Last year around this time, I remember George Tasca, the outgoing president of the division, commenting on how fast his presidential term went. I concur. It has been a whirlwind of activity and action, and much has been accomplished.
I ran on several platforms and inherited some tasks important to our division and group in general. As a reader of this newsletter, you are also a stakeholder in the outcomes of each year, so here is a round-up of what we have accomplished as a Board.
A central task has been to position ourselves within the fabric of the new APA practice Directorate. They recently went through a major reorganization to make themselves more agile as advocates for psychologists. It is a well-intentioned move, since it allows APA to advocate with greater resources at its disposal. Sean Woodland, our representative, is now very well positioned in a new committee role that he will discuss elsewhere in this newsletter. We have also put people forward for other key advisory roles, some of which we are waiting to hear about. Noelle LeForge has been a strong candidate for several roles, and we have our fingers crossed she will be successful. I was recently asked to serve on an APA Advisory Board for coding, and from there I will be able to advocate for group therapy’s position as an evidence based and efficient means of providing treatment.
We have also looked for opportunities to forge mutually beneficial relationships with AGPA on issues where pooling resources can help move group forward. This has been a successful endeavor, with AGPA an ally that we look forward to working with on an ongoing basis. We have cooperated on petitioning CMS not to reduce their psychotherapy rates and have worked together on publicizing the implications for specialty status as well begun to work on strategies to maximize the relative strengths of each organization.
The division has also been strong in its voice as we move toward value-based payment in health care. The invited presidential address by Gary Burlingame charts a path toward value-based models, and my presidential address laid out the case for group’s place in health care and quality models. However, we still have a long way to go. The wider field still has not grasped that group is a specialty requiring specialty training. Nor have they understood the sheer extent of how much group takes place nationally. In a recent survey conducted through AGPA we determined that group is taking place as either a major part of treatment or the primary mode of treatment in agencies across the country. It is not a niche modality. Nor is it individual therapy in a group.
This will be an ongoing push by Cheri Marmarosh, who will be leading the Society from January 2020. Cheri is a stellar academic and a wonderful leader. We are very lucky to have her as our standard bearer moving forward. With Cheri as president and Josh Gross as president-elect, we have a bright future. We also have Martin Kivlighan as new secretary, and others reprising their roles, such as Misha Bogomaz, who continues his great work with students and young professionals. I also want to say thank you to Deborah O’Connell, who performed admirably as program chair for several years. Her work on raising our social media profile, programming and event planning was outstanding, and we are in her debt. We wish her well in her future endeavors and look forward to her running for positions on the board in the future. We also welcome Eric Chen as diversity chair. He stepped in as Nikki Coleman moved on. We are very fortunate to have had Nikki as part of our Board and hope she returns at a later date, but also thrilled Eric has stepped up. He is a tireless advocate for diversity, and we look forward to his input.
George Tasca has also now formally taken over as editor of Group Dynamics. We want to thank David Marcus for his service over many years to elevate the journal to its current high standards. We are also looking forward to George continuing this good work and are lucky to have such a talented researcher to carry on the legacy. Group Dynamics is a top tier journal, and we look forward to it growing in stature year by year.
It has been an honor and a pleasure to serve as the Society president. I am also looking forward to Cheri’s tenure and to seeing how we can move forward together as a Society. We are a connected group, and I look forward to continuing to help in whatever capacity is needed. As past president, I also look forward to finding the next generation of candidates for Board work. We have a bright future, and this is an exciting team to be a part of. I invite you to consider joining us. It is a wonderful group to be working with, and we look forward to your contributions and attendance over the years. Consider making us your home. We are a welcoming group of people and we would love to see you involved.