I was pleased to see President Biden address the national mental health crisis during the State of the Union. His speech reflected several of the priorities that APA and many of our members have worked on to address these critical issues. Please join me in thanking the elected and appointed leaders and staff across the association who have worked tirelessly to ensure that psychological science and expertise are at the forefront of these discussions.
As our country tries to address the wide range of mental health needs that exist and long-standing issues around access to and quality of mental health services, there is a promising recognition that the answers should be rooted in our science. The newly released White House Report on Mental Health Research Prioritiesopens in new window reflects APA/APA Services, Inc.’s concerted efforts to ensure our country invests in both psychology and psychologists during this critical time.
These advocacy efforts have been a true partnership among divisions, boards, committees, and staff, resulting in more than 75 regulatory comments in the last 12 months, all of which are helping to shape the policy environment in the executive branch. We have also seen the importance of psychology’s contributions to major reports like the Surgeon General’s Advisory on Protecting Youth Mental Health (PDF, 1 MB)opens in new window and the Surgeon General’s Advisory on Health Worker Burnout (PDF, 2.8 MB)opens in new window, as well as to legislation on issues like the impact of social media on children, among others. On this latter issue, our advocacy efforts have helped to move the issue of children’s online safety to the uppermost levels of government, including our support for the Kids Online Safety Act. In fact, on February 14, 2023, APA’s Chief Science Officer Mitch Prinstein, PhD, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the psychological science surrounding adolescent brain, social, and emotional development.
The Biden administration also rolled out a roadmap to help inform data collection on LGBTQI+ needs and improve LGBTQI+ rightsopens in new window, called The Federal Evidence Agenda on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex (LGBTQI+) Equity. This roadmap included recommendations directly tied to the two federal regulatory comments that APA submitted along with Division 44 and APA’s Committee on Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity.
APA/APASI is continuously pushing to elevate psychology and the expertise of our members on Capitol Hill and in the administration. The recently announced mental health research report and LGBTQI+ data collection roadmap are two good examples of how this collective hard work can positively influence policy and benefit society as a result.
Arthur C. Evans Jr., PhD
Chief Executive Officer/Executive Vice President
American Psychological Association