Dear Colleagues,

It is the first snowfall of winter as I begin to put my thoughts into order.  I love winter, but then I love all the seasons of the year and of life.  I am a bit melancholy as I await the birth of my first grandchild and begin to think  about when I’ll start to cut back my practice, envious of those younger than I who are in the midst of such an exciting and challenging time for all who practice psychotherapy.  The wonderful presentation of Max Meunke, M.D. on hypnosis and acupressure this past Sunday added fuel to my ruminations and desire for more and new learning.  Over the years I have incorporated bits of therapeutic touch, judiciously, into hypnosis, and later, the addition of EMDR, and now … and all of this against a backdrop of psychodynamic processes.  And I trust it will continue to unfold, re-discovering the old in new ways.

With the addition of the ASCH defined 20 hour Beginning and Intermediate Hypnosis Training to GPSCH’s already ambitious schedule, I am re-discovering how much I enjoy teaching, and having the kind of contact with others that teaching provides, both colleagues who are also teaching and course attendees.  I learn from each experience and have every time I’ve been part of such training, going back to 1981 when I started out on this journey, well guided by Dr. Clorinda Margolis, then pre-Ph.D. Linda Shrier, and Marie Stoner.  For those of you who took the Beginning and/or Intermediate Training long ago, I highly recommend a refresher course; it will add depth and new insights into your clinical acumen.

This coming spring GPSCH will offer a full day of training with Dr. Elgan Baker.  I feel certain that those of you who have experienced his expertise in the past will be with us that day.  His understanding and ability to teach

about developmental deficits are unparalleled.  I remember vividly his ability
to join with a patient, noticing something problematic, and inviting:  “ Let’s be curious about that.”  I hope that his program will be very well attended.

My tenure as President is coming to an end, and with it, many long years of being active on the Board of Governors.  I look forward to the spring slate of programs and seeing each of you.

Happy New Year,

Judith S. Berman, President 

MEMBER NEWS

Congratulations to GPSCH President Judith S. Berman, M.A. for being a member of ASCH Standards of Training Committee.

Congratulations to GPSCH Membership Chair Karen Clark-Schock, PsyD, ATR-BC, who presented a pre-conference advanced practice course on Hypno-Art Therapy at the Annual American Art Therapy Association Conference in November, 2007.

Congratulations to GPSCH Education and Training Chairperson Reinhild Draeger-Muenke, Psy.D., L.M.F.T., who begins her term as Moderator for the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis Board of Governors at the ASCH Annual Meeting starting March 7, 2008.

Congratulations to GPSCH Past President V. Krishna Kumar, Ph.D. on being elected 2007 American Psychological Association Fellow representing APA’s Society of Psychological Hypnosis ( Division 30 ).
Additional Congratulations go to Dr. Kumar for being the recipient of the West Chester University 2006-2007 Faculty Merit Award for Scholarship. 

Congratulations and Welcome to our New Members

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Please submit items of interest to Stephen.Glass@crozer.org.

"You've Got Mail"

Meetings are held at Roxborough Memorial Hospital
GPSCH Training and Workshops are at Thomas Jefferson University

FROM THE EDITOR - Stephen G. Glass, ED.M.

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

 Just In Time

Recently, I was driving to attend a workshop at a hospital I do not frequently visit.  Along the way, I was met with unexpected delays caused by road construction and high volume vehicular traffic.  I dislike lateness.  I prefer being a little early to on time.  When attending a meeting, lecture or workshop I generally arrive a bit early to satisfy creature comforts, including taking my usual seating location.  Being thus prepared is consistent with my belief and practice that most things effectively performed in life are based on more than 90% preparation and less than 10% execution.  When I am conducting psychotherapy, teaching or cooking, I take full advantage of mise en place. 

Stuck in traffic, I began thinking of the possibility of being late and its consequences.  I freely associated to lateness and started thinking about a psychotherapy patient of mine, our respective references to her husband following his suicide, her delayed PTSD and her progress in treatment.  The young widow refers to her deceased husband as her late husband.  But, is he, or was he, ever late?  And if her husband were late, does that mean his suicide was an untimely death?  When does a person have one’s death on time?

Years ago I recall hearing a man say with mild disdain, “She would be late for her own funeral.”  I ask, though, would that be so bad?  I suppose not, so long as when she did arrive she looked reasonably well and her hair was in place.   Ah, vanity.  But, what if she did not show up at all?  Then she would not be late.  Alas, an unconfirmed death?  I believe it was Woody Allen who said, “I’m not afraid of dying, I just don’t want to be there when it happens.”

If I’m prepared for my own death, then like a good project manager, I could be there just in time.  I wouldn’t want to be late for my own death or funeral, because then I would be late twice.  And if I were that late, then I couldn’t live with myself.  So I plan not to be late.  I might arrange to be a bit behind schedule for that event.  But, even better, if I were to be a no show, and did not arrive at all, then people could not say, “He passed.”  They could not refer to me in the past.  That is a good thing.  I don’t like living in the past.  They could not even say, “He’s usually on time, but of late, he was late.”  So I suggest that you and I be a no show for our own funeral and keep them guessing.  Who knows what follows.  I’ll drink to that.  I hope to see
you sooner or later.

When I arrived at the workshop the kind woman at the registration desk offered, “He just started.”  Little did she know that I had already started twenty minutes earlier.  Cheers.