News for the Membership of Division 29 from Libby Nutt Williams, Membership Domain Representative February 6, 2008
I recently returned from representing Division 29 at the APA Division Leadership Conference in Washington DC. The weekend was kicked off by Alan Kazdin, APA President, and CODAPAR (Committee on Division/APA Relations). The point of the DLC was to convey information about APA (Division Services, Publications Office, Legal Council, Web Redesign) and to encourage interdivisional networking. I learned a lot of interesting things and wanted to share them with our membership. In particular, I thought you might be interested in five particular points as they relate directly to initiatives in Division 29:
First, under the direction of APA President Alan Kazdin, two Divisions (35 and 56) are coordinating a Summit on Violence and Abuse in Interpersonal Relationships on February 28 - 29, 2008 at the Hyatt Regency, Bethesda, MD. Division 29 is a co-sponsor of the Summit and I encourage members to attend. You can find information about registration at: http://www.reisman-white.com/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=22
James Bray, APA President-Elect (a Division 29 member and recent member of the Division 29 Board), gave his early ideas on presidential initiatives for 2009 – all tying together with a theme of looking “outward” from psychology. Here is a summary of some of those ideas:
Psychotherapy Summit: He would like to organize some kind of Summit on the future of psychotherapy practice.
Changes to Convention Programming: He is interested in rethinking the Convention structure and suggested a possible “convention-within-convention” model where Divisions could allocate some of their hours to shared programming in more of a workshop format. (By the way, the number of hours each Division is given for Convention depends on a complex equation involving both membership size AND how many conference attendees at the last Convention put the Division as their ‘number 1’ affiliation. So, put 29 first on your convention form!!)
Social Justice and Diversity: He would like to explore two issues here – addressing the “glass ceiling” both within and outside psychology through women’s leadership development and enhancing psychology’s response to homelessness.
Membership: A session on membership issues was very enlightening – we have divisional liaisons to several membership groups, including the International Office, APAGS, and the Early Career Psychologists (ECP) Committee. As your Membership Domain Representative, I will take their recommendations to our Membership Committee, ECP Domain Rep, and Student Rep for discussion. One interesting point to note is that there is a new “Outstanding Division Award” for divisions doing innovative things for students. The deadline for this year was Jan. 31, but we should pursue this opportunity for next year.
Diversity: Norman Anderson, CEO, gave an update on several issues, including discussion of a Diversity Plan that exists for APA (with implementation suggestions embedded within it). The plan has not been well coordinated or integrated into the workings of APA. Thus, a new position – Chief Diversity Officer at the APA – has been proposed to Council. Anderson hopes to begin recruiting for the position in late 2008.
Practice: The hot topics for the Practice Directorate these days are:
Fighting Medicare cuts and working on the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative
Mental Health Parity
Prescription privileges legislation in the states
Class action lawsuits (relating to managed care companies)
Public education on mind/body health, including a “tool kit” for psychologists interested in taking the issue out into their local community, a stress and coping survey, psychologically healthy workplace awards, and parent coordination services (relating to child custody disputes)
As your Membership Domain Representative, I am happy to share information with you. I would also like to be in greater contact with the membership and encourage you to contact me with questions and ideas.
