Procedural Manual
Table of Contents
I. Procedures and their modification
III. Procedures for admission of new societies..
IV. Procedure for admission of new members.
V. Procedures pertaining to Honorary Membership
VI. Procedures for collection of dues:
VII. Procedures regarding the use of Members and Affiliates Listserves
VIII. Procedures for appointments to positions within CIPS
XI. Procedures for appointments of members to represent CIPS at NAPsaC
XIII. Procedures for the conduct of CIPS Elections.
XIV. Procedures for participation in IPA Elections
XV. Allocation and Assignment of Seats for Special Events and Conferences
XVI. Procedures governing CIPS participation in NAPSAC
THE CIPS PROCEDURAL MANUAL
I. Procedures and their Modification
A. This procedural manual shall contain operating procedures that are enacted by the Board to standardize the performance of tasks and functions.
- Procedures shall be enacted by a majority vote of the Board of Directors.
- Proposed procedures may be developed by the Standing Committee on Bylaws and Procedures and submitted to the Board for discussion and enactment.
- Any proposed procedure that is not enacted by the Board may be referred to the Standing Committee on Bylaws and Procedures for further development and recommendations.
B. Any procedure contained in this manual may be modified or limited by majority vote of the Board at any time.
- Any member of the Board may make a motion to reassess the provision.
- If the motion to reassess is seconded and passed, the board will proceed to reassess the procedure in question. The board may then vote to retain the procedure, to modify the procedure, or to eliminate the procedure.
- If the Board does not pass the motion to reassess the procedure in question, the Board will not entertain further discussion of the procedure.
C. This procedural manual shall be reviewed by the Board at its annual meeting each year.
- Procedures shall be ratified at the annual meeting by a majority vote of the board.
- Procedures may be reassessed by the board at the annual meeting. Following reassessment, the Board may, by majority vote, modify a procedure or eliminate the procedure.
A. Minutes and their correction.
- The Recording Secretary shall compose minutes of Board meetings in the week following each meeting.
- The Recording Secretary shall submit drafts to the president and secretary for edits.
- When the minutes have been edited by both officers, the Recording Secretary shall circulate them to the board by e-mail prior to the meeting.
- Editorial comments and trivial or typographic corrections should be addressed to the Secretary before or after the board meeting, and should not be addressed during meeting time. Substantive additions, amendments, or corrections to the minutes should be addressed during the board meeting.
- Once minutes are approved by the Board, the Recording Secretary shall submit minutes to the webmaster for posting.
B. Committee Reports.
Committee chairs, and chairs of ad hoc workgroups shall submit written reports to the secretary and the president, at least seven days prior to each scheduled meeting of the Board of Directors. In the event that the committee or the chair have not taken any action, obtained any findings, or plan to submit any right recommendations to the board at the upcoming meeting, this requirement is waived.
C. New Business.
If any director wishes to place an item of new business on the agenda, he should communicate this to the president, along with an assessment of its priority. The president will place priority items at the top of the proposed agenda to ensure adequate time for discussion and action.
D. Appointment of Alternates for Board Meetings.
- Component societies shall appoint one or more alternates who will be responsible for attending meetings of the Board of Directors in place of a sitting director in the event a sitting director cannot attend a meeting.
- In the event that a director must be absent from a meeting of the Board, it shall be the responsibility of the director to arrange for the alternate to take his place.
- It shall be the responsibility of a director to keep alternates informed about CIPS matters, and to brief the designated alternates about the particular matters scheduled for discussion at any Board meeting at which the alternate will represent his or her society in place of the absent director.
E. Procedure for installation of new board members
- Pursuant to the By-Laws, the term of office for members of the Board commences and expires on June 30, each year. The annual June Board meeting shall be attended both by members whose terms are expiring, and by those whose terms are commencing. Only Board members whose terms are expiring shall be entitled to vote at this meeting.
