FEATURE
Member Services
Ombudsman Committee
The Ombudsman Committee provides candidates, students, and members with an informal, confidential setting in which to discuss concerns. It can direct a concern to the appropriate resource and assist with a formal complaint when necessary. The committee reports to no one.
Ethics Committee
The Ethics Committee receives written complaints alleging unethical conduct. Its procedures include assessing a complaint’s merits, conducting an investigation, holding hearings when necessary, and recommending an appropriate disposition. The committee is guided by the American Psychoanalytic Association’s Principles and Standards of Ethics for Psychoanalysts.
Colleague and Patient Assistance Committee
This committee offers candidates, students, members, and patients a place to raise concerns about illness, impairment, or other difficulties. Confidential discussion, evaluation, intervention, or remediation may help prevent these concerns from developing into ethics complaints.
Continuing Professional Education
Washington Center for Psychoanalysis programs provide continuing professional education credits for physicians, psychologists, and social workers. Credit details are provided with individual programs.
Scientific Meetings
Scientific meetings and workshops addressing psychoanalytic topics are organized throughout each academic year. Topics reflect the interests and needs of members and candidates. Current scheduling and registration information is available through the Center’s event calendar.
Newsletter
The Center’s in-house newsletter is published twice a year. It discusses matters of interest to members, includes regular reports from the president and committee chairs, and gives members a forum for communicating about current psychoanalytic topics and events. The newsletter editor is responsible to the Board of Directors.
Research: Gary O. Morris Prize
The Gary O. Morris Prize honors Dr. Morris and his interest in research. It provides a small monetary award, recognition at the annual business meeting, and an opportunity to present the winning paper at the annual Colloquium. Members and candidates are encouraged to submit psychoanalytic research papers. The stated submission deadline is March 1, with five copies required.
Referrals
The WCP website maintains a directory of member psychoanalysts and psychotherapists who accept referrals from other members or the public. It also lists practitioners with availability for low-fee referrals.
Study Groups
Member study groups are organized around participants’ interests, including clinical, research, and theoretical subjects. Groups seeking to provide continuing education credits must submit the required application to the chair of the Continuing Professional Education Committee annually before beginning their programs.
Auditing Courses
Center members may audit a Washington Psychoanalytic Institute course in the Adult or Child and Adolescent program without charge, subject to the consent of the Curriculum Committee and the seminar leader or instructor.
PEPWEB
Active Center members automatically receive a subscription to Psychoanalytic Electronic Publishing, or PEPWEB. It provides online access to many psychoanalytic journals and selected books, including the Standard Edition of Freud’s collected works. Members can search the literature by author, subject, or keyword.
Virtual Community
The WCP website includes member-only services such as discussion forums, a referrals and services bulletin board, selected press articles, directory search, an event calendar, and online event registration. Members also have profile pages for accessing forms and documents and paying dues or program fees online.
eDental Plan
The page states that WCP members and their families are eligible to enroll in dental benefit options offered through Dominion Dental Services’ eDental program. Listed options include a dental HMO, PPO, and discount program. It also describes coverage for diagnostic, preventive, restorative, periodontal, oral-surgery, and orthodontic services.
Members are directed to Dominion Dental Services or 1-877-681-3879 for current premiums, coverage details, and enrollment information. Groups such as a member and the member’s staff may also be able to establish payroll-deduction plans.