All of us who serve as APA president come into the office hoping to make a lasting difference. We all want our work to live on and grow beyond the presidential year. That’s why I was so gratified to hear from psychologists around the nation—in fact, from around the world—that they are embracing and spreading the vision of my Citizen Psychologist initiative. As Alaskan psychologist Dr. Ruddy M. Taylor told me, "We are taking your mantra ‘Psychology Is Every Day In Every Way’ and recognizing our first Alaskan Citizen Psychologist." This is exactly what I hoped for when I first launched the initiative, which honors psychologists who, through public service, volunteerism and other actions, are changing our world by using their psychological expertise in efforts outside their day-to-day careers. The initiative also includes an education module that guides psychologists on ways they can use their expertise to improve community well-being locally, nationally or globally.
On page 50, I invite you to meet the 30 Citizen Psychologists who had been named as this issue of the Monitor went to press. They include Dr. Donell Barnett, who is working to revitalize and strengthen the community of Langston, Oklahoma; Dr. Kim Baranowski, who is providing pro bono services to promote the rights and psychological health of asylum seekers in New York; and Dr. Catherine Cook-Cottone, who offers free yoga and mindfulness classes to inner-city schools, hospitals, community centers and treatment centers in western New York.
In addition to launching the Citizen Psychologist initiative, I am also very proud of the work we did this year to draw attention to issues of race, ethnicity and social class. One highlight was the keynote address by Equal Justice Initiative Founder and Executive Director Bryan Stevenson, JD, at APA’s 2018 Annual Convention. A tireless legal advocate for the powerless in the U.S. criminal justice system, Stevenson is perhaps best known for initiating the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, in Montgomery, Alabama, which honors the over 4,400 African-Americans who were lynched from 1877 to 1950. I was truly amazed by the large number of convention attendees who shared with me how much they loved his talk—as well as the celebratory feeling of the convention’s opening session.
Now, as my presidential year comes to an end, I want to thank the many people who devoted their substantial time and energy to further this work. I am delighted to say that these efforts seem to be only the beginning. We have struck a chord among psychologists that will resonate even more powerfully in the future to achieve APA’s mission to "benefit society and improve people’s lives."