Ellen Garrison, PhD, was awarded a 2022 Presidential Citation in recognition for her lifetime of service to the discipline and profession of psychology and her nearly thirty years of leadership, guidance, and expertise to advance the American Psychological Association’s (APA) impact on a broad range of complex public policies in the United States and across the globe. Her unique talent for diplomacy, perseverance, and commitment to collaboration have ensured APA’s transformation into the impactful and increasingly global association we are today.
Garrison served as APA’s senior policy advisor to the CEO since 2006. In this role, she functioned as the CEO’s chief advisor and representative on policy issues and inter-organizational affairs, as well as serving on the association’s Executive Leadership Team and overseeing the Office of International Affairs.
Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Garrison received her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Northwestern University and her PhD in Psychology from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign with a minor in law. She came to Washington after being selected by the Society for Research in Child Development as a Congressional Science Fellow through the American Association for the Advancement of Science Program. As a fellow, she worked in the office of Pennsylvania Senator, Arlen Specter, where she was able to apply her psychological training and expertise to improving federal juvenile justice and child welfare programs.
Having seen firsthand the impact of psychological science at the national level, Garrison found APA to be the perfect place to marry two of her passions: psychology and policy. In 1984, she joined the APA in the Office of Legislative Affairs to advance advocacy on behalf of children, youth, and families. In that role, she worked with congressional offices and executive agencies in drafting federal legislation and regulations in such areas as child abuse, juvenile justice, and education for children with disabilities.
Garrison served in this position for six years before she left APA to apply her background in child psychology to programmatic work in the Maryland area. Applying her passion for both mental health and public policy, she served as the founding director of the AMIGO program, a school-based mental health program that served 1,050 Latino and other at-risk children and families in 14 elementary schools in Montgomery County, Maryland, from January of 1991 through June of 1997. Additionally, her work at the University of Maryland School of Mental Health Assistance enabled her to hone her skills in collaboration. As a natural convenor and diplomat, Garrison recognized the critical role and power of collaboration by bringing together school administrators, educators, school-and community-based mental health personnel, students, and their families to enhance the learning environment of schools.
She returned to APA in 1998 to lead the APA’s Public Interest Public Policy Office and was in this position until 2006. In this role, she led the association’s Congressional Fellowship Program and a team of policy experts dedicated to improving mental health and health equity for underserved communities, including children, older adults, racial, ethnic and religious communities, and individuals with disabilities, HIV, and AIDS.
In 2006, Garrison became the Senior Policy Advisor to the CEO of APA and remained in that role until her retirement in 2022. She has played key roles in ensuring that psychology is infused into public policy, most notably around issues like integrated care, mental health parity, and education and training provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Her decades of experience and her supportive leadership style have also helped to grow and enhance the impact of APA’s Office of International Affairs. The profound depth and detail of her institutional memory is one of her strongest assets and will be greatly missed.
As a school psychologist and the 2022 President of the American Psychological Association, it is my honor to present this presidential Citation to Ellen Garrison, PhD.