| | The
Australian Association of Family Therapy (AAFT) Dear AAFT
Member
At the 2011 AGM held on Thursday 31st March, all the motions relating
to the formation the national association, AAFT and the acquisition of The Australian
and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy were passed. The meeting also approved
an administrative start up fee of $60 to be levied on all members in 2011 and
a membership fee increase of $55 to apply in 2012 onwards. The members who attended
the AGM asked many questions about the formation of the AAFT and the acquisition
of the ANZJFT and for those who did not attend the meeting this letter summarise
what was said at the meeting. " How do we cover the
cost of starting up and running a national family therapy association and Journal.
This question came up in the meeting of president in November in 2009, where
the three-stage plan for the formation of the national association was first presented
and approved. The cost of setting up and running the AAFT was discussed at length.
The three-stage plan was regarded as having a number of strengths, most of which
were a direct result of it being designed on the principle of building on to existing
VAFT organizational infrastructure and cash flow. However, it was decided that
the additional money and resources necessary to create and run the AAFT would
come from a combination of i) the profits on conferences, ii) cash injections
from the state associations, iii) to be shared across the members of AAFT.
The financial plan was for the major injection of funds would come from the 2010
and 2011 conference profits and this would cover the once off costs such as new
computer hardware and software, database management systems, new website, legal
fees, travel and other meeting costs. Regretfully the profits form the 2010 conference
did not eventuate consequently the 2011 start-up costs will be covered by the
administrative fee of $60 approved by the AGM. The feedback
from the 2010 conference participants was uniformly excellent, but regretfully
the conference was not well-attended and lost money. This was a not through lack
of effort or knowledge of organising conferences, but rather attendance patterns
at Family Therapy conferences has changed significantly. Family Therapy has been
'too successful' and 'family focused' and 'family sensitive' practice is now standard
practice and brings together specialised communities of workers and practitioners
who previously attended the annual family Therapy conference. Agencies conference
funding policies has also changed and community and mental health sector workers
are funded to attend conferences directly relevant to the client group they work
with or the programs they are involved in delivering. Agencies expect workers
to attend directly relevant and focused conferences and not generalist modality
based conferences. The theme and structure of the 2011 conference takes these
changes into account and will draw together leading edge research and practice
in family focused work as well as family therapy. At the
2009 meeting of presidents, the president and vice-president of The Australian
and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy also attended and were included in the
discussions. It became clear the bringing in the ANZJFT to be the flagship publication
of the AAFT was both a wise business decision and a consolidation of a practice
community. Hence the fee-increase of $55 as of 2012.
Many years ago the membership
fee of a state association included a subscription to ANZJFT. At one level it
may appear that we are returning to the same model and it is certainly expected
to be of mutual benefit as it was in the early days. However at another level,
the structural arrangement is quite different in 2011. The AAFT will have a publications
committee that will manage the ANZJFT but in the future, this committee may be
responsible for more than one journal. The field of family sensitive and family
focused practices is now very wide spread and these approaches share a great deal
but are not the same as family therapy. The workers tend to focus on specific
clinical and non-clinical populations and the current literature is quite widely
dispersed. The publication committee may choose to be visionary and creative in
their activity offering new ways of reaching and drawing together such communities
of practice.
Summary
You will find enclosed an account for $60 for 2011,
and as soon as you have paid the fee you will be put on the ANZJFT - AAFT data
base and receive an on-line subscription to the ANZJFT. If you wish to receive
a paper copy this will be an additional fee of $30 per year. The fee you are paying
covers the administrative start up and an on-line subscription.
With
your support, we look forward to building AAFT and ANZJFT. Please mark the date
for the Australian Family Therapy Conference 25th &26th November.
On
behalf of the AAFT executive
Dr. Sophie Holmes
Treasurer,
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VIST www.aaft.asn.au | |