F. Face-to-Face Meetings.
One face-to-face Board meeting (the Annual Meeting. shall be held each year. The location of the meeting shall alternate each year between an East Coast and a West Coast venue.
- One half of the travel expenses for each director attending the Annual Meeting as representatives of each component organization shall be paid/reimbursed by CIPS.
- The remaining half of each director's travel expenses shall be paid/reimbursed by each component organization for attendance by its representatives.
- In the event that a Director is unable to attend an Annual Meeting, an alternate may be appointed pursuant to Article II, Section 11, of the By-laws.
- The Annual Face to Face Meeting shall be held at a time and place that is independent of any other conference or professional meeting, in order to ensure sufficient time and focus for CIPS business.
G. The board may go into executive session when conducting business deemed confidential by the board.
- To go into executive session, a motion to go into executive session must be made, seconded, and passed by a majority vote of the board.
- To end an executive session of the board, a motion to end the executive session must be made, seconded, and passed by a majority vote of the board.
- Minutes of all executive sessions shall be corrected at a subsequent executive session.
- Minutes of all executive sessions shall be confidential.
H. The conduct of the CIPS board of directors, including all actions taken by the board, shall be recorded in the formal minutes of each board meeting and shall be made available to all members by ENewsletter and in the "Members' Only" section of the CIPS website.
The only exception to this rule of transparency shall be made in the instance of meetings, or portions of meetings, that are conducted in Executive session. The board shall only conduct business in Executive Session when a motion to enter Executive Session has been approved by a majority vote of the board for the purpose of protecting the reputation or privacy of a member. Minutes of board meetings conducted in Executive Session shall be confidential.
I. Communications between board members conducted at board meetings, on the board listserve, or in personal emails, or in private letters and conversations, are strictly confidential and may not be cited, quoted, forwarded, or distributed to others. Although communications between board members may constitute the process by which the board determines the actions it shall take, such communications shall be differentiated from the actions of the board, which shall be fully transparent and reported in the minutes. A board member who violates this rule shall be subject to censure or removal from the board in accordance with the bylaws of the organization.
III. Procedures for admission of new societies.
A. Admission to CIPS is open to any study group, provisional society, or full component society of the International Psychoanalytic Association within the United States.
- Societies seeking to join CIPS shall be directed to contact the president of CIPS or the Chair or Chairs of the New Groups Committee.
- The New Groups Committee shall prepare a report and make recommendations to the Board.
- New groups shall be admitted to CIPS by majority vote of the CIPS Board and by a two thirds majority vote of the component societies.
IV. Procedure for admission of new members.
A. Graduates of CIPS Institutes shall be admitted to CIPS automatically upon admission to any CIPS component society.
B. IPA members who do not belong to any CIPS component society may join CIPS as Direct Members. Candidates at IPA institutes outside CIPS may join CIPS as Direct Affiliate Members
C. Direct Members and Direct Affiliate Members are automatically enrolled in the Direct Members Society.
D. The CIPS Committee on Direct Members, chaired by a CIPS Board representative of the Direct Members Society, shall oversee application procedures.
A. All Honorary Members of CIPS component societies shall be invited to become Honorary Members of CIPS.
B. Any Honorary Member of CIPS who is or becomes a regular dues-paying member of a CIPS component society shall become a regular member of CIPS while simultaneously retaining the status of Honorary Member.
VI. Procedures for collection of dues:
A. CIPS component societies are responsible for the payment of annual organizational dues each year.
- In the exceptional event that a society is unable to fulfill its responsibility to collect and remit CIPS dues, the Board may temporarily authorize the CIPS Treasurer to assess and collect dues on behalf of the affected society.
B. The CIPS Treasurer shall distribute annual dues invoices to all CIPS component societies (except the Direct Member Society) in the month of January for the upcoming year.
- The dues assessed to each society shall be based on the number of its members on January 1. Each invoice shall list the names of members on which the CIPS dues assessment is based. Each component society shall provide the Treasurer with corrections to the assessment based on incorrect data. Reconciliation of society and CIPS records shall be completed by mid-February. Corrected dues assessments shall be distributed to societies no later than March.
