7 Jan suggests that we might have become international without specifically doing so, in offering associate memberships, creating PTH and encouraging submissions in other languages, and especially if we host an international forum site that might attract discussions in other languages just out of the convenience of using a forum site. The policing of such a site is minimal if we vet the members as acknowledged Pathwork Helpers in their regions (rather than opening a public site, such as the old Pathwork Website Guestbook which wound up with junk and advertising).
6.8 Ann suggests an analogy of there being a ‘hole in the middle’ needed for creative growth, a reminder of the Creative Emptiness lectures and the need for mutuality.
6.9 A review of the regulatory items that we have become involved with were: 3 individual membership applications (2 resolved, 1 pending) and issues around the Toronto HDP (taken over by HAG). IPF addressed issues regarding use of the trademark by non-Helpers. Therefore, PHANA has served as a mediator rather than a regulator over the past 5 years, and solutions to most of these issues were found or, in the case of Toronto HDP, a new committee was formed to handle such issues.
6.10 Jan suggested that our membership seems to be divided between those who have Internet access and those who don’t. Rather than try to develop connection with those who don’t, she suggests ‘build it and they will come’ – that by creating opportunity for connection and networking via free and easy Internet access, we might attract more Helpers into using electronic contact methods. We don’t have the means to work with Helpers across the US and worldwide any other way.
7. Phase 2. It was decided that no mailing can go out at this time. Further decisions regarding our mission and vision need to be decided. The members who would be affected are those whose membership start to come up for renewal in February. Jan suggested giving these members a few months ‘free’ membership so that we were clear about what we were asking them to join.
8. Selection of a new co-ordinator.
Roddy indicated that there were 4 aspects of his job: co-ordinator, treasurer, membership secretary, and website management. The job of co-ordinator also included liaison duties with IPF and PWP and with emerging NA leadership groups and committees (such as NAPA and HAG, and even the Leadership Circle). This job description was not planned so much as the end result of Roddy’s recognition of the growth and purpose of PHANA during his 5 years on the council and 4 1/2 years as PHANA co-ordinator. He just did what needed to be done, and as a result the single job of co-ordinator has been an enormous task (well done!)
No one on the council was prepared to take on the full job, and so we broke it down into 4 jobs. Volunteers were:
Dottie - website management and NAPA Liaison
Ann - treasurer and membership secretary
Cynthia - HAG liaison
Jan - Co-ordinator.This makes the co-ordinator more of a permanent chair position, and since the tasks are spread out over 4 council members (Roddy declined to continue in a specific position) we may wish to make changes concerning the honorarium item in the budget. Eliminating this honorarium would significantly change our finances.
This final portion was done with the termination of the bridge line imminent, and so details were agreed to be reviewed by email.
9. Action items:
9.1 Mailing to members whose renewals are imminent.
New co-ordinator (Jan) to review Roddy’s documentation.9.2 PHANA in-person council meeting: plan as concurrent with NAPA meeting in August (Council decision). We may also wish to promote this conference through our membership lists, since they would be included in the current NAPA invitation.
9.3 Liability Insurance: continue to research (Dottie)
9.4 PTH. Dottie to check with Andi about personpower requirements for continuing to get submitted documents mounted on the site.
9.5 Website: Dottie to look at mounting a test version of the www.phpbb.com forum software onto the PHANA website.
9.6 As an addition to the minutes, Roddy suggested that we use only one liaison position with HAG in order to keep the communication channels clear and simple. (Cynthia)
9.7 Roddy forwarded membership lists and relevant information to Jan and Ann on January 12th.
9.8 Jan to forward final copies of the minutes to IPF and NAPA once approved by council. This is the NAPA council list to be cc’ed:
Andi Kiva - AndiK@NAPathwork.org
Joel Walzer - JoelW@NAPathwork.org
Keith Covington - KeithC@NAPathwork.org
Maria Krekeler - MariaK@NAPathwork.org
Roddy Duchesne - RoddyD@NAPathwork.org
Sahra Aschenbach - SahraA@NAPathwork.org10. Standard timeline for minutes distribution
Email first draft to council members within 2 weeks of meeting. Changes or corrections to be forwarded within 2 weeks following. Successive drafts (plus final) sent until minutes are approved.