A funny thing happened on the way to the 7th
World Congress on Stress Trauma and Coping. I got busier and busier
and even busier. I got married and Shannon and I had two children.
Then I fell down the steps! Well, all that did not happen all at once,
but over a period of a decade or more. The positives of an intensely
busy professional life, marriage and children and the very negative
experience of falling down a flight of steps all converged and caused
me to do some very serious thinking. While I was recuperating for
several months during the summer from a nasty back injury (see fall
down the steps above), I watched my backlog of work become even worse.
I thought and thought and thought (you have a lot of time to do that
when you cannot do anything else). Here is the outcome of some of that
thinking.
I realized I was traveling far too much and was
handling too many administrative duties and thus I was having too
little time to devote to my personal life and to writing, teaching,
planning and organizing. It was clear to me that I was certainly
having a great deal less time to be with my wife, Shannon and our two
daughters Kyla and Angela, than I needed.
I thought about how my desk was piling up and I was
becoming less able to keep up with the paper work and the everyday
administration of ICISF. I thought about how I was becoming so backed
up with e-mails as to be unable to keep up with the overload. I
thought about the books and articles I needed to write, but couldn’t
find the time to start. I thought about the administrative things that
ICISF needed a quick response on, but which went without review or a
signature for days or even weeks. I simply was experiencing an
imbalance of too much time on the road coupled with a wide range of
administrative duties. As a result, I did not have enough time for a
host of other important things such as responding to the critics of
CISM and our very important contacts with national and international
groups.
While I was on the disabled list, Don Howell, ICISF’s
Executive Director, had to temporarily take over the vast majority of
the administrative duties for ICISF that I had been doing since 1989
and up to early June of 2002. After that temporary takeover of
administrative duties was accomplished, it became quite clear to me
that the organization did fine without my administrative input. By
early October, I provided to the Board of Director’s of ICISF a
letter asking them to consider my resignation as President to the
foundation so that I could put my best talents to work for ICISF in
areas that I do well such as writing, teaching and attending essential
meetings.
The Board of Directors saw the wisdom in
reallocating my responsibilities to the Executive Director and to
other staff in order to allow me to focus on other significant tasks
for ICISF. At my request and with the approval of the Board, the
position of President was absorbed by the Executive Director. These
actions were accomplished on a trial basis during November and
December of 2002 and January of 2003. It was decided that the
announcement of these changes would be made at the World Congress in
mid February once the Board was assured that the new administrative
arrangement worked effectively and efficiently. Many of you were
present when that announcement was made on the last day of the
Congress (2/16/03).
During the trial period, I set to work to review as
many negative and positive outcome articles as possible and write them
up in a "Crisis Intervention and CISM Research Summary". The
final version of this extensive 59-page document was put on the
downloadable articles section of the ICISF web site on February 10,
2003. (The article issued on February 10 supercedes all previous
drafts and it is the most complete.) It represents a prime example of
how having less administrative duties allows me to achieve more with
my best talents.
The question in many minds now is what will happen
next. First, let me assure all of you that ICISF remains strong. It
now has over 6,800 members and is growing stronger with each passing
month. ICISF’s goals, objectives and its mission are the same as
always. Its education and service programs are not impacted by the
change of administration. All commitments to ICISF’s partner groups
are intact. In fact new partnerships are being developed at this time.
My resignation from the position of President of ICISF means that all
administrative duties formerly managed through that position will now
transfer to the position of the Executive Director. Donald Howell has
handled that position since 1997 and, as you know, is doing a superb
job.
Dr. Victor Welzant, who has been active in CISM for
15 years and who served on the ICISF Board of Directors for the last
several years, has been hired part time to assist Don Howell in
managing the administrative aspects of the Foundation. He will also
handle numerous special projects that ICISF is currently engaged in.
The Board of Directors will carefully monitor the workload now on the
Executive Director and will determine if additional staff or other
administrative restructuring is necessary.
I will continue to work within ICISF in numerous
other capacities. The Board of Directors has generously bestowed upon
me the honorary title of "President Emeritus". I will teach
programs, write materials, offer advice, and attend local, regional
and national meeting of importance to the CISM field. I intend to stay
very active as an employee of ICISF. I will also remain very active in
the CISM field. My commitment to ICISF and the CISM field remains
unchanged. Here is the really good news for me. Now I will not have to
deal with bank statements, governmental forms, contracts, employee
issues and a wide range of administrative duties that had previously
consumed much of my time. I have been freed up to do the things that I
do the best!
I am grateful for the support you have offered
while I served as the President of ICISF. I appreciate your many
kindnesses and your persistent thoughtfulness. May we continue
together to grow the organization and the CISM field. We all have much
work to do. Keep in mind that our work does make a difference in the
lives of others.
I am excited about my new role in ICISF and I am
looking forward to continued contacts with you as we all work together
to develop better training programs and stronger standards of practice
in the CISM field. I am looking forward to our next World Congress in
2005. I hope that if I am not running into you before then that I will
at least see you there.
Best wishes to each of you and success in your
work!
Jeffrey T. Mitchell, Ph.D., CTS
President Emeritus
2/16/03
