A message from the president

APA members of the division: APA has mailed the apportionment ballot as well as a bylaws amendment for your consideration. I am writing in the name of the board of directors to request your support in this important election. I am writing in the name of the board of directors to request your support in this important election. Here is what is at stake:

1. Representation on APA Council of Representatives: Seats on APA Council for 2014 are determined by this apportionment ballot. The more votes we are able to solicit, the more representatives we are able to send to APA Council. At present we have seven seats on Council and we hope to keep this number if not expand our representation. To accomplish this we need your votes. You are able to assign up to ten votes to any Division, State, Territory, or Province of your choice. We hope we can rely upon you to give all ten of your votes to Division 39 (or at least as many as you can).
   
   What can we accomplish by having so many representatives on Council? Much of the work of APA Council happens in the "back rooms," no longer smoke-filed perhaps, but important venues for our representatives to interact with psychologists of many different orientations and agendas. By having more representatives we can have more opportunities to attend caucus meetings, arrange informal meetings around specific issues, develop positive relationships with APA Presidents, CEO, and members of the Board of Directors. Much of the work of our organization is performed by boards and committees. While some members of committees are appointed, most members of boards are elected by APA Council. Having increased representation gives us greater access and influence over these important decisions as well, developing support for "our" candidates to boards, lobbying those who appoint committee members, etc. Our representatives have been particularly active in supporting efforts with other practice Divisions to develop specific initiatives base upon our common concern to support privacy, quality, and access to private practice. Finally, our Council Representatives will be taking part in the restructuring of APA governance in the next few years; and this will have a major impact on how our organization does its work.

2. Representation of the Minority Psychological Associations (EMPA) on APA Council: There are four ethnic minority psychological associations (Asian American Psychological Association, Association of Black Psychologists, National Latina/o Psychological Psychological Association, and Society of Indian Psychologists) that have been in existence for at least 20 years. These organizations have also been meeting formally with APA for fifteen years and have had observer status on APA Council for 13 years. This bylaws amendment would give these organizations permanent representation on APA Council by adding four more seats to council. Adding these organizations would not diminish the representation of other groups within APA.
   
   What is accomplished by voting for this bylaws amendment? As you may know, APA Council has consistently voted to support ethnic minority psychological associations participation on APA Council. The Board of Directors of the Division has voted to support this bylaws amendment. Our organization can only gain by supporting participation of ethnic minority psychologists in our organization. Learn more about the bylaws amendment.

You will soon be contacted by a board member of the division to make a pitch for your support for out Vote Ten campaign by telephone. In addition to serving as a reminder to vote, this is also an effort to contact our members to listen to their thoughts and concerns as well. I hope we can count on your participation in this important vote.

Also note that APA sends out the ballot media mail and your ballot may not arrive until early to mid-November. If you have not received your ballot by November 16, write to Garnett Coad to request a replacement ballot.

• Vote Ten for Division 39

• Vote Yes to allow EMPA representation on APA Council

Candidate support

The Division 39 BoD voted to support the candidacy of two of our members for APA President-elect: Doug Haldeman and Nadine Kaslow. We feel that both are extremely qualified to become APA President based upon their proven record of leadership. Both are Division 39 members who have shown an awareness of the need for quality, access and choice for psychotherapy. We encourage you to vote in this election and to give either one your number one vote and the other your number two vote. Also remember to fill out the rest of the ballot. As hard as it is to believe, under the Hare system it works best if all candidates are ranked.

• Learn more about Nadine Kaslow

• Learn more about Doug Haldeman

Division 39 member forum

Division Members and Colleagues: Earlier this year I polled this email list requesting members of this one-way list if they would also want to participate in a two-way interactive email list .Since many of you responded positively, we have now set up a new email list, Division 39 Forum. This note is to let you know that you may join the Division 39 Forum by following the instructions Please note that you will not be automatically subscribed to the forum. If you do not wish to participate, you need do nothing and you will still receive our one-way announcements only. If you wish to participate, please join.

As noted earlier in proposing this forum, this will be an experiment to see if there is any interest in developing real dialogues concerning psychoanalytic theory, practice, and research, discussing Division 39 governance and initiatives, and so on. I look forward to seeing if this is a helpful addition to division services to our members.

Recommended websites

The Post-Disaster Therapists’ Resource is a website intended to support mental health professionals working in communities struck by disasters. It describes a project that was undertaken in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina by the New Orleans Birmingham Psychoanalytic Center underwritten by the FAR Fund. The website was prepared by Ghislaine Boulanger.