Viewpoint - January 2024
IN THIS ISSUE
Note From TPI President
The Executive Perspective
Developing News
Newsflash
TPI Walk and Talk
Note From the President
Deepen Your Involvement with TPI
I am filled with excitement and gratitude for the opportunity to serve as your President at The Psychotherapy Institute. The warm welcome I have received is a testament to the strong sense of community that defines TPI.
As we step into the new year, I have been reflecting on the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. It's natural to embrace change with a mix of emotions, however, it is through change that we find new avenues for growth and progress. Together with Jim and our dedicated leadership team, we will navigate these waters and emerge even stronger.
It was so nice meeting many of you at our recent events. Our community is at the heart of everything we do and your presence enriches the fabric of our organization. As we look forward to the possibilities that the new year holds, I encourage you to consider ways you can contribute to our community and deepen your involvement with TPI.
I look forward to working closely with you, and I encourage you to reach out with your thoughts, ideas, and aspirations for TPI. We currently have positions open on the Board, and on several committees, including Development, Education, and Membership. If you would like to deepen your involvement with the Institute, by serving on a committee or taking on a special project, please reach out to me or Jim. We’re both excited to work with you to find the perfect volunteer opportunity that fits your skills and interests.
Wishing you a year filled with inspiration and growth,
Kyra Peyton
President
The Executive Perspective
Honoring the Legacy: Dr Martin Luther King Jr
American Baptist minister and a political philosopher, Martin Luther King, Jr. is recognized as one of the most prominent leaders in America’s civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. He advanced civil rights for African Americans through nonviolent protest and participated in and led marches, fighting for voting and labor rights and desegregation. He was the first president of the Southern Christian Leadership Council and one of the leaders of the 1963 march on Washington. In addition to his crusade for racial equity, Dr. King’s legacy includes teachings on the vital importance of economic justice and the inherent evils of war. As we mark the fifty-sixth year since his death, Dr. Kings teachings remain powerful and relevant as his dream for equality in America continues to be unfulfilled. A dream that he proclaimed on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial:
“And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’”
In the context of the events of the past months, beside the message of equality encapsulated in Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech is his protest against war, one that was passionately presented in his sermon in April 1967, in New York City’s Riverside Church.
From that pulpit, King taught that “rationalizations and the incessant search for scapegoats are the psychological cataracts that blind us to our sins”, helping us to unveil our own collective justification. Further, he taught that “when the issues at hand seem as perplexing, as they often do in the case of this dreadful conflict, we're always on the verge of being mesmerized by uncertainty.” Countering this acquiescence, King called for us to “speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision”, but nevertheless to speak, and speak loudly, in the face of injustice. King’s words are particularly poignant on this day, teaching that “a nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”
Over half a century ago, King recognized that the world is no longer in need of a readjustment, but of a revolution of values, preaching that “a genuine revolution of values means in the final analysis that our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Every nation must now develop an overriding loyalty to mankind as a whole in order to preserve the best in their individual societies. This call for a worldwide fellowship that lifts neighborly concern beyond one's tribe, race, class, and nation is in reality a call for an all-embracing, unconditional love for all men.”
In some way, amplifying the teachings of Dr. King causes us even greater despair as we compare our 21st century reality with his vision for a world of justice, free from violence and oppression. But just as he calls us to task and sets before use a broken reflection through which to see our ourselves, he concludes with words of hope; words that on this day of his birth, we might accept as inspiration:
“And I have not lost faith. I'm not in despair, because I know that there is a moral order. I haven't lost faith, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. I can still sing "We Shall Overcome" because Carlyle was right: "No lie can live forever." We shall overcome because William Cullen Bryant was right: "Truth pressed to earth will rise again." We shall overcome because James Russell Lowell was right: "Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne." Yet, that scaffold sways the future. We shall overcome because the bible is right: "You shall reap what you sow." With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our world into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood…With this faith we will be able to speed up the day when all over the world we will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we're free at last!" With this faith, we'll sing it as we're getting ready to sing it now. Men will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. And nations will not rise up against nations, neither shall they study war anymore.”
The institute administrative offices will be closed on Monday, January 15th in observance of Martin Luther King’s birthday.
Developing News
Notes from the Development Committee
As the January Viewpoint goes to print, we have raised just shy of $48,000 for the 2023/24 annual fund and have already surpassed campaign totals of the past several years. Both our Launching TPI’s Future event on November 5th and our recent “Winter Wonderland” holiday party were great successes.
In the new year, the Development Committee is continuing to raise the funds that enable TPI to provide high-quality therapy to our community and training to our colleagues. We are designing a designated giving campaign, building new relationships for grant funding, and building TPI’s Legacy Giving Program. With all this activity, it’s a great time to join our committee.
Great thanks to all who contributed to date! If you have not yet made your gift to TPI’s Annual Campaign, donations are made easily on the Donation Page of the Institute’s website.
NEWSFLASH
Recruitment Begins with a New Program Name: The Psychotherapy Training Program
The program that trains our Staff Therapists and enables TPI to serve our community through our Community Clinic, is a pride of the Institute. Depending on who you ask, the program has gone by several names: The Advanced Training Program, The Psychodynamic Training Program, the Two-Year Training Program, the Post-Graduate Training Program, and most recently, the Pre- and Post-Graduate Training Program. As we begin recruitment for the next cohort of Staff Therapists, we are pleased to announce a new, single name: the Psychotherapy Training Program (PTP).
Informational sessions have been scheduled for Tuesday and Friday evenings, February 13th and 16th. To learn more, see the Information Session and Open House Announcement.
File Cabinets Available
As the Institute has moved to an electronic filing system, we have an abundance of slightly used two and four drawer filing cabinets. If you need additional file storage, please contact Sierra. We would be pleased to help facilitate a pick up.
Office Space at TPI
Are you interested in subletting some office space? Sublets are currently available at TPI. If you are interested and would like more information, please contact TPI Executive Director, Jim Brandt
Education Line up and Spring Symposium
The Education Committee is currently putting the finishing touches on a captivating Spring Symposia and series of classes. Watch your in-box for a full program announcement.
Community Clinic Seeking Clients
TPI’s Community Clinic currently has limited opening for clients. If you know of people who are seeking psychotherapy, please refer them to the Client intake form on the Institute’s website.
TPI Walk and Talk
Saturday, February 10th, 2024
(Rain Date: Saturday, February 24th)
Join Kyra and Jim for a morning stroll
through the Institute’s neighborhood.
Share your thoughts and dreams for TPI’s future.
Save the world, one step at a time.
(friends, family, and pets are all welcome)
9:30am
Coffee and Bagels in the Center Room
10:00 – 10:45am
Neighborhood stroll
Contribute to Viewpoint
We encourage contributions to Viewpoint from the TPI Community.
To submit or plan submissions, contact Executive Director, Jim Brandt jbrandt@tpi-berkeley.org