- "Retired" and "Semi-retired" members shall be assessed in accordance with the dues policies in effect at each component society.
- Payment of dues shall be made by each component society during the course of the calendar year.
C. Additions to the rosters of CIPS component societies occurring after January 1 of any year shall not result in additional dues until the following year.
D. In the event of hardship, the dues assessment of any component society may be reduced. A component society seeking a reduction in the dues shall make a request to the CIPS Board through its representatives to the Board. The Board shall determine any adjustments to be made and the Treasurer shall compute the dues assessment for that component society accordingly.
E. Special procedures shall apply with respect to the collection of dues from the Direct Members Society.
- The Direct Members Society shall require each new Direct Member to pay CIPS dues at the time of admission to the Direct Member society. These funds shall be retained by the Direct Member Society.
- Individuals admitted to the Direct Member Society after June 30 of any year shall credited for payment of dues for that year and for the following year.
- Collection of dues from Direct Members shall be carried out by the CIPS Administrator on behalf of the Direct Member Society, in conjunction with the leadership of the Direct Member Society.
VII. Procedures Regarding the Use of the Listserves
A. The CIPS Members listserve shall be operated for the use of members who elect to participate in the Members listserve. The CIPS Affiliates listserve shall be operated for the use of affiliate members who elect to participate in the Affiliates listserve.
B. The following rules shall apply to the use of both listserves:
- The listserve may be used to post messages pertaining to psychoanalytic theory or practice, psychoanalytic education, organizational policies of CIPS, or to matters pertaining to psychoanalysis as a profession such as professional credentialing, educational policies, public policies, insurance issues, or legislation pertaining to psychoanalysis. The listserve may not be used to promote candidates for public office, political parties, or political causes that are not directly related to psychoanalysis.
- The listserve may be used to request information from other members, such as guidance regarding clinical literature, bibliographic citations, or referral information pertaining to professional mental health service and institutions.The listserve may not be used to advertise professional services, private clinics, clinical institutions, private enterprises or businesses, or privately organized professional events.
- Every post must contain a substantive message of interest to CIPS members and affiliates, and must contain at least one or more substantive statement pertaining to psychoanalysis. The listserve may not be used to distribute posts whose only content is to direct attention to particular articles, books, or events or to direct members to visit other websites.
- In order to ensure the legitimacy of postings, every message posted on the listserve must include a subject line, describing the subject of the post. In addition, the initials of the member posting the message must precede the subject in the subject line.
- Members are requested to be considerate in their use of the listserve. Excessive posting on the listserve is irritating to some members and may provoke their withdrawal from the listserve. Members are thereby encouraged to post no more than once or twice in a seven- day period unless there is compelling reason to do so.
- Messages on the listserve may not contain "ad-hominem" attacks or other negative comments about persons. Messages pertaining to controversial matters shall address issues rather than persons.
C. A member who violates these rules will be subject to removal from the listserve by the Board.
VIII. Appointments to positions within CIPS
A. Except as otherwise set forth in Sections IX (below), unfilled positions within CIPS, including positions on CIPS committees, special positions created to carry out CIPS programs or initiatives, as well as positions created to represent CIPS to external organizations or umbrella groups of which CIPS is a component, shall be open to qualified CIPS members and shall be posted to the CIPS membership on the CIPS website or ENewsletter.
B. The Standing Committee on Appointments shall review the application of members for all posted positions and shall make recommendations for appointments to the Board. Appointments to all posted postions shall be by a majority vote of the Board.
C. In some instances, the board may formulate minimum qualifications for appointment to positions within CIPS or may delegate this task to the Appointments Committee. Minimum qualifications developed by the Appointments Committee shall be subject to board approval, unless the Appointment Committee is specifically empowered to act without further Board approval.
