This month’s volunteer spotlight shines on D. Michael Coy, ISSTD President.
I am interested in how your volunteer journey with ISSTD began.
My volunteer journey really started when I was a kid. I had one parent who was an elected official and politician who had to run for office every number of years. So I did a lot of leafletting door-to-door. Separately, I did fundraising for various causes. I sold pizzas and popcorn and did all kinds of things. I did bike-a-thons to raise money for cancer research. I participated in a lot of community-based, anti-oppression social activism both before and during grad school. Volunteering is in my blood.
I was never planning on volunteering with ISSTD. I joined as a member in February 2012. I only joined to get access to the Multidimensional Inventory of Dissociation, because you could either contact Paul Dell or you could join ISSTD and get it via membership. That was pretty much the end of my active involvement, other than paying my annual membership dues, until 2016. At the time, I was being mentored by Sandra Paulsen. She and Ulrich Lanius had been invited to do a post-conference presentation at the 2016 ISSTD Annual Conference in San Francisco. I had developed a dissociation screener, and they asked me if I would be interested in joining them to talk about my instrument. I was sort of plucked out of obscurity. This was my first ISSTD conference and it all felt so big, but I felt at home—more so than other conferences I’d attended. It was just a different vibe—homier.
I figured that if I’m going to attend this conference, of course I’m going to attend the business meeting [for members]. I got up during the meeting and I asked them what ISSTD was doing to reach out to students in universities. I had never learned anything about trauma or dissociation in graduate school. Martin Dorahy, the then President-Elect, asked me for my business card. I was recruited to join the Marketing Committee and, a few months later, I got an email from Martin Dorahy asking me, if I was nominated to run for the Board of Directors, whether I would be willing to accept the nomination. I sheepishly agreed. (They wanted me? Why?!) I was subsequently elected and, because I was motivated, within three months of joining the Board in 2017, in collaboration with now Past President Christine Forner [when she was Treasurer], I submitted a proposal for ISSTD to develop an EMDR therapy basic training.
During that same period, I was invited as a new Board member to attend the year’s first Finance Committee meeting and, me being me, I asked a lot of questions. Owing to this, I was invited to be a standing [regular] member of the Finance Committee. I still was in awe; this all felt so big to me. I took it all very seriously. All of this felt like opportunity to me. In late 2017, I was appointed to finish the last two years of Christine Forner’s term as Treasurer and chair of the Finance Committee when she assumed the role of President-Elect. I walked into the Treasurer role with a blank slate, but I developed a vision of what I wanted to accomplish, and that formed an arc across the six years I spent in that role. Although, at this time, I had no aspiration to become President. I felt that I was not ready—and I wasn’t certain that I ever would be.
During these last 8 years on the Board, I have done my own personal work and the maturity I’ve gained both through that and my work with clients has made me a better volunteer, a better Treasurer, and I think overall a better leader. There came a point about 3 years ago that I began to think about what the future would look like—how I could use my skills to help ISSTD as a system work better. In the President role, I could make change in ways that it was not really possible to achieve as Treasurer.
Tell us a little about what your ideas are for your tenure.
One thing that I did during my tenure as President-Elect was formalize a procedure for managing Code of Conduct complaints. I think that developing solid policies and procedures helps people avoid reinventing the wheel, reduce the risk of bias, and more effectively manage conflicts of interest. A big focus for me this year—as it was during my time as Treasurer—is transparency. Specifically, ensuring that everyone has the information they need to make informed decisions and feel connected in ways that increase personal satisfaction as well as investment in the Society. Overlapping with this is my desire to support the Board’s continued transition from being a historically operational entity to being a truly strategic one, which means that the bulk of the core administrative work is entrusted to paid staff.
How do the Board and the Executive Committee work together?
I have worked closely with the CEO [Mary Pat Hanlin] to develop a framework to better ensure that the Board and the Executive Committee have increased bilateral communication. We continue to make strides, as well, to improve the flow of information among the Committee Roundtable, SIG/ROC [Special Interest Groups; Regional Online Communities] leadership, and the Board. This coming year I really want to ensure that people have a felt sense of my presence. My plan this year is to attend every committee meeting and group, at least on a quarterly basis. If I’m going to facilitate open communication, I need a clearer understanding of where the gaps are. This is not a ‘once and done’ process, so I figure that I am only laying the groundwork for others to continue.
What would your advice be to someone who would like to be involved in the ISSTD?
First, I would say that I know it is hard to get involved. When I first joined ISSTD, it never occurred to me to get involved. We didn’t have anything like we have now [online learning, ROCs, most of the SIGs, etc.]. We have so many more options for connecting than we did back then. And, there are so many ways to get involved other than volunteering. Sign up for ISSTD’s Book Club; the discussions in the Book Club over the past year or so have been amazing—so vibrant, so interesting. Or join a Special Interest Group or a Regional Online Community and participate in those chats and online meetings. These smaller communities can feel less intimidating. I felt intimidated when I first started, too. What I learned was that the more I got involved the less intimidating it felt. Ultimately, this isn’t about “you should be connected.” The Society is, hopefully, providing a safe place for us who do this really difficult work. This society doesn’t exist without us. It is about human presence and connection.
What kind of president do you want to be?
Well, I want to be a companion on the journey for our Members. Because of the pair of shoes that I’m wearing it is a lot easier to wedge open the door and get in. With that in mind, I want to get the door open and let other people through. However I can achieve that, based upon the material that we have to work with within ISSTD, I want to do. I want to make a difference for others.