Esteemed colleagues and ISTFP members,
My name is Mathieu Norton-Poulin and together with Veronica Steiner I have the pleasure to chair the ISTFP Public Relations and Communication Committee. It is with great enthusiasm that I write today in the first newsletter of our society. I am proud to belong to a group of exceptional professionals who dedicate their lives to ease the suffering of people burdened by personality disorders. I hope that the actions of our committee will help support us all towards that goal.
Before sharing our mission and objectives, I would like to tell you the story of our team. But don’t worry, I will keep it short!
At the beginning we were just six strangers, all we knew about each other was that Dr. Frank Yeomans and Dr. Luis Valenciano thought we’d be interested in working together.
Mathieu Norton-Poulin
Co-Chair, Canada
Veronica Steiner
Co-Chair, Chili
Diana Tellez
Member, Mexico
Silvia Bernardi
Member, USA
Glauco Valdivieso
Member, Peru
Theophilus Kok
Member, China
As you can see, since the very start, we represented the richness of our society. Harvesting the strengths and benefits of real diversity took time and intention. We had to nurture small and continuous interactions between each other on every possible media. We stayed neutral, curious, open and reflective to each other, following TFP values. With each interaction our differences became known, while at the same time, our group identity grew and started to bind us. We now rely on each other with knowledge and reciprocal appreciation, hoping to inspire our experience of enrichment in diversity in all members of the ISTFP.
The Public Relations and Communication Committee’s overarching mission is strengthening the ISTFP community’s identity by opening new communications channels between ISTFP and local TFP groups. The root of our mission steams from our personal experience as a group.
With this in mind, here are the actions we plan to set in motion to promote unity among members and increase our sense of belonging.
Member’s newsletter
You are reading our first newsletter. It will be issued quarterly and include five sections that serve as direct means of communications between us.
- The main headline section will inform you about important events in the TFP world. Whether it be essential training opportunities, major theoretical or technical innovations or interesting initiatives by local groups, it will keep you up to date on what is happening in our international community. If you want to broadcast something, contact us, we will reach everyone for you.
- The “Word of the president” section will relay important announcements from the president and the executive board.
- The “Public Relation and Communications Committee” section will describe actions that were implemented by our committee and call out ways by which we can help you diffuse knowledge.
- The “Research digest” section will highlight new research papers relevant to Transference Focused Psychotherapy and borderline disorders. We welcome members to contact us if they want to share their work. We will gladly feature it.
- Finally, the “Training” section will present, in a nutshell, the training activity of all local groups with links to get more information and to subscribe. Tell us about your initiatives, we will make sure every member will hear about them.
Dedicated EMail Platform
With a dedicated Email platform, we want to give you access to tools to promote your next conference in an easier fashion. For the groups that desire it, we plan to offer templates of email advertisements and use the powerful “Send in Blue” email marketing platform to get your promotion to as many professionals has possible. Contact us before planning your next TFP event to see how we can help.
Informing the public about TFP
Diffusing knowledge of TFP among the public is part of the mission of ISTFP. That will be addressed by regrouping and curating videos about TFP in an “ISTFP YouTube channel”. We also plan on producing new videos for addressing common public misconceptions about TFP.
We hope those efforts will spark interest and simplifies recruitment of new therapist trainees by exposing the advantages of TFP defining a clear path on how to become a TFP therapist.
Updating the ISTFP website
In the coming years, in co-operation with the ISTFP webmaster, Darlene McCormick, we will be in charge of updating the ISTFP website. Among other changes, we plan on implementing sections for members only with original material such as videos and publications on TFP. In the long run, our intent is to modify the website so that it is shown in the first pages of major search engines for queries like “Borderline treatment” or “Therapies for personality disorders”.
The work ahead
So this the path ahead for your Public Relations and Communication Committee.
Some may say it is ambitious!
That may be true, but we believe much comes from diversity, unity and enthusiasm.
Looking forward to hearing from all of you.
Always yours,
Mathieu Norton-Poulin
On behalf of the PR committee
