It’s been less than a year since the Council of Representatives adopted APA’s strategic plan, yet in that short time, it’s clear that the association’s work is increasingly coalescing around these priorities and beginning to take APA and psychology to the next level. Three initiatives over the past several weeks—one on the world stage, another focused on mental health in the United States and a third within our association—illustrate this point.
The first is our work to partner with global leaders to address climate change. For the first time ever, the world’s psychological associations gathered for an International Summit on Psychology’s Contributions to Global Health, co-hosted by APA and the Order of Portuguese Psychologists, Nov. 14–16, in Lisbon, Portugal. We chose to focus on climate change, a threat that requires solutions informed by psychologists’ expertise in behavioral change. During the summit, leaders from more than 40 psychological associations pledged to work to address climate change in their respective countries. Together, we promised to use our professional, scientific, educational, cultural and applied resources “to achieve progress on matters of utmost importance for which psychology offers the greatest contribution.”
The energy and excitement around this commitment cannot be overstated. This work will not only position psychology to address arguably one of the greatest challenges facing society, but also serve as a model for future collaborations that highlight the importance of how psychological science can be used to address key issues. Importantly, through this global partnership, we can learn from our colleagues about how to increase the visibility of psychology and help others understand the broad range of issues to which our science can be applied.
Another example of how we are elevating psychology in line with our strategic priorities is with our latest APA Stress in America surveyopens in new window, which we conduct each year to draw attention to the indisputable link between the mind, body and health and to position psychologists as experts on stress. The survey garners tens of thousands of media mentions and millions of impressions on social media, collectively generating millions of dollars’ worth of media coverage—last year’s survey was valued at $22.4 million.
This year, guided by our new strategic priorities, we are approaching this work differently: Rather than releasing a once-a-year, standalone report, we are expanding our stress initiatives and delivering them throughout the year, providing more timely and relevant information with the ultimate goal of making APA the public’s go-to source for stress information. For example, in the immediate aftermath of the mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, in August, APA conducted a brief survey that found one-third of U.S. adults say a fear of mass shootings prevents them from going to certain places or events. That finding resulted in strong media coverage—which leads the public to our website, where we now offer a wealth of new articles and resources on stress and ways to cope with it. This work strategically connected to our latest Stress in America survey, released Nov. 4, which found that mass shootings are now the most common source of stress cited by U.S. adults. This latest finding has already been covered in scores of media outlets, also bringing further attention to our considerable work on gun violence prevention and broadening people’s understanding of the issues psychology touches.
And it’s not just the media that are noticing: Last month, when an APA senior legislative affairs officer had the opportunity to meet former Vice President Joe Biden and told him where she worked, he replied, “The APA! You guys just put out a report saying that 7 in 10 Americans are stressed out by the fear of mass shootings. We’ve got to do something about that.”
That anecdote—and the wealth of coverage we receive on our Stress in America survey—underscore the fact that more and more people are turning to APA as a trusted, authoritative voice on a variety of topics. To truly have a far-reaching impact, we must continue to help policymakers and the general public understand that psychologists’ expertise involves a broad range of issues, including but not limited to mental health.
A third example of how we are positioning APA and the field of psychology to have a greater impact is through the organization’s approach to the issues of equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI). As you know, Dawnavan Davis, PhD, joined APA as our Chief Diversity Officer in May to build on the existing foundation of APA’s wide-ranging EDI work and lead efforts to meaningfully infuse EDI throughout all we do. This effort is essential to ensuring our work positively impacts all people and adequately prepares the discipline and profession for the future.
To do this successfully, EDI cannot be viewed as something separate and distinct from the rest of the association’s work. Instead, EDI must be a lens through which we conceptualize and carry out everything we do, intentionally exploring and incorporating diverse viewpoints upfront, not as an afterthought. For example, in APA’s work on opioids, we believe that careful consideration of EDI upfront will strengthen the architecture of the initiative and ultimately help us to develop more effective solutions to the crisis.
These are just some of the recent ways we are using APA’s strategic priorities to better carry out our mission and advance the field, and we are just beginning. I am inspired by the work of APA’s governance, volunteers and staff to think and work in new ways, and I look forward to building on these successes in the year ahead.