- Where criteria have already been developed for comparable positions or opportunities, these existing criteria shall be applied automatically to the new open positions or opportunities, unless the Board specifically determines to act otherwise. In such a case, the board shall develop a new set of criteria for the new position or opportunity, or delegate this task to the Appointments Committee.
- Existing criteria shall be codified in Appendices of this manual.
D. When special and unusual circumstances require immediate action to appoint a member to position, or when the Board agrees that a position should be restricted to a member of the Board (e.g., that chair of a committee of the Board), the board may act expeditiously to fill the position without posting the position to the membership.
IX. Procedures for appointments to chairpersonships of standing committees and select committees, and special administrative positions within CIPS.
A.The President shall appoint the chairpersons of CIPS committees, subject the approval of the Board. Chairperson positions may be posted to the CIPS membership at the discretion of the President.
B. Committee chairpersons shall appoint members to their committees, subject to approval by the Board.
- The Board may empower Committee chairpersons to appoint committee members without further Board approval.
- Membership positions on CIPS committees may be posted to the CIPS membership at the discretion of either the appointed chair or the Board.
X. Procedures for the recommendation of persons to serve in special posts, governing bodies, committees, and workgroups of the IPA.
A. When the time frame permits a search process, all open IPA positions for which CIPS may recommend persons for appointment shall be posted to the CIPS membership. The CIPS Appointments Committee shall review applications, report to the Board on all applications, and make recommendations to the Board. The Board shall make the final determination or recommendations by majority vote.
B. When conditions do not permit a search process, the President shall inform the Board of open positions to which appointments are to be made. Board member shall take responsibility to consult with their constituencies and make recommendations to the Board. The Board shall make the final determination by majority vote.
C. When conditions do not permit full board participation, the Executive Committee shall act in place of the board. The president shall judge when such conditions apply.
XI. Procedures for appointments of members to represent CIPS at NAPsaC
A. The CIPS President shall serve as one of the two CIPS representatives to the NAPsaC board.
B. Either the CIPS president-elect or CIPS Past President (whichever office is filled in accordance with the CIPS election cycle) shall serve as the second representative to the NAPsaC board .
C. CIPS component societies shall be invited to appoint additional representatives to join the CIPS delegation on the NAPsaC Board.
XII. Procedures for appointments of members to represent CIPS to the Consortium or other national or international organizations
A. The President shall appoint members to represent CIPS to the Consortium or other national or international organizations, subject to the approval of the board.
- These positions may be posted to the membership at the discretion of the President.
- If these positions are posted, the Appointments Committee may be requested to review the applications, and report and make recommendations to the President, at the discretion of the President.
XIII. Procedures for the conduct of CIPS Elections.
A. Procedures for the nomination of persons to run for CIPS President and Secretary
- The Secretary shall inform the membership of CIPS of the upcoming CIPS election in the month of January in the year that CIPS is scheduled to hold elections.
- CIPS members shall be notified of the activities of the Nominating Committee, and informed about how to submit the names of persons, including themselves, whom they wish to recommend for nomination.
- CIPS elections shall be conducted prior to April 30th.
XIV. Procedures for participation in IPA Elections
A. Procedures for the initiating the CIPS election procedures for IPA elections.
- The Secretary shall notify the CIPS Board of the upcoming IPA elections in
the month of September in the year prior to the year of the scheduled IPA election (about 9 months prior to the nomination of candidates by the Regional Nominating Committee) and again the following January (about five months prior to the nomination of candidates). - The President shall place all matters pertaining to the IPA election on the agenda in a manner that ensures full participation of CIPS in the IPA elections.
B. Procedures for the selection of persons to serve on the regional nominating committee.
- The CIPS Board, by majority vote, shall select one board member to represent CIPS on the nominating committee before March 1st. This decision shall be ratified by the component societies.
- The President of CIPS shall inform the IPA of the Board selection.
C. Procedures for the proposal of prospective nominees to the Regional Nominating Committee.
- Insofar as IPA Rules permit only component societies and groups of ten IPA members to propose prospective nominees to the Regional Nominating Committee, CIPS shall not act to propose prospective nominees to the Regional Nominating Committee.
