Welcome to AGAP International

The Association of Graduates in Analytical Psychology Zurich

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Members

Evolving Organisation

The Founders

AGAP’s seven founding members were: Mary Briner (USA and Switzerland); Evanelos Evangelos Christou (Egypt); David Hart (USA); H. Yechezkel Kluger (USA); Paul Watzlawick (El Salvador); Frances E. Smart (England); and William Alex (USA) in absentia. On July 29, 1954 the group met in Mary Briner’s Kilchberg home to found the association and agree on a draft of the first constitution (Founding Minutes). At this meeting, it was agreed that Mary Briner would be AGAP’s first president, i.e. “Executive Secretary.” By that date, four of the founders had become the first graduates of the C.G. Jung Institute Zürich: Mary Briner, Evanelos Evangelos Christou, Frances E. Smart, and William Alex. The other three were soon to follow, and within two years, the membership grew from the original seven to twenty analysts. In 1956, Mary Briner represented AGAP along with the other Jungian groups that approved the founding constitution of the IAAP, making of AGAP one among the IAAP’s charter members.

General Assembly

The orderly General Assembly (GA), comprised of the members themselves, is AGAP’s highest organ. It convenes at least once every three years. Traditionally, the GA took place at each triennial IAAP Congress, migrating with that event to many different places around the world. Today the GA takes place in Zürich, within the framework of the triennial AGAP Forum. AGAP’s standing committees and offices are elected by the GA, which also votes to decide on other AGAP matters. Supplementary membership meetings held at the IAAP Congress now serve to gather AGAP analysts to vote on IAAP business and the election of our delegates to the IAAP Meeting of Delegates. Proxy voting is allowed for both the GA and all other formal membership meetings. For urgent matters, the membership may be called to vote by circulation.  

Executive Committee

As envisioned by the founders, AGAP was led by an Executive Committee (ExCo), which itself chose an “Executive Secretary,” later called the “Honorary Secretary.” In the course of time, the ExCo tended to consist of former Honorary Secretaries. Today’s constitution, however, provides for a fully elected Executive Committee (ExCo), consisting of a president or co-presidents, and respectively, maximum eight or seven other members. Because some ExCo members typically live at great distance from Switzerland, the committee convenes for regular, face-to-face meetings only three times each year, in Zürich, generally working over periods of three days. These meetings are supplemented with online sessions and email correspondence.

Honorary Secretaries & Presidents (AGAP Presidents Since 1954).  

The ExCo relies crucially on the support of AGAP’s employed Membership Secretary, who, administering the Secretariat from her home in Zürich, does far more than the job title suggests. Not only does she regularly attend ExCo meetings to provide status updates. To name only the major, on-going responsibilities entailed: bookkeeping; payment of AGAP’s bills; oversight of banking and PayPal transactions; coordination with our employed accountant; handling of members’ correspondence; some translation and proofing of translations; maintenance of our membership data base and its coordination with the IAAP; issuance of dues invoices and payment reminders; postal mailing of newsletters (for members who request such); management of the General Assembly check-in procedure.  

Ethics Committee

The Ethics Committee receives and adjudicates ethical complaints, under strict confidentiality, in accordance with our Constitution and Ethical Code and Guidelines. (AGAP Ethics Guidelines 2008).   

Financial Auditor

Our Internal Auditors review the finances and submit financial reports to the ExCo at least once each year, and they submit reports at each GA. Their job as such relies on our employed, certified Swiss accountant, who monitors our balance sheets and profit and loss statements. What the Internal Auditors do in particular is to help ensure that AGAP’s financial management corresponds with the budget and specific purposes approved by the General Assembly.  

Other Legalities

  1. AGAP does not have its own building, but shares ISAPZURICH’s postal address and fax number. ISAP provides rent-free meeting space for the Executive Committee as well as storage space for the association’s documents. The Secretariat is administered from the private premises of our Membership Secretary.
  2. AGAP is subject to Swiss Association Law (Zivilrecht, Art. 60ff), and is registered in the Business Registry of Canton Zürich (Handelsregisteramt, CH-0202.6.000.911-2).
  3. AGAP is recognized by the Tax Office of Canton Zürich as an “altruistic” association run on a non-profit basis. Therefore, donations to AGAP stipulated for its non-profit purposes are exempt from general communal, cantonal, and federal taxes in Switzerland.
  4. In accordance with AGAP’s non-profit purposes, all members serving on our elected committees and in elected offices do so on a volunteer basis. As approved by the GA thus far, ExCo members receive modest annual lump sums to help cover committee-related expenses. Within limits, ExCo members and their delegates are reimbursed for flight costs. Under exceptional circumstances, some elected committee members may receive financial compensation for work that demands special professional expertise.
  5. AGAP’s analytic psychotherapy training (CH-Program), run by ISAPZURICH, is accredited by the Swiss Federal Department of the Interior (EDI). The program is subject to the pertinent provisions of the Swiss Federal Department of Health (BAG), and is monitored for compliance by the Association of Swiss Psychotherapists (ASP).