First, let me begin by THANKING all of our members who support the work of the division throughout the year, and in particular, those who attended and supported our convention program in D.C. Without you we would not be successful.

As I reflected upon this year’s convention in D.C., the themes of relevance and practicality continued to surface for me. Through the leadership and vision of our current President Dr. Jeff Barnett, the convention program was met with much success. We had great attendance at our scheduled programs and activities, beginning with our program at 8 AM on Thursday morning, to Saturday’s membership meeting and social hour, and continuing with our closing programs on Sunday morning. Overall, it was a great success for the division. While each division aims to reach their membership with programs that are relevant, this task is not always easy. Here is what our “Secrets to Success” was for this year’s convention programming:

1. Presidential Mini-Convention Program: Essentials for Success in Independent Practice Throughout the Career-Span — Dr. Jeff Barnett

Our program’s content addressed the beginning stages of opening a practice, getting licensed, all the way to closing a practice and retiring. In addition, we had programming addressing multicultural diversity. Historically, division 42 has not provided members with this particular program in a consistent way. This is going to change for the division and we are hopeful that our members will respond positively to this kind of programming. We are grateful to all the presenters who dedicated their time to presenting for us and for taking the time to submit an article on each of their presentations that was published in our handbook for success.

2. Handbook For Success In Independent Practice/Membership Appreciation Meeting

Our handbook this year consisted of all the presentations from our Presidential Mini-Convention. It is a great way to read more about presentations that you attended, and want to learn more about, or to read for the first time presentations you could not attend. The handbook allows our members to educate themselves beyond the convention by taking presentations “home” with them; and the information is relevant and applicable to your professional lives. . It is simply stated, useful. We distributed the handbooks at our annual Membership Appreciation Meeting with great success. In fact, we had several new members join the division during the convention this year so they could receive it. If you did not receive a copy and would like one, please contact Jeannie Beeaff at div42apa@cox.net

3. Hospitality Suite — Frank Froman

Need I say more. I am almost positive that most of you reading thissummary are familiar with Frank Froman, a.k.a. Marve. Some months back, Frank sent Jeff and me an email stating how important he felt it was that we gave members an opportunity to meet one another BEFORE convention rather than wait until the convention is over for folks to get to know one another. What an interesting concept? Through the guidance and leadership of Anabel Bejarano, Associate Program Chair, the hospitality suite was revitalized this year for the first time in several years. As we conceptualized the convention programming, we could not envision the program without the suite. In fact, members responded very positively to it, and have asked that we continue to have suite programming every year, which the Division intends to do. The suite programmingconsisted of meet and greets for our full members and student/early career members, discussions with authors Dr. A.J. Franklin who discussed his book, From Brotherhood to Manhood: How Black Men Rescue their Relationships and Dreams from the Invisibility Syndrome and Dr. Don Franklin discussing his forthcoming book, Effective and Ethical Marketing for Mental Health Professionals. In addition, we had two intimate discussions that were well attended. Jeff Barnett and Mitch Hicks led a discussion on “Negotiating the Supervisory Relationship” and Frank Froman and Marty Manosevitz led a discussion on “How to be a Financially Successful Psychologist”.

4. Student Poster Session/Social Hour

This was our second year for the student poster session at our Social Hour. A big thank you goes to Dr. Mitch Hicks for coordinating our poster session this year. We were excited about this year’s poster session because we had a larger number of high qualityposters submitted this year. Each year we give out five $200.00 travel scholarships to those students with research/practice areas that are most relevant to the mission of the division and to our convention theme for each year. Thank you to all the students and early career folks who submitted.

In addition, we had Division 42 book authors selling their books at the Social Hour.

5. Overall Programming

I repeatedly heard throughout the convention how wonderful, relevant, and practical attendees found the programming. The Relevancy of the proposals demonstrates how alive and thriving practice is in the field of psychology.

Lastly, I would like to thank you for your support of my efforts as Program Chair this year. It was an honor and pleasure to serve the division and its members in this capacity. I would be remiss if I did not thank the other members of the program committee and the reviewers who volunteered their time to make this year’s program what it was. These individuals include:

Program Committee:

Past Chair: JOSEPHINE JOHNSON

Chair-Elect: ANABEL BEJARANO

President: JEFF BARNETT

President-Elect: LILLIAN COMAS-DIAZ

SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR REVIEWERS FOR THIS YEAR:

Jean Carter, Rita Dudley-Grant, Katherine Nordal, Michael Murphy, Bob Wernick, Tammy Martin-Causey, David Lutz , Kate Hays, Janet Reed. Bonnie Markham

Get ready for next year as Dr. Anabel Bejarano assumes the chair position and Dr. Tammy Martin-Causey assumes the associate chair position for next year’s convention programming. The theme for next year is, Expanding Your Practice: Diversity, Creativity and Spirituality. Please start thinking now of ideas for submissions to next year’s convention program. The call for submissions will appear in the fall issue of the APA Monitor. Please direct your questions to Dr. Bejarano at anabelbejarano2002@yahoo.com and to Dr. Martin-Causey at tammymc@cox.net.

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