During many nights in college, my roommate Clarence and I would stay up late, hashing out the world’s problems and batting around ideas to address them. Issues like homelessness, community violence and deep poverty seemed intractable—but were they? We were young, driven and perhaps a bit naïve, but our passion for using what we had to help others has never faltered.
Decades later, we continue to exchange our ideas, but now as leaders of national organizations who have partnered to improve lives across the nation.
My former roommate is Clarence E. Anthony, CEO and executive director of the National League of Cities (NLC), which advocates for the nation’s cities and their leaders—a voice representing more than 200 million people. Given all the problems cities face that are grounded in human behavior, the alliance between APA and NLC is a natural fit. The COVID-19 pandemic and all its related behavioral challenges has made this partnership even more critical.
Together, we are helping city and county leaders cope with the unparalleled stress of the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the past few months, we’ve hosted a series of webinars on such topics as why self-care is important for effective leadership, how leaders can better communicate the psychological toll of the coronavirus and racism pandemics, and how they can decrease collective trauma being experienced in their communities. Now, we are exploring ways to align our organizations’ advocacy efforts on the 988 suicide-prevention hotline and to improve access to behavioral health services.
The APA/NLC alliance is just one example of how we are building partnerships to advance APA’s mission, get key messages out to broader audiences, and elevate others’ understanding and use of psychology during this challenging time. Teachers, parents and children are navigating the world of virtual learning and rethinking what “school” might look like. Employers are developing guidelines around returning to the workplace and often not considering the psychological safety of their employees. Rural communities are seeing more deaths of despair and searching for ways to increase access to culturally competent services.
Psychology is needed now more than ever. By forming a wide network of partnerships, APA can better reach those who would benefit most from our expertise.
Back in college, I knew that psychology could help solve problems that the world viewed as intractable but could not do it alone. The collective impact being generated through APA’s partnerships affirms this belief and provides bright hope for the future.