In these Chapters primary process, community, challenge/support, autonomy and just being human is valued and honored above all else. Although the governance of CPSP includes the Governing Council as the final authority, most would agree that the real power and the genius of the CPSP resides in the Chapters, not the Governing Council. Our postmodern heritage would not have it otherwise.

CPSP Chapter life has become a profound development. It exists no where else I know of in professional organizations to the extent it does in the CPSP. It is prized above all else in our community. Through the years we've learned you don't mess around with Chapters. If you do, it is at your peril.

Chapters are in spirit a band of brothers and sisters who have shared not only their joys and successes but the dark hours of their souls with one another. It is the latter that has created a bond and even a love that will not let them go. They stand with and for one another in ways that we who are outside of their Chapter could never grasp or comprehend. Even seeking to do so is like treading as an uninvited guest on holy ground. I'm always resistant at Governing Council meetings when Conveners are requested to report on their Chapter life. At some level I feel as if we are being requested to betray the sacred and I'm relieved when Conveners awkwardly provide a few superficial remarks and then we move on around the table until the ritual is completed.

How could we portray or even dare speak of the meaning and experience of Chapter life? How could we possibly find words to convey the meaning of the gift of being in a community where lives and professions have been altered, even saved by the love and challenge these band of sisters and brothers livening amongst one another in their Chapters provide? It is too intimate, too personal and too profound for words.