WELCOME NEW MEMBERS OF ICP and our whole family:

When I was first approached to run for President of ICP I thought that there must be some mistake or error of judgement to ask an 80 year old person to become President. I therefore refused to run for that office. In the following year I was asked to put my name forward again. I questioned as to why I should accept the nomination. I was told that being a member of ICP since 1970 and attending every conference except one, and having given numerous papers and having been elected twice as a Director made me an obvious choice.

I think the real reason was that no-one else wanted the job and who can blame them. Less than a year ago ICP was considered by many a lost cause…….a fast sinking ship. Many honestly wondered whether we could ever meet in Washing ton DC and whether to call the whole thing off. That was before the determined and hard working Ann Marie took over the helm. Believe me, there were many that had doubts that ICP would continue. Many were in denial by failing to admit defeat. Yet here we are again! It was not due to a miracle. It was due to determination of a few, who kept their own doubts at bay. We confronted every adversity with a feeling: we must keep going, we must keep trying and that is why we are here and will be at another venue next year. Currently we are planning a symposium for the IUPsyS congress in South Africa, 22-27 July 2012, and ICP’s annual board meeting and conference in Seville, Spain 10-14 September 2012. We also look forward to receiving proposals from Fiji and Singapore for 2013.

There are many unsung heroes who did their part to keep ICP going. Many are unknown and unrecognized but they deserve to be mentioned. I thank every one of them for their time and efforts to keep our ship afloat. On reflection I realise that I owe so much to many people, sadly no longer with us. They kept ICP going in the past through their own personal sacrifices of time and energy and in some cases personal finance. They obviously felt ICP was worth continuing with, and so do I and others who will be striving for this to happen.

What we have to admit, is that we are today a much smaller organisation than we were in the past. ICP started exclusively as a women’s organisation. I am fully aware of this. We therefore owe a great deal to many women, some still active with us, such as Florence Denmark and a few others who have held office, and most recently our energetic, enterprising and optimistic Past President. She, despite the difficulties encountered, kept a courageous and purposeful, energetic, achievement oriented approach to a successful conference in Washington DC. We owe much to women such as our past Secretaries and Presidents and many others. I personally owe much to Kathleen, my long suffering partner who has accepted a large part of the burden I had to face. That made my own load much easier. For my tenure of office to yield further success I will need each and every one of you by my side. Contact me and say those most welcome words “What can I do to help”. Working together we can lift ICP from a declining organisation to one which has a rebirth and reaches greater heights than ever before. This will be shown, I hope, by next year’s conference wherever it may be.

Each one of us must be an Ambassador of ICP, singing its praises because we are unique – a family. We need to encourage others to join our family members. We have a great advantage by being small. ICP has always been a close knit family yet one that is ready to welcome others to their bosom to become a part of ICP. If each one of us attracts just two or three new members, we will once again become the thriving organisation we once were. Ask your colleagues, students and others to join and be active. Please all of you do what you can in this respect to other allied professions to encourage them to join us. Our Membership Committee Chair Julia Rose is awaiting such information from you!

What we also need is stability. We need to retain our elected officers like our Treasurer Gerald Gamache, Donna Goetz our Secretary, Tara  Pir our President Elect, and of course our Past Presidents, who have served their time, but we need them even more now to continue being intimately involved with ICP. I for one will rely heavily on Ann Marie, and others, all of whom know so much about how to keep ICP on its feet and striving for a successful future.

I cannot repeat too often, I need every one of you to volunteer to give what you can in time and energy. I alone cannot keep ICP going and thriving. Please come forward to me now and say “I want to help ICP in any way I can”. Your help will make all the difference in the world to ICP now and in the years to come. Please let us truly work together. Be active. Come to meetings and conferences. Join our inclusive and interdisciplinary family.

Thank you to all those who made the meeting in Washington a successful time. We enjoyed the presentations and the workshops as well as the spontaneous groups singing and birthday cake, banquet at the grand Union Station and each other’s company. Let us now look to the future successes. Send proposal queries about the annual meeting in Seville to Donna Goetz or Julia Rose, and for the Cape Town symposium to Tara Pir or Michael Stevens.

My best wishes to you all,

Ludwig Lowenstein
President of ICP