- CIPS shall respect the right of component societies and groups of ten to make their own proposals without interference from CIPS.
- CIPS shall act to publicize IPA elections and shall encourage cooperation among societies and groups of ten to nominate and elect the most qualified individuals in CIPS. This process should begin well before the IPA call for suggestions for nominations, i.e., in the Fall (about 9 months prior to the nomination of candidates).
D. Procedures for conducting the election process.
- CIPS shall actively facilitate the election process by:
- Encouraging all members to be informed about the candidates and to vote in the election.
- Providing information to component societies, including notification of the IPA schedule for distributing ballots and the deadline for the return of ballots, as well as other relevant information.
- Publishing the position statements of candidates in the CIPS Newsletter and on the CIPS Website.
- Inviting statements or responses to specific questions from candidates, as long as all candidates for the same position are invited to do so and all statements received are distributed to all members.
- Encouraging component societies to host meetings with all of the candidates to acquaint its members with their positions.
XV. Allocation and Assignment of Seats for Special Events and Conferences
A. When CIPS is accorded a fixed number of seats at special events, the seats shall be allocated as follows:
- If the event is a clinical event (such as the NAPsaC- EPS Clinical Conference., at which participants are not required to represent their societies for the purposes of exchange of information about the society or its institute, dialogue or deliberation with regard to policy, or legislative action of any kind:
- the method of allocating seats shall ensure equal opportunity for all qualified members to participate, without regard to the societies to which they belong;
- qualifying criteria for selection of participants shall be developed by the board or by the Appointments Committee at the instruction on the Board, or existing criteria shall be applied;
- selection of participants shall be determined by a lottery from the pool of qualified applicants.
- If the event is one at which participants are required to represent their societies for the purposes of exchange of information about the society or its institute, dialogue or deliberation with regard to policy, or legislative action of any kind, the board shall determine how to arrange representation with consideration given to the interests of the organization, as well as the special circumstances of the conference or event. In principle:
- If CIPS is allocate enough seats to do so, the Board shall allocate seats to ensure representation by each component society.
- If CIPS is allocated more than one seat, but fewer seats than the number of component societies, the Board shall promote equal representation by rotation of appointments between CIPS component societies, or by lottery, or by other means to be determined by the Board.
XVI. Procedures governing CIPS participation in NAPSAC
A. The CIPS delegation shall determine its vote by consensus.
- The CIPS delegation to the NAPsaC board shall vote in favor of a motion that has been made only when there is consensus on the delegation with respect to the motion in question. In the event that the CIPS societies or the CIPS delegation is divided with respect to a motion that has been made, the CIPS delegation shall vote against the motion.
- The CIPS delegation shall introduce motions to the NAPsaC board only when there is a consensus in support of the motion. When any component society of CIPS, or any member of the CIPS delegation to the NAPsaC board, objects to a proposed motion, CIPS representatives shall refrain from introducing that motion.
Addendum A: Qualifying criteria and procedures for selecting participants for the EPF-NAPsaC Clinical Conference.
A. Participants in the EPF–NAPsaC Clinical Conference shall be selected by CIPS in accordance with the following criteria:
- A minimum of five years experience as an IPA analyst.
- At least one case now being see in psychoanalysis at least four times per week.
B. CIPS members shall be notified of the EPF-NAPsaC Conference at the earliest possible date. Notification shall include information regarding the allocation of seats, criteria for selection, and assignment of seats.
- Members who are interested in attending the conference shall be requested to signify their interest by an appropriate date.
- If the number of applications exceeds the supply of available seats, assignment of seats shall be conducted by lottery. Those who are not assigned seats shall be designated as "alternates" in the event of cancellations.
- If additional seats remain after the initial applications are received, additional notification shall be distributed to CIPS members, with subsequent applicants assigned seats in the order in which they apply.

