The following summarizes the oral report made by Roddy Duchesne (as PHANA Coordinator) to the January 20/02 Foundation Board meeting.

DEVELOPMENTS SINCE THE AUGUST 2001 FOUNDATION BOARD MEETING

The PHANA portion of the August 2001 Board meeting focused mainly on PHANA's Helpership Standards Consultation Report.  The main developments since the August meeting relate to PHANA's Launch Proposal.  A draft of this was reviewed by Council in September, resulting in a complete re-thinking and re-writing of the proposal.  The resulting October 30 draft was circulated to the Foundation Board.  The October 30 draft proposed a phased approach, starting with a drastically scaled back minimum version of PHANA.  Following review of the October 30 draft, minor revisions were made resulting in the December 11 draft.  The December 11 draft was distributed for comment to a total of 77 (print version distributed on December 11) + 49 (web version with email cover distributed on December 19 ) = 126 people in total.

The principal finding of the consultation and related work since August is as follows.  The December 11 draft Launch Proposal projected (as agreed in August) that PHANA would use membership revenues to repay PHANA expenses incurred by the Foundation in the period September 1, 2001 to April 30, 2002.  It is clear that membership revenues from the scaled-back minimum version of PHANA to be launched in Spring 2002 will be insufficient to enable PHANA to make any repayments to the Foundation from its 2002 revenues.

A subsidiary finding of the consultation and related work is that the Pathwork Counselor designation requires more work and consultation than can be completed in time for the initial launch of PHANA.  It is therefore proposed to omit Pathwork Counselors from the initial launch, and to restrict the initial launch to US and Canadian Pathwork Helpers and Apprentice Helpers.  It is proposed to name the Register simply the Register of Pathwork Helpers.

There have been a number of changes in Council membership since August 2001.  Kathy Fleisher took over from Jeff Fishel as the Mid-Atlantic representative.  Judith Saly took over from Irene Koenig as the NY representative.  Dottie Titus also joined the Council, representing Minnesota.  Following the resignations of Lonnie Leidlein, Donna Evans-Strauss, and Maraiel Ruth, Council is currently seeking representatives from - respectively - the Great Lakes, Philadelphia, and California Pathwork Regions.

Finally, it is worth reporting that PHANA's Helpership Standards Consultation Report (circulated in August 2001) met with the approval from all interested parties, a considerable achievement given the difficulty of the issues addressed.  The process yielding this good result is notable: senior Pathwork teachers and leaders generously provided the content, while PHANA Council provided the mechanics.  This provides a concrete example of how it is possible to use organizational arrangements in an open and transparent way to foster and strengthen the Pathwork community.  It is good to have this example, since it can help to alleviate some of the fears that have been expressed concerning the setting up of PHANA, namely that PHANA may operate in a top-down, closed-door, and politicized or partisan manner.  The Helpership Standards Consultation Report is up on the PHANA web site.

CURRENT AND IMMEDIATELY UPCOMING COUNCIL TASKS

Council is currently working on the invitation list that it proposes to use for PHANA's initial launch.  It is proposed to issue invitations to all US and Canadian Helpers and Apprentices who are either on current Regional Helper and Apprentice lists or who have at some time been recognized by a Region as a Pathwork Helper - subject to wishes expressed by individual potential recipients of invitations.  If individuals express a wish not to receive an invitation, this will of course be respected.

As soon as Council has prepared its proposed invitation list, it will submit this to the Board for approval and will note any individually requested omissions and/or queries.  Council is also working on the invitation package.  This is currently viewed as being composed of three items: (a) A cover letter; (b) A one or two page document describing PHANA; and (c) An Application Form.  It is envisaged that item (b) will include a link to the PHANA web page, where a fuller description of PHANA will be posted.

WIDER AND LONGER TERM ISSUES

The text above summarizes the factual portion of Council's report to the Board.  Having presented the factual portion, Roddy took the opportunity to identify and speak to two wider and longer term issues: (a) The extent to which it may be possible to bridge between the Pathwork Helper designation and the 50/50 Helper designation used by "The 50/50 Work©"; and (b) The desirability of clarifying the relationship between different Pathwork organizational entities, particularly the Foundation and PHANA.

Pathwork Helper and 50/50 Helper Designations

PHANA Council has always taken the view that it will serve the worldwide Pathwork to try to bridge or at least soften any divide between the mainstream Pathwork and "The 50/50 Work©".  Council has spent considerable time and energy in considering how and to what extent this is possible.  One conclusion of this work is that it does not seem realistic for PHANA to try to work towards making any automatic equation along the lines: 50/50 Helper = Pathwork Helper.  The trainings received by different individuals vary sufficiently to render automatic equation impractical.  Also any such equation implies a degree of coordination of 50/50 Helper and Pathwork Helper trainings that does not appear feasible in the foreseeable future.

However, the position looks more promising if viewed in terms of individual Pathwork Helpers and individual 50/50 Helpers.  There are already Pathwork Helpers who have attended "The 50/50 Work©" training courses and who practice as 50/50 Helpers.  There are also 50/50 Helpers who have completed substantial mainstream Pathwork Helper training.  With adequate consultation and preparation, it is quite possible to envisage setting up arrangements enabling individual 50/50 Helpers to apply to be recognized (if they so wish) as Pathwork Helpers. Council projects working in this direction in a future phase of work, after PHANA's initial launch.  Once this work is completed, there would be a way for people who started as 50/50 Helpers and have (or obtain) adequate mainstream Pathwork Helper training could become recognized (if they so wish) as also Pathwork Helpers.  Similarly, people who started as Pathwork Helpers and have (or obtain) adequate training in "The 50/50 Work©" could become recognized (if they so wish) as also 50/50 Helpers. 

PHANA/Foundation Relationship

Roddy recommended that work be undertaken to clarify the roles of the Foundation and the relationship between the Foundation and PHANA.  This clarification is particularly desirable to assist the Foundation in its fund raising.  People are more willing to contribute funds if they feel they have a clear idea of what their money is going towards.  Also, if the Foundation envisages introducing some form of Foundation fee or levy, it will likely be desirable to limit the number of separate contributions individual Helpers are asked to make.  This could imply a single Foundation/PHANA fee for PHANA members rather than separate Foundation and PHANA fees or contributions.

Helper training issues provide a further reason to clarify the roles of The Pathwork Foundation and other bodies including PHANA and the Dutch Pathwork Foundation.  There is a need for worldwide dialog relating to Helper training requirements, since a problematic situation will develop if the different continents adopt very different Helper training requirements on a permanent basis.  As the only Pathwork entity with a worldwide mandate, the Foundation is the entity that is best positioned to foster this dialog, leading to (hopefully!) a reasonable convergence in Helper training requirements across the world.  Close Foundation and PHANA cooperation will be needed in this area, among others.

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