Happy new year to you, your families and your colleagues.
Last year brought us many successes:
- APA's amicus brief contributed to legalizing same-sex marriage.
- APA issued a report on the effects of war on refugee children and families and advocated for emergency funds for Syrian refugees.
- APA internship grants improved the supply-demand imbalance.
- APA adopted a policy to have at least one early career psychologist on every APA board and committee.
- The APA Practice Organization helped secure stable reimbursement for psychologists by repealing the sustainable growth rate formula.
Last year also brought us sobering moments. APA commissioned and released to the public an independent review (IR) of APA's policies regarding psychologist participation in "enhanced interrogation" (or torture) post-9/11. After absorbing the report's important lessons, I and many other APA leaders and members made a strong commitment to review, reflect on, revise and reinspire ourselves with the values that brought us to psychology in the first place — integrity, compassion, evidence-based decision-making, social justice and a belief in the ability of humans to heal, grow and change.
After the release of the IR, many people asked me if my priorities as president have changed. I would say rather they have expanded — to improve not only the health of individuals and families, but the health of our association as well.
I remain dedicated to carrying out the initiatives I described when I ran for president, so that psychologists and APA can participate in and influence health-care reform to improve the health of our nation and beyond. These initiatives include:
- Convening a meeting of leading primary-care and behavioral health associations to further the delivery of integrated primary care. Not only will this meeting strengthen our connections with these groups, but it will also enable us to develop next steps to advance integrated primary care as a vehicle to improve comprehensive, whole-person care and improve accessibility to mental and behavioral health services.
- Forming a work group to develop a curriculum guide for an interprofessional graduate-level seminar on key topics in today's health-care environment, such as new models of leadership, team-based care and biopsychosocial, patient-centered approaches.
- Appointing a work group to describe cutting-edge issues and opportunities for psychologists in integrated specialty care.
- Forming a work group to focus on team science, to examine and report the predictors of success for interdisciplinary research teams and health-care teams, and to develop criteria for an APA Team Science Award.
In addition, my presidency will address the serious issues identified by the IR. In particular, we need to ask ourselves: Does our behavior match our stated values? Is serving the public at the center of our priorities? Is APA's decision-making transparent, and are our processes fair and equitable? Fortunately, APA's many gifted and dedicated members, students and staff are helping us grapple with these challenging questions.
Actions we have taken already include:
- Appointing a commission of psychologists and nonpsychologist ethicists to review and recommend changes to our ethics processes and procedures to ensure they meet the highest standards of quality, integrity and protection of human rights.
- Appointing a work group to review and recommend updates to our conflict-of-interest policy.
- Sending letters to the Department of Defense, the White House and other national leaders informing them of the APA Council of Representative's decision to prohibit psychologists' involvement in national security interrogations.
- Meeting with military psychologists to reiterate our commitment to and support for their contributions.
Many eyes from both within and outside our organization are on APA at this time, watching hopefully for continued action in addressing the issues raised by the IR. Strengthening our association will take time. I am committed to ensuring that we maximize our learning and tangibly improve during this period of reflection and reorganization.
Finally, thank you to those who wrote to me and other APA leaders to share your thoughts and your support, and to those of you who, with your membership, demonstrate your willingness to help strengthen our community from within. I welcome your ideas, concerns, energy and commitment to APA. Please join me in working to bolster the health of individuals, families and APA.
Contact me by email.