Alberta
Alberta certainly benefits from our membership in Div. 31 and sees the tremendous benefit of collaboration across the states, provinces, and territories. Here in Alberta we have been working within our strategic plan: Advocating for psychology’s unique value, promoting the psychological health of all Albertans, enhancing the development of psychologists across the career lifespan, focusing on membership value, and ensuring financial sustainability. But balancing that with the pandemic. Specifically, a member resource library, targeted public education events and training on psychological coping during a pandemic, and the launch of our disaster response network for all Albertans impacted by the pandemic. It’s been a busy and trying time, but membership numbers are higher than ever, and our leaders have embraced the challenge in heartwarming ways.
Arizona
Arizona has been busy in the past few months to continue to support our members and the wider Arizona community. We have made the difficult decision to not hold our annual convention in person this fall and will instead be doing a series of “mini-con” sessions to provide valuable content to our members. We will also be recognizing annual award winners virtually. We have provided several resources for diversity and COVID-19 via our website as well as via peer support sessions and virtual CE events. We continue to provide timely, relevant content to our members via a virtual format as well as continue to network and learn together during these difficult times.
British Columbia
Things have been busy in British Columbia since the start of the pandemic back in March. With mental health services closing throughout the province and only online, self-help available through the government, we threw together a telephone-based Psychological First Aid service, offered by over 200 registered psychologist volunteers. This service helped over 1,000 British Columbians in need of support during such a challenging and unusual time. With many practicum sites closed, doctoral students have been concerned about their ability to complete their credits and graduate on time. Seeing this issue, we partnered with the University of British Columbia and a local mental health service, Kelty’s Key, to offer internet-based, therapist-assisted CBT provided by doctoral students. Lastly, with a mental health crisis looming, we stuck our foot through the legislative door, calling for psychological services to be covered under our provincial health care. Oh, and we also managed to find a beautiful little office for half the rent of our current office—definitely a win for our budget!
Florida
Like everyone else, FPA has been dealing with adapting to being in a time of pandemic and the challenges it has raised. With other partners, we have assisted members with guidance and resources to make decisions about practice. At the same time, recent events have rejuvenated the diversity advocates within our association, leading to setting up peer support groups and targeted continuing education opportunities. With our next legislative session scheduled for March, we are uncertain of how the priorities will change and the implications for our own legislative agenda.
Manitoba
The past year has been a busy and productive one for the Manitoba Psychological Society (MPS). After years of advocating for increased psychologists (Manitoba has the lowest number of psychologists per capita in Canada), MPS received an invitation to attend quarterly meetings with Manitoba Health for the purpose of identifying solutions to the psychologist shortage in Manitoba. These meetings have been promising and we look forward to our continued collaboration with Manitoba Health on this important issue. MPS has continued to advocate for increased access to psychologists and raise the profile of psychologists by communicating with government, writing letters to the editor, and participating in radio and television interviews. MPS also began developing position statements this year, starting with a position statement on racism. The pandemic created some unique challenges for our members and MPS has worked hard to provide information and supports to our members through regular email communications, the development of an online practice resource page, and by offering members weekly mindfulness sessions. MPS also collaborated with the provincial regulatory body (Psychological Association of Manitoba) to develop guidelines for psychologists re-opening their offices. In May, a survey was sent out to enhance MPS’s understanding of the impact of COVID-19 on Manitoba psychologists and their practice. We had an excellent response rate and will be using this data for ongoing advocacy and to guide our development of future supports for our members.
Virginia
The Virginia Academy of Clinical Psychologists (also known as the Virginia Psychological Association) has been active over the last few months adapting to the ever-changing world of COVID-19. We have shifted our educational platform from in person to 100 percent virtual to address health and safety concerns. Additionally, the VACP leadership and legislative teams have been actively engaged in advocating for Virginia’s mental health care providers. VACP is currently serving on a taskforce with the Virginia Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission to examine mental health parity in Virginia. This commission will examine clinical psychologists experiences with treating commercially insured clients and whether they have concerns about their services being treated equally as compared to medical services by insurance plans, examining the availability of psychologists to meet the needs of Virginians in different regions and examining the participation with insurance networks and any barriers to participation. Additionally, members of VACP have been selected as panelists for the Virginia taskforce to develop Virginia’s state-based health exchange.
Wyoming
The Wyoming group, like all the rest, are slowly adapting to the new realities of life. Our spring conference was all digital. We had several presenters. Each did a great job of stepping up and using a paid-for level of Zoom. We also signed on to Google Meets but have not used the paid version of that platform. Folks are quite patient and accommodating. The downside is the revenue from an in-person versus a digital one are vastly different. Maybe we’ll make some more as people realize that they can still access the material at any time.