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Division 42 2006 Annual Report

Lillian Comas-Diaz

This has been a productive year for Division 42. The Board of Directors worked hard and approved several initiatives to promote professional psychology. Following I highlight some of these accomplishments:

Advocacy

Task Force: After lengthy discussions on how to best advocate on behalf of our members, the Board of Directors voted to retain the Division’s C-3 tax designation as an educational organization. Such decision allows the Division to continue its work on advocacy conforming to APA C-3 tax status. The Board of Directors established a Task Force on Advocacy and appointed Jeff Barnett (chair), Laura Barbanel, Jean Carter, Bonnie Markham, and Lillian Comas-Diaz to develop the Division’s advocacy mission.

Advocacy Mission: The Board approved the following advocacy goals:

  1. Develop an advocacy agenda for Division 42,
  2. Seek ways of pursing and supporting this advocacy agenda through all available means and resources,
  3. Seek active input from members in developing this advocacy agenda,
  4. Communicate actively with the members of Division 42
  5. Work closely and actively with other advocacy groups to ensure that they aggressively support and pursue our shared advocacy goals.

The Task Force members forged a working alliance with the Association for the Advancement of Psychology (AAP/PLAN) (the profession of Psychology’s National PAC) and decided to co-host a reception with them at the APA State Leadership Conference in March 2007. This will support advocacy efforts by AAP and will be an opportunity to actively recruit new members to the division. Additionally, Jeff Barnett (Task Force chair) worked with Division 55 (Psychopharmacology) in the planning of an Advocacy Summit.

Advocacy Liaison: I appointed Jean Carter--past Division 42 presidentóas our official liaison to both CAPP and to its Integration Work Group.  This renewed relationship afforded an opportunity to continue to work on strengthening our Federal Advocacy role.

Advocacy Continuing Committee: Due to the importance of advocacy for our members the Board discussed ‘graduating’ the Task Force into a continuing committee. The intention was to mainstream advocacy activities into the Division. The Board expanded the committee composition beyond the Presidential Trio (President, President Elect, Past president), to include the Treasurer, and Federal Advocacy Coordinator, in addition to other experts.

Membership

Ambassador’s Program: Psychologists in Independent Practice is the largest division in APA. However our numbers are declining and this trend appears to be common among many APA divisions. To address this concern, the Division 42 Membership Committee, chaired by Miguel Gallardo, developed an energetic initiative to recruit new members, particularly Early Career Psychologists. The committee members-Lisa Grossman, Josephine Johnson, Monica Neel, Valerie L. Shebroe, and Ilene Serlin established a State Ambassador’s program whereby Board members and other volunteers became Division 42 representatives in order to recruit new members. Valerie L. Shebroe developed a superb plan to engage colleagues in state psychological organizations. This plan will be fully implemented in 2007.

Affiliate Member: As part of the membership recruitment initiative, the committee submitted a proposal to the Board for the creation of an affiliate member category. The Board approved the proposal to open our doors to psychologists in independent practice who are not members of APA. This proposal, which entailed a change in our bylaws, required membership approval. The members voted to approve the proposal to create an affiliate member category in December 2006. The new member category will follow APA’s definition of who is a psychologist. Thus, to be eligible, a person needs to hold a doctorate from an APA accredited institution and be licensed to practice psychology. Psychologists in the non-APA member Affiliate category will pay regular dues and receive full services, but will be ineligible to run for divisional leadership positions or vote in the division’s elections. They may serve as members of Division 42 committees and task forces.

Membership brochure: The committee members revised the membership brochure. This revision included the category of ethnicity/race for new members in order to track recruitment efforts. The committee also identified several outlets for targeting new members such as early career psychologists (ECPs), licensed psychologists who pay the special assessment but are not 42 members, graduate students, psychologists of color, and others.

Task Force on Member Retention

The Board of Directors reaffirmed the commitment to increase its services and benefits provided to members. As part of this initiative, the Board appointed a Task Force on Member Retention. Co-chaired by Rita Dudley-Grant and Nancy Molitor, the task force also included Robert Wernick, Frank Froman, Laura Froman, plus ex-officio members Laura Barbanel and Lillian Comas-Diaz. They developed two surveys to gather data on how to best service our members. The Task Force members designed the ‘Quality of Membership’ survey with the expert help of our consultant Laura Froman. The survey’s results will be available in 2007 and will be used to enhance division services for psychologists in full and part-time independent practice. The second task force survey, ‘Division 42 Exit Interview,’ was devised to study members who don’t renew their Division 42 membership. Survey data are currently being collected. The results will help our recruitment/ retention plans and to address members needs in more detail.

Publications and Communications

The Publications and Communications Committee had a prolific year. This committee is composed of John Rudisill (chair), John Norcross, Linda Campbell, Mike Murphy, Ed Lundeen, Frank Froman, Don Franklin, and Gordon Herz.

Independent Practitioner: Editor Ed Lundeen and Associate Editor Frank Froman implemented several changes to improve the content of the IP. Some of these changes include the addition of more articles with clinical and business applications for practitioners. They examined the inclusion of CE credits for articles published in the IP. Additionally, they improved the look of our publication by adding another color.

Division 42 Web page: Editor Gordon Herz and Associate Editor Don Franklin maintained and updated our web page. They improved our cyber persona by adding features such as articles, news, ads, and other relevant information for practitioners. For useful information on clinical issues and on how to improve your practice, visit Division 42 web page: www.division42.org
Cyber policy: The Publications and Communications committee developed and implemented a policy for the conduct of Division 42 Internet list. This cyber policy aimed to maintain proper etiquette and to insure a meaningful and respectful communication. Gordon Herz, our Web editor, spearheaded this process.

Continuing Education

The members of the continuing Education Committee, Laura brown (co-chair), Ilene Serlin (co-chair) and Robert Wernick examined diverse technology (such as Ipod and MP3) to improve the quality of our continuing education courses. They are in the process of gathering data.

On line Courses: Due to the success of the 2005 Marketing on line distance course, the Board authorized Jana Martin, Tammy Martin-Causey, and John Rudisill (course authors) to repeat the course this year. I authored, in collaboration with Toy Caldwell-Colbert, past president Division 45- Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues, an online course: ‘Applying the APA Multicultural Guidelines to Psychological Practice’. The course is currently being Beta tested to ascertain the number of CE credits offered. Members of Divisions 42, 45 and 17 can register for $30 while non-members will pay $42. You can register to take the course at www.division42.org/ContEd

Presidential Task Force on Expanding the Business of Practice

I appointed Tammy Martin-Causey to chair my presidential Task Force on Expanding the Business of Practice. The task force examined this emerging area of practice—Partnering with Business— in order to identify variables that contribute to the success of this endeavor. Other Task Force members included Lynne Hornyak, Nancy Molitor, Brain Ramirez, and Diane Sanford. The members used different methods to gather data. One of the methods was the ‘Partnering with Business’ survey. Results offer a roadmap to colleagues interested in expanding their practices through this area. Additionally, the Task Force studied concierge practices and offered helpful suggestions to expand independent practice using this alternative practice model. The Task Force’s full report is available from the Division 42 Central Office.

Committee on Student/Early Career Psychologist

The Board reaffirmed its commitment to have a Student/Early Career Psychologist appointed to each division committee and task force. Monica Neel was elected chair of the Committee on Student/Early Career Psychologist. Other committee members included Mitch Hicks, Anabel Bejarano, Imran Riaz, Tara Wagner, and Miguel Gallardo. All of them have participated in the governance of our Division. These committee members were active in recruiting students and early career psychologists. They sponsored a student poster session and competition at the Social Hour at the APA convention division convention and hosted events for students and ECP in the Division 42 Hospitality Suite at Convention

Convention

Program: Our annual convention in New Orleans was very successful. Members had the opportunity to attend practice related sessions, obtain CE credits, and communicate with colleagues and friends. The Division offered 22 symposia (both 1 hour and 50 minute plus 50 minute sessions), 3 workshops, and two poster sessions. We provided 8 hours of substantive convention programming in our Hospitality Suite. Additionally, we showcased student posters and books published by authors who are members of Division 42 during our Social Hour.

Volunteers’ Reception: Division 42 hosted a reception for independent practitioners who volunteered their services to the 2005 Hurricane relief. The Division ‘gave psychology away’ through this reception attended by about 50 practitioners. We provided the honorees with an artistic poster with the phrase: ‘The power of water, the power of resilience, the power of psychologists’, created by Alan Entin with input from Jana Martin and Tammy Martin-Causey.

Division 42 Awards

The Board was very pleased to recognize colleagues that have made exceptional contributions to professional psychology. Following I include the awards and the honorees’ names:

Student Awards:

Promotion of Professional Psychology

Print: Several Board members were showcased in an article on independent practice published in the March 2006 APA Monitor on ‘How psychologists change: Everyday epiphanies-therapists reveal standout moments that made them better practitioners’. Some of the featured psychologists included Division 42 members Bonnie Markham, Alan Entin and Lillian Comas-Diaz.
Nancy Molitor, member of the Task Force on Expanding the Business of Practice and incoming Division 42 Secretary, was quoted in ‘Psychotherapy Finances’, 2006 32, 9, 389 on ‘Ten Tips for Improving your Practice Yield’. Tammy Martin-Causey, chair of the Task Force Expanding the Business of Practice, was also quoted in the same publication on the topic ‘How to market your practice’.

Television: Laura S. Brown (co-chair Continuing Education) appeared on the TV show ‘Jeopardy.’ Her successful performance promoted a positive image of psychologists in the general public.

APA presidential candidates: The Board developed an evaluation mechanism to assess APA presidential candidates’ position on professional psychology. With input from the Board, Past President Jeff Barnett designed a series of questions to be submitted to the candidates. The questions and the candidates’ responses were published in the Independent Practitioner.

Collaboration with other APA Divisions and psychological organizations

Immigration Summit: In February 2006 Division 42 co-sponsored an APA Immigration Summit with several APA Divisions (among them 35, 12, 45, 29, 39, 27). This successful event attracted 280 attendees.

Advocacy Summit: Division 42 Board voted to co-sponsor a Summit: “Advocacy in Service of Psychology and the Public Welfare: Privilege, Prescriptions and Primary Care” with Division 55. Jeff Barnett was a member of the planning committee. The Advocacy Summit will be held on February 8-11, 200. Laura Barbanel (2007 president) and Robert Resnick (Board of Directors member) will present at the summit. Other co-sponsoring groups include: American Psychological Association - Practice Directorate, Florida Psychological Association, New Mexico Psychological Association, Division 18 -Psychologists in Public Service, Division 31 -State, Provincial and Territorial Psychological Association Affairs, Alliant University, Fairleigh Dickinson University, and Southwestern Institute for the Advancement of Psychology.

Comments to APA groups: Division 42 task forces provided formal comments to APA official documents. Chaired by Melba Vasquez, a task force reviewed and offered comments to the revised APA Record Keeping Guidelines. A Task Force composed by Jeff Younggren (co-chair), and Lenore Walker (co-chair) provided substantive feedback to the APA Forensic Specialty Guidelines. Other members of the Task Force included, Glenn Ally, Steven Bloom, David Shapiro, and Martin Williams.

Diversity Initiatives

Bilingual Brochure on Why to seek a Psychologist: The Board approved the publication of a bilingual (English/Spanish) brochure on educating the general public on why to see a psychologist. This brochure will promote professional psychologists and Division 42 among the growing Latino population. Anabel Bejarano and Miguel Gallardo are coordinating this effort.
Novel Project: The Diversity Committee, chaired by Kristin Hancock, initiated a section in our web and print communications. This section, the Novel Project, offered recommendations on fiction books to help members enhance their cultural knowledge.

Cross cutting convention program: Division 42 presented a cross cutting session during the convention co-sponsored by divisions 17 (Counseling Psychology) and 45 (Ethnic Minority Issues). Lillian Comas-Diaz chaired the program and several Division 42 members on: Infusing Diversity into Psychology: Challenge, Initiative and Commitment.

Task Force on the Division’s 25 Anniversary Celebration

The year 2007 marks our Division’s 25 th anniversary. Laura Barbanel, incoming President, appointed a Task Force to plan the Silver celebration. Chaired by Alan Entin (Division 42 Historian) the Task Force will prepare program sessions that promise to chronicle our division’s accomplishments during the last 25 years and to foresee the future of independent practice in the next quarter of century.

A Personal Note

It has been my privilege and honor to serve the Division as president. The Board of Directors and other volunteer members have contributed to make 2006 a fruitful year for independent practice. Gracias to all of you. Special thanks to our Administrator, Ms. Jeannie Beeaff, who has provided constant sustenance to our Division.

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