COR Corner
Michele D. Ribeiro, EdD, ABPP, CGP, AGPA-F, APA-F
AsAs I write this column, I am beginning to prepare for the upcoming Council of Representatives meeting that will be happening on February 21st through 22nd. Caucus meetings to prepare for CoR will be on the 13th and 14th and I plan to attend as many as my schedule will allow as they will be occurring via Zoom from 7am to 2pm PT. Additionally, the APA Advocacy Office has set up another day on Capital Hill where we will be meeting with our state legislators to discuss more advocacy related opportunities. We will have a meeting via Zoom on February 11 followed by a networking dinner on Feb 19th and then all-day meetings on February 20th. As your representative, I have signed up to attend all the meetings and learn how to be a better advocate for Mental Health within my home state of Oregon as we are divided up by our states not divisions, when lobbying on the hill.
There have been a few recent townhalls on these items as well as the financial state of affairs of APA, which seems to be in strong financial standing, as well as how APA is responding during the changing times under the New Administration. The townhalls have been very informative and I wanted to share ways you can stay up to date and informed particularly related to how APA is serving our membership and the public. I am providing this link as a way you can subscribe to any particular areas of interest within the APA through email newsletters:
I also appreciated ways to engage with the press through their webinar entitled Media Training for Scientists: https://www.apa.org/education-career/training/secure/science-training-mainstream-reporters
Overall tips on engaging with reporters and media:
Although the CoR agenda is still being put together, there are a few things that are currently being shown as items that will be presented and voted upon in the next two weeks. These items include the following:
- Council is asked to adopt as APA policy the 2025 APA Professional Practice Guidelines on Measurement-Based Care, Guidelines for Psychological Practice in Health Care Delivery Systems, Clinical Practice Guideline for Treatment of PTSD in Adults, Guidelines on Trauma Competencies for Education and Training, AND Guidelines for a Competency Framework for Master’s and Doctoral Degree Education and Training in Health Service Psychology.
- Council is asked to approve the New Business Item entitled Resolution on the Protection of Neural Data And Advocating for EPPP Reform and Resolution on Protecting Psychological Test Security, Test Validity, and Public Safety.
- Council is asked to approve a one-year extension of recognition of Sport Psychology as a Proficiency in Professional Psychology.
- Council is asked to adopt as APA policy the Policy Statement on Advancing Evidence-Based Prevention Across the Lifespan, the Policy Statementon Ageism and the Policy Statementon Caregivers.
- Council is asked to pass Amendments to Association Rules on the number of committee members for the Committee for Global Psychology And Amendments to Policies Related to the Doctoral