APA continues to evolve as an organization, guided by a new strategic plan adopted by APA’s Council of Representatives. As part of that work, we are evolving our communications strategies to be more proactive, more story-centric and more present in the national news. We rely on psychological science, the broad expertise of our members, and the critical value psychology brings to the table in our goal to communicate the importance of psychology and psychologists in ways that people will listen to and respond to.
The goal is higher quality and wider reach.
For instance, timed to coincide with APA 2019, we developed a strategy to showcase the ways psychologists make a positive impact on critical societal issues by working together in their different, yet interdependent roles. We focused on one of the many big issues where psychology can help move the dial—suicide. With a cover story in the July/August Monitor, a standing room only convention main stage event, and coverage through our podcast, on social media and on the website, this approach elevated psychology’s role in addressing this seemingly intractable issue to a wider audience.
Because of the strategies we are using, psychology is shaping national conversations around many issues, including immigration, poverty and gun violence. We are talking to news organizations, policymakers and the public. We are making waves through our podcast—APA’s “Speaking of Psychology,” which just taped its 100th episode, has been downloaded 1.5 million times and ranks in Apple’s top 10 life science podcasts. We are sharing the work of our members on social media, through digital media, and in the Monitor and its new companion app, APA Monitor+.
And we are moving quickly and strategically to ensure psychological science and expertise is included on the national stage through the news media, as evidenced by the 260% increase in media outlets mentioning APA between 2018 and 2019.
We are working to communicate psychology to the world.
I am proud of APA’s successes in raising the visibility of our field. Let’s continue to work to elevate psychology and develop solutions to impact the issues that matter to APA’s members and society.
