Hello everyone, I hope all is well. Just an update in the Newsletter about the events of this year. It has been a very busy and productive term so far. I wanted to let you know some things that have moved very fast.
The Executive Board (EB) met in Santa Fe for the Midwinter Meeting. Here are a couple of the main highlights that happened at the meeting. We passed the budget for the upcoming year and we are doing very well. We also discussed some exciting convention plans for this year. Dr. Beck Garza and the Programming Committee have some great programs planned for both the suite and the convention itself. We will be posting the program shortly.
Also, we have exciting news that we are going to be having a ECP brunch and a Past-president’s brunch in the suite. Further, plans are in the works to see if we can have the Dinner for the division this year again. We are working hard to try and bring everyone together again for some social fun.
Speaking of celebrating!!!! I worked to being together the division task forces, expertise in the division, Council reps and some other key individuals to see what we could do further for the community. We discussed at the EB meeting in January the Task Force working on the “Resolution on the Healthcare of Transgender, Gender Diverse, and Nonbinary Children and Adolescents.”
We have since sent the resolution out of Division 44, posted on our website. This is not an APA resolution, but a resolution out of the division. Thank you all who worked on this important piece of advocacy and statement so, so much. It has been long in the works. I want to reach out and thank all those who shared their expertise and writing in authoring this important document.
From that document, within two weeks, there was an organized effort to write a new business item (NBI) for APA Council spearheaded by Arlene Noriega, some of the Task Force members, some of us on EC, and our Council Reps. This proposed policy entitled, "Policy Statement on Affirming Evidence-Based Inclusive Care for Transgender, Gender Diverse, and Nonbinary Individuals, Addressing Misinformation, and the Role of Psychological Practice and Science,” moved very fast and was presented to the Council Leadership Team (CLT). The CLT voted to recommend it for approval to the APA Council. They felt it was imperative to highlight the policy proposal with our Division expertise, the resolution from our Task Force, and our endorsement for the NBI as a Division.
Well, on February 28th, this press release was sent out: “APA ADOPTS GROUNDBREAKING POLICY SUPPORTING TRANSGENDER, GENDER DIVERSE, NONBINARY INDIVIDUALS.”
We should all be proud of our Division 44 and the expertise of the professionals within the Division! This effort, which grew out of the hard-working efforts and expertise of the Task Force and the exceptional work of the Division Council Representatives as well as the extraordinary efforts of so many who worked very hard for two weeks following the Midwinter Meeting. See the details in the lead article by Council Rep. Mira Jordan in this issue.
I want to thank again all who worked on these two efforts and commend everyone for all for their work. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
We should all be very proud of the Division. We all worked very hard to make this history happen. I will hopefully see you at the convention; it will be here quicker than we realize. Our President-elect, Elenore McCabe, PhD and the committee are working hard on a Fabulous Awards Ceremony! We are both working very hard on our addresses too!
Thank you again to all!
Gregory