From Arlene Noriega
Hello everyone.
We have just finished our first full "official" day on Council and it was a GOOD day!!
Not only did the SOCE and GICE resolutions pass with over 90% approval vote BUT no one took the Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Sexual Minority Persons off the consent agenda and were thus passed without even a blink!! I want to take a moment to give my thanks to all those involved in developing these important documents! To Melissa Grey and her excellent SOCE writing group, David Rivera and his wonderful GICE writing group, as well as Nadine Nakamura and Franco Dispenza and their distinguished team, our deep gratitude for your very hard work and perseverance in what often felt like you were swimming upstream. Your hard work has paid off. It was wonderful to hear how Council members all over the country felt that they needed these resolutions to help protect their clients. It was a good day on the Council floor for Div. 44 and CSOGD issues. My very best, Arlene Noriega
From Michael Hendricks
Council just passed, by 92%, the resolution on sexual orientation change efforts!
Many thanks to Melissa Grey and her team!
And Council just passed the companion resolution on gender identity change efforts, by 95%.
Many thanks to Dave Rivera and his team!
I just want to add that earlier today, Council also passed the updated Guidelines for Practice with LGB People.
That was on the "consent agenda" which means that they passed without objection or debate at all.
From Mark Pope
What an extraordinary political and scientific achievement developed by such committed and vital leaders. This is the trademark of our Division 44. Congrats to all!! Warmest regards, Mark Pope
From Armand Cerbone, Div. 44’s 10th president
Impressive achievement for impressive work!! Div. 44 continues its tradition of cutting edge work on gender and human sexuality. Make no mistake about it!
From Sarah E. Burgamy
Joining the chorus of hooray’s! It is so gratifying to see all of this come to fruition! Thank you to all of the work groups, CSOGD, this wonderful division, APA COR, and THE APA STAFF! Specifically, I'd like to give a shout out to Ron Schlittler for all of his hard work helping support all of us in this work.
From Josh Wolff
Congrats and thanks to all who made these wins possible! When I see the names of the people involved, I can’t say I’m surprised! We have a lot of “superstars” in the division.
From Gregory N. Shrader
Huzzah to all and many thanks!!!
From Lisa A. Schimmel
Here here! Wonderful work!
From Margaret Rosario
Congratulations to all the many individuals who made these efforts possible. They and the division have much to celebrate. Onward!
From Nathan Grant Smith
Thanks so much to our colleagues who worked so tirelessly to get us to this point! We’re in such need of good news these days; this is truly great news!
From Ruth Fassinger
BRAVO to all who made this happen!!! Div. 44 is extraordinarily lucky to have talented, committed people who persevere—often for years and years—on something until we finally get a win!!! You all rock!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
From David Pantalone
I know I'm late to the party but I wanted to write as well to say a huge congrats to Melissa and Dave and all those who collaborated on those resolution—and of course our amazing Div. 44 Council reps who are always our supporters in/around council itself.
Also, I want to publicly send HUGE THANKS to Nadine Nakamura and Franco Dispenza for their extremely skillful leadership on the Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Sexual Minority Persons, as well as the hard work and dedication of the other members of our task force: Roberto Abreu, Gregory Canillas, Barbara Gormley, Liz Ollen, and Jennifer Vencill. It was an honor to serve with you all over the past 2.5 years and I am grateful to have had the opportunity. I learned so much from you!
Also thanks to the 50+ Div. 44 members, past and present leaders, and allies who reviewed drafts of the various sections and provided input—as well as all of you who contributed public comments during that phase.
Finally, a shout out to Ron Schlittler who was instrumental in helping us move them forward (as he always is!).
Breathing a big sigh of relief over here!
From Michi Fu
Many thanks to all those who spoke so effectively on its behalf. It was historic to be able to participate in the passing of the resolution as the AAPA representative to Council. Glad to be able to celebrate together, even if only virtually. Aloha, Michi Fu
From Terry S. Gock
It was truly wonderful to see the support by Council today as these resolutions were passed by such a high percentage and without any debate. Again, thanks to you, Melissa, Dave, and the work group members, for your great work.
From Shara Sand
I don't want to crowd inboxes but have to join the chorus. Thank you to everyone for your time and hard work. To quote the Beatles, "It's getting better all the time.”
From Joshua Kellison
Huge THANK YOU to all who participated in this profound work and for those who reviewed and wrote comments for the public comment as an individual or for the vast APA committees and divisions! All of the work and collaboration has achieved these wonderful outcomes!! The foundational work that was started long ago is also MUCH appreciated!
From Sue Motulsky
Just want to join the chorus because it’s such a huge win and so important. I want to add my thanks to all who worked for this—your work makes such a difference. Thank you.
From Sue Jacobs
Great news and great work!
From Rosie Phillips Davis (formerly Bingham)
Well done! Thanks, for letting us know, Arlene.
From Linda M. Woolf
Such excellent news! I am deeply appreciative of all the work of so many individuals such as everyone mentioned by Arlene.
If you had asked me when I was first starting my career whether I would see all of these progressive changes, I would have expressed doubt. Our work is not done but the horizon looks so much brighter! All my best, Linda M. Woolf
From Jeffrey Paulez
Wow, incredible news!! Thank you to everyone who made this happen and a huge congratulations!
From Sharon G. Horne
This is such wonderful news—thank you to all who worked so hard on the resolutions and guidelines and brought them to fruition!
From Sandy L. Shullman
Thanks to all who worked on these resolutions. Huge day for many of us.
Best, Sandy L. Shullman
From Gary Howell
Excellent news. Thanks for sharing the wins!
From Melissa J. Grey
Many thanks and Congratulations to everyone!!! It has taken meaningful and sustained collaboration to get here! And we are here! With immense appreciation, Melissa J. Grey
From Mark Brennan-Ing
It's like winning a double-header! Much thanks to all who made this happen. Best, Mark Brennan-Ing
From Nadine Nakamura
Huge congratulations and much appreciation for all the work that the SOCE and GICE writing groups put into these resolutions! You fought hard to get these resolutions out and they will both have enormous impact. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
From Seth Pardo
WHAT AMAZING NEWS!!!!!!!!
Worth every minute. Dave!!!!!! It happened!!!!!!!!
From Kimberly F. Balsam
Terrific news, thanks to everyone who worked on this!
From Christina Patterson
Excellent! Thank you so much Melissa and Dave!
From Richard Sprott
Congratulations, everyone who worked in this! Very good to have APA stand behind this policy.