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Dear Members and Adherents of the INPM, Greetings from Toronto!
Many things have happened since our last Meaning Conference in the end of July 2008. In many ways, the conference was a real success. But I also need to report to you the bad news as well.
First, the 2008 Meaning Conference incurred a deficit of more then $37, 000, primarily because of cost of hotel meals was way over budget. It has taken a lot of hard work and sacrifice to pay off the deficit.
Second, we had a very unfortunate Board meeting on the last day of the Conference. Something totally unexpected happened during the meeting. I don’t want to get into the details at this point. The upshot of this was that Bill Evans resigned as President of INPM after the Board meeting.
These traumatic events clearly expose INPM’s desperate need for restructuring. I am appealing to you to take ownership and help with the rebuilding process. INPM is a membership organization. We need your participation to create a fully functioning Board and to elect a committed and responsible President. We are open to all creative ideas to make INPM an effective and influential non-profit organization. Please write me about your suggestions and nominations.
Personally, It took a few months before I recovered from the above one-two punch, which came at the heel of a long and intense struggle with cancer, pain and the stress of organizing the conference. This sequence of events partially accounts for the long silence from me.
However, I don’t go down with any ship, as my friend Stephanie Pick used to say. Early this year, I decided to pick up the pieces and tried to breathe new life into a broken organization. I have taken the following initiatives as part of the recovery plan.
(1) We have adopted the open-sourced technology called Open Journal System for our International Journal of Existential Psychology and Psychotherapy (IJEPP). The new system allows for convenient peer-review, a simple interface for authors to upload their submissions, and a very intuitive interface for searching and reading our journal. Chris Schryer (http://www.ChrisSchryerDesigns.com), our webmaster, has done a great job supporting and maintaining the journal through this transition. To access the issues already published, please check out http://journal.Existentialpsychology.org.
My vision is to make IJEPP the premier publication of meaning-centered research and applications. We can make this journal very influential in areas related to our mission. We need members on the editorial board. We also need ad hoc reviewers and paper submissions. If you are interested in helping out, please contact me.
(2) We currently are in the process of editing and publishing the proceedings of Meaning Conference 2006 entitled Addiction, Meaning and Spirituality. The previous publication of Conference Proceedings is entitled The Positive Psychology of Meaning and Spirituality; this book is available for order through our online store, at http://www.ExistentialPsychology.org. The book regularly sells for $24.95, but is free to members; you need only pay shipping and handling ($12).
(3) We will also resume publication of our Positive Living Newsletter using the services of iContact, which will allow us to reach thousands of subscribers. You will soon receive it in your e-mail box.
(4) We are now revamping www.meaning.ca to make it more interactive and more aligned with the new technology of the web. This website will primarily serve as a rich resource for the general public on all matters related to the meaning of life and meaning-oriented therapy. At the same time, we have adopted a new data management system (Joomla!) for www.existentialpsychololgy.org which will support the professional activities of International Society of Existential Psychology and Psychotherapy, the professional arm of INPM.
(5) We are thinking of publishing a series of pocket size “self-help” type of books to spread the positive revolution of meaning and spirituality.
(6) We have hired an accountant to look after the INPM accounts. She is currently preparing a financial statement for the last fiscal year for both members and the Canadian Government.
You realize that all the above activities involve costs. We cannot carry on much longer without membership support. So please renew your membership online by clicking:
http://www.meaning.ca/Membership.htm
Please show your support by becoming a life-time membership ($1,000) or make a one-time donation to enable us to carry out the above projects.
Looking into the future, we need to start planning for Meaning Conference 2010 soon. Most likely, it will take place in Vancouver. We count on your participation and support.
In an age of existential crisis, there is so much we can do to enhance the well-being of humanity and contribute to the professional development of researchers and mental health practitioners. There is a great potential for us to meet the ever expanding void for meaning. With our focus on the vital role of meaning and spirituality, we will continue to make important contributions in many areas, such as addiction treatment and recovery, grief counselling, meaning oriented therapy, positive psychology, etc.
As a membership organization, we have to make changes in order to meet the new challenges. I look forward to working with you to realize our vision.
Paul T. P. Wong, Ph.D.
Founding President, INPM.
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