Dear Colleague
By now hopefully you know the GANZ AGM will be held on:
Sunday 22 November 2020
7:30am AWST (WA) / 9:00am ACDT (SA) / 9:30am AEST (Qld) /
10:30am AEDT (NSW, VIC, ACT, TAS) / 12:30pm NZT (Christchurch)
Full details available here
One of the important parts at the AGM will be elections. This email is our call for nominations for the Vice President, PACFA Liaison and Student Representative roles. The call for nominations for the President’s role can be read here.
Vice-President role
This year elections will be held for the Vice-president role, as Anthony Jones is standing down from the role. If you would like to read Anthony’s earlier farewell message, please click here.
This is an important role both for GANZ as an organisation and the GANZ Council. While the constitution remains as it is, a Vice-President is required for the Council to function. Like the President’s role, the image of the Vice- President role may suffer because the title and constitution evoke a leader who holds power in a hierarchy.
The reality of how the current GANZ Council functions is quite different. We operate a very flat and collaborative power structure. A collaborative leadership model also sits better with Gestalt relational values. This is not to say that power differentials do not exist with a structure like the GANZ Council. From time to time people do hold differing degrees of relative power due to seniority, privilege, experience, expertise, personality or emotional investment. Instead of pretending that these power dynamics do not exist, the GANZ Council’s intention in aiming for a collaborative and equitable power structure is that there is transparency and dialogue about power. Holding awareness of this rests with all Council members, but perhaps more so with the people in the roles of President and Vice-President.
There are some basic responsibilities that this role is currently required to perform, which are outlined below, but beyond these set of responsibilities there is scope for changing how the Vice-President’s role is undertaken in practice.
The basic set of responsibilities, drawn from the constitution, the Associations Incorporation Act1991-46 (which provides the legal framework for the constitution) and the organisation policies are:
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To share responsibility with the President, Treasurer, and Secretary for a small number of compliance activities. Specifically, annual returns need to be lodged with Access Canberra, as do any changes to the Council members, public officer, registered office, and constitution. None of these tasks are particularly time consuming for the Vice President (although the annual return does involve some work for the Treasurer and auditor), but do need to be kept an eye on.
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To have an equal vote on the Council and the opportunity to contribute to all GANZ tasks.
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Up until now, GANZ policy has been that the Vice-President “should have a high level of training in Gestalt Therapy and substantial experience as a Gestalt Therapist and be eligible to be listed on the publicly searchable practitioner register”. This policy was voted on and approved by members at the 2017 AGM. Since then, it has become apparent that wording of this policy may be too restrictive and inadvertently deterred people from stepping into the Vice President and President roles. A proposal to broaden the eligibility criteria for this role will be put to members at this year AGM and will be distributed to members over the coming weeks. In the meantime, if you are considering nominating for the Vice President and President roles and are unsure whether you meet this criteria, please contact Anthony on the email below.
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The bank also requires the Vice-President to be a signatory to the account.
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To be involved in complaints processes, should they occur. GANZ is not a regulatory body, so any complaints about ethical behaviour are directed to the appropriate organisation such as PACFA or AHPRA. However, GANZ needs to be open to other complaints, whether they be about the organisation itself or relating to the GANZ code of conduct. The Vice-President doesn’t take on complaints processes by themselves. The current practice is that a Complaints Officer holds responsibility for contact with a complainant and for holding confidentiality in these processes, with the whole Council responsible for guidance and decision making. External consultants are also available if the need arise.
Currently the role currently has a focus on operations and systems, including:
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Keeping an eye on organisational tasks that need to be done, e.g. for projects, legal requirements, or to supporting the smooth functioning of Council meetings.
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Keeping an eye on the organisation’s viability.
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Writing down the policies and procedures that support the organisation’s functioning.
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Supporting a shared leadership model on Council.
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Supporting newly joined members of Council.
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Taking on projects of interest.
Currently, the Vice-President also looks after the GANZ IT systems, but these IT tasks could conceivably be separated from the tasks listed above and held by a different person.
As with the President’s role, while there are some defined parts of this role, there is plenty of space for someone to come in creatively and be supported.
If you are interested in discussing the Vice President’s role, please contact Anthony Jones at anthonyjones@psychotherapy-centre.com.au
Anthony Jones
GANZ Vice President
PACFA Liaison Chair
As you may be aware a new “PACFA Liaison” chair has been added to the Council.
The GANZ Council have identified that whilst it is important for GANZ to have a working relationship with PACFA, particularly with the Gestalt Leadership Group, this is an area which has been lacking in our focus and the current Council has limited resources to dedicate to this task. The Council and GANZ would benefit from someone taking on this role.
The PACFA Liaison will have equal voting rights as a Council Member and may contribute to any work the Council undertakes. However, this will be a relatively easy role (with few responsibilities) for someone new to step into.
The GANZ Council functions as a flat, collaborative power structure aligned with Gestalt relational values. The Council has no shortage of ideas – although we are short of hands on deck to implement them. Our new PAFCA Liaison is welcome to bring their ideas across the whole organisation, with a focus on the relationship between PACFA and GANZ.
If you are interested in discussing this role, or learning the time and work commitment which would be required or what it’s like to be on the GANZ Council please contact Nathan Dick at contact@healingground.com.au or one of the other Council members.
Kindly,
Nathan Dick
GANZ Treasurer
Student Representative
The Student Rep role was created in 2018 and has been held by Marc Moskowitz, who is standing down from Council at this year’s AGM. The key tasks of this role are to:
- Engage with Gestalt students and identify support needs
- Network and collaborate with interstate and international Gestalt students and training institutes.
- Provide a student perspective to GANZ council matters
- To have an equal vote on the Council and the opportunity to contribute to all GANZ tasks.
- Taking on projects of interest.
How to nominate
Nominations for these positions must be received on the attached form by 1 November 2020 addressed to: The Secretary GANZ Inc, PO Box 398, Fairfield, Vic 3078 Or by email to: julia.werner@gestaltpathways.com.au
Finally, we would like to remind you that the AGM also offers an opportunity for GANZ Members to propose motions for approval by the GANZ Community or seek changes to the constitution. Attached is a proposal form for resolutions and the constitution can be viewed here.
Resolutions involving constitutional change are required to be submitted by this Sunday 25/10/2020, with all other resolutions submitted to the Secretary, Julia Werner before 1 Nov 2020.
Warm Regards
Aicha, Annie, Eric, Marc, Michelle, Julia, and Anthony