A Special Thanks to Division 42 Volunteers

During this economic downturn when time is most valuable, I am amazed at the many volunteers in 42 who are giving of their time to support activities for building strong independent practices for optimal client service.  There’s no way I could mention every name, but you know who you are. Members are involved in mentoring, advocacy, leadership, developing tools and resources and collaboration with other groups for the benefit of members and their clients. Thank you very much to all who are volunteering their time for the division.

Are We Stressed Yet?

As we work hard for the profession, I’m keenly aware that 42 members are especially stressed in this economy while trying to balance keeping their practices alive, family, and personal interests. Even though it seems as if there is no time to slow down, this is the time to take a break and determine what is important. It’s the time to engage in activities that will push our creativity and thinking outside the box. It is the perfect environment for change and I believe this economy is the motivation to move us forward into a better place for practice if psychologists join together with purpose.

Change Can Be Good for Our Practices

Our communications and practices are changing. The way we communicate with family and friends is changing. How many of you go to Facebook to see up-to-date pictures of your grandchildren’s activities? The way we provide psychological services and how we partner are changing.  We can choose to like or dislike the changes, but they are coming (and are here) nevertheless. Take a moment to listen to some of the materials released from APA President James Bray’s Practice Summit. It is all about changes in how psychological services will be delivered. These are exciting times and the economic struggles we face will force us to be creative in implementing these changes.

We are in the people business of improving lives. Our structures are changing as to how we do that. No longer are we just in an office face-to-face. We may be using webcam, audio, or electronic communications to communicate with our clients or we may be combining our offices with related services. This creates a domino effect of change in our profession in the areas of ethics, license mobility, and new clinical skills. We are moving into an area where we are starting to learn new tools and skills for providing quality services. If we progress with our world, we will have new ways of building successful practices that reach more people. Are you ready?

2009 APA Convention in Toronto!

This year’s convention is all about change.  During the 2009 APA Convention, there will be a “Convention within a Convention”. There is a business track for independent practice with 90% of the sessions offering CE. Some topics may seem strange and unrelated to serving our clients and communities. Words such as twitter, facebook, jumblr, blogging, skype and social media will be discussed. They are all about people, communication, and how to bring psychology to people and how to bring the people to you. There is also programming on creating a positive psychology group, cultural competence, enhancing practice web sites, grief as a practice area, challenges of having a practice from a home office, pro bono services, challenging patients and group therapy. Wow! Thanks so much to our Convention Program Chair, Nabil El-Ghoroury for pulling it all together. He and I even used facebook chat to discuss and pull together programming for this convention. How apropos!

I look forward to seeing you all in Toronto!