A Word From our Associate Affiliate Representative

By Erika Carr

I hope that everyone is starting to look forward to the change of seasons as we look toward spring. It is certainly an exciting time of year as the earth seems to come to life and personally, I am ready for spring myself. As associate affiliate representative for the psychology of women I wanted to let you all know more about this position so that I can best serve your interests within our division. Specifically, in this role I aim to best represent the needs, concerns and interests of the associate affiliates. Also, while in this position I hope to ascertain specific ideas or areas of interest that may be of unique interest to our associate affiliates and advocate for those, so that we can work together to advance programming, advocacy and social justice in such areas.

Many of you may have seen my email go out to the associate affiliate email list requesting your input regarding such questions as the following: specific interests for suite programming at the APA national conference, specific concerns or challenges you face as a professional, ways Division 35 can support you more, topics of interest for future articles and how Division 35 can help you personally and professionally. Some feedback I have received is that a greater focus on motherhood is warranted within the psychology of women and a few of us are interested in developing a subcommittee of the Reproductive Issues Committee to advance this interest. We are also planning to try and use some suite programming time at our APA Annual Convention this year to address pertinent issues related to motherhood. If you also are interested in more programming and advocacy in this area, or if you would like to work with our group in the area of motherhood, please email me. If you have not had a chance to respond regarding overall input but would like to please feel free to write me an email as well. I welcome any other ideas or areas of feedback that you have for me regarding my representation of associate affiliates and would love to collaborate over email with you.

In the interest of representing potential needs or concerns of associate affiliates, I aim to write upcoming articles in The Feminist Psychologist that may address your present interests, such as being an early career professional and facing the challenges of gaining licensure and finding a job. I also plan to write an article about the process of becoming board certified as a psychologist as this is of increasing interest to individuals in our field, as well as those that may seek our services. So please check out upcoming issues of The Feminist Psychologist and feel free to give me feedback regarding any topics you would like to see addressed in future articles. To sum up, I want to thank you all for your support in electing me to this position and let you know that I am grateful to be able to serve in this role. Thank you also for your feedback and responses to me that guide me in knowing how to best serve in this role. I hope you all enjoy the spring!