President's Message

These are exciting times in Division 42. Your Division 42 Board of Directors held its midwinter meeting in Hollywood, California on January 29 and 30, 2005. The Board meeting followed the National Multicultural Conference and Summit. Division 42 was a major supporter of the Summit and had a significant presence there. Additionally, we hosted a reception where we were joined by the leaders of Divisions 17 (Counseling Psychology), 44 (Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Issues), and 45 (Ethnic Minority Issues). It was a great opportunity for these leaders and our Board members to meet informally to build on the work we are doing together this year to promote diversity issues within our profession. The reception was also attended by leaders of Division 39 (Psychoanalysis) our partner in our Interdivisional Task Force on managed Care and Health Care Policy.

Ongoing collaborations will continue. In fact, our President Elect, Lillian Comas-Diaz, is already at work planning ways to build on and continue this work next year.

Our Division 42 Board meeting was an amazing experience for me. The room was filled with so many high energy people who are committed to promoting independent practice and whose volunteer efforts really make a difference. Please look at the inside cover of this issue to see who all these fine volunteers are. I’m continually impressed by the dedication and commitment of these colleagues. The minutes of the meeting will soon be available on our website for you to review, but highlights include:

ongoing work to promote the protection and enhancement of practitioner income. We’re currently researching legal aspects of creating a C-6 companion organization and developing a plan for your consideration. Other ways of helping you to be successful in practice are being developed.
an active and growing continuing education program associated with our PICK 42 niche guides. New niche guides are being developed and each will have a continuing education module that goes along with it.
the creation of new non-dues revenue sources for the division to include promoting advertising here in the IP and on our website, 42 Online. Visit here for our new Classified Ads section on our website.
the development of a public education brochure and a distance learning course on marketing your practice for the future.
an active new Division 42 mentoring program, Colleague to Colleague (C2C) coordinated by Frank Froman (Also Associate Editor of the IP and listserv aficionado). This program is for seasoned practitioners experiencing difficulties in their practices and independent practice neophytes alike. To sign up to be a mentor or to be paired with one contact Frank directly at frankf@adams.net .
we are actively monitoring and trying to influence the development of revised forensic practice guidelines that may have an adverse impact on practitioners in their forensic work. A great group of independent practitioners with forensic expertise and guidelines experience are hard at work on our behalf.
a renewed membership recruitment campaign. Bring in a new member and both you and the new member will receive a free copy of our great new niche guide Launching a Successful Independent Practice by Roz Dorlen. Contact our Membership Chair, Lisa Grossman, at Lrgrossman@aol.com for information on other great incentives for bringing in new members. Please have a colleague join Division 42 and help strengthen our Division.

Many other exciting projects are ongoing. Of note is the great convention program we have planned for you at the APA Convention in Washington, D.C. from August 18-21, 2005. Your Convention Chairs, Miguel Gallardo and Anabel Bejarano, have put together a convention program that is packed with great presentations. We will have a pre-convention workshop “Psychotherapy with Lesbians and Gay Men: Surviving and Thriving Between a Rock and a Hard Place” presented by Beverly Greene and Gladys Croom and one on The Implementation of the Multicultural Guidelines presented by Patricia Arrendondo and Thomas Parham. In addition to the many fine submissions accepted for our convention program that cover a wide range of interests and issues there is a Presidential Miniconvention including 11 workshops by many of the nation’s top experts that take the practitioner from graduate school to retirement planning (and covering pretty much everything in between). In addition to their presentations, each presenter has prepared their remarks in advance. These have been edited into a new book, the Handbook for Success in Independent Practice that Miguel and I have edited. It will be distributed free to all Division 42 members at our Annual Member Appreciation Meeting on Saturday, August 20, 2005 at 4:00pm. Be sure to be there for this great opportunity and valuable member benefit. Copies of the new handbook will be available for sale later to those who can’t be there. A convention program insert will be included in the next IP that provides details on our entire convention program. It will also include information about a number of surprises and great activities in our new hospitality suite program. But, for now, please make your plans to attend.

There is so much more going on in Division 42. Monthly e-mail alerts and announcements are sent out via our Announcement Only Listserv. To see past copies go here. To sign up and receive these monthly alerts contact me directly at drjbarnett1@comcast.net .

To become more involved in Division 42 please contact me or our President Elect, Lillian Comas-Diaz, at cultura@starpower.net . If you have any comments or questions, or if there are issues of concern you think Division 42 can address please contact me directly as well.

I’m very much enjoying serving as President of Division 42 this year and greatly appreciate being entrusted with this position of leadership. I want to hear from you, our members, so that along with our other Board, Committee, and Task Force members, I can be sure we are doing all we can to protect, preserve, and enhance the independent practice of psychology. I look forward to hearing from you and to our continued work together to advance the independent practice of psychology.

Best regards to all –

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