Division presidents

Meet the current Division 31 president, past president and president-elect.

Aloha!

It is a pleasure and an honor to serve as the Division 31 president for 2025. I hope to follow in the footsteps of Mayra Zoe Ortiz, PsyD and our other past-presidents in ensuring that Division 31 continues to serve as a champion and critical voice for our 60 state, provincial and territorial psychological associations (SPTAs) and their members. 

This is a critical time for psychologists. We have the opportunity to make a real impact on what psychological practice will look like in the near and distant future. Maintaining our professional identity, addressing licensure issues, expanding the scope of psychological services (e.g., RxP), improving reimbursement, PSYPACT, advocating for our patients, and the unprecedented impact of technology are some of the ongoing initiatives and challenges that SPTAs take up every year, particularly with state legislatures and policy makers. 

To share with you an example of what I mean: just two years ago, in the small state of Hawai‘i where I serve as executive director of the psychological association (HPA), we spent tens of thousands of dollars and put in hundreds of hours of time to secure passage of two bills that would increase access to care. We passed bills on insurance reimbursement for psychology post-doc services provided under supervision to help address the critical need for behavioral health care in our state, and telephone-only telehealth that allows our ‘kupuna’ (elders) to receive services via a medium more comfortable and available to them. While these were relatively non-controversial bills, the time and energy required for their passage was staggering. For most SPTAs, engaging in these types of initiatives – on a sustained yearly basis – is a huge challenge; the majority of SPTAs are quite small (with under 300 members and correspondingly small annual budgets).

How do we do it? We get by with the help of our friends. It is the intent of Division 31 to serve as the gathering place for SPTAs and organizations and groups that support them, such as the APA Council of State Leaders (CSL), the Council of Executives of State, Provincial and Territorial Psychological Associations (CESPPA), the APA Council SPTA Caucus, and others. It is through this collaboration and pooling of human talent and resources that the practice of psychology will continue to grow and thrive. 

All indications are that 2025 may prove to be a challenging year for SPTAs. Profound national level changes in health care appear likely and much of the fallout will be experienced at the state level. SPTAs may find themselves primarily on the defense as changes to behavioral healthcare impact their state populations, particularly those coming from historically marginalized backgrounds. 

We have already been hard at work. Division 31 recently pushed back against efforts to severely reduce SPTA representation on APA Council and we must be ready to do so again when the issue reemerges in the future. The APA initiative to license master’s level psychologists is also one where the profession must tread very carefully and consider any currently overlooked second and third order effects. The recent administrative changes in APA practice leadership have also been concerning to many and we need to ensure that SPTAs – and the practice of psychology – continue to have a major seat at the APA table. 

Despite these challenges (or maybe as a result of them), Division 31 remains a very dynamic and exciting organization; it continues to represent SPTAs and the practice of psychology with significant impact. Many new and continuing initiatives are in the works.

Let’s keep it going! 

Mahalo,
Ray

Raymond A. Folen, PhD, ABPP
President Division 31

Mayra Zoe Ortiz, PsyD, is a clinical psychologist at CHE Behavioral Health Services. She is a graduate of Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, Yeshiva University in the Bronx, NY. Ortiz has been practicing for over 19 years with diverse populations in NYC, Connecticut, and Georgia. Her undergraduate psychology degree included a minor in early childhood education. Ortiz’s clinical experience includes children, adolescents, adults and older adults.

Ortiz previously owned two small private practices in NY and has worked extensively with the Latinxs population. She has worked in the following hospitals, clinics and skilled nursing facilities in NY, CT, and NJ (master level): UMDNJ New Jersey’s University of Health Sciences in Newark, NJ, Lincoln Hospital, Bronx Lebanon, Gouverneur Hospital, Jacobi Medical Center, Beth Abraham Skilled Nursing Home, Workmen’s Circle Skilled Nursing Home, Grand Manor, Bay Park, Morris Park Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, The Enclave at Port Chester, Cassena Care in CT and Morrisania Diagnostic & Treatment Center. Ortiz’s experience includes working with underserved populations in various Latin American countries. She also worked for three years in an orphanage in Tijuana, Mexico, House of Hope. These experiences have given her the opportunity to address issues such as racism, discrimination and health inequities that perpetuate adverse health conditions.

Ortiz’s emphasis has been on equity, diversity and inclusion. From 2020 to 2022, she was the Chair of the (DEI) diversity, equity, and inclusion committee for a large hospitality company where she created a 12-month diversity program for executives and managers. She also has given workshops on working with Latinx, EDI, and Ethics. She is currently part of the CHE Behavioral Health Services Mentorship Program where she mentors over 35 therapists/providers.

She is currently the Co-Chair of the Diversity Committee, APA Division 31, and 2023 President-Elect for Division 31. She is also the Co-Chair of The EDI Network, sponsored by Division 31 and CESSPA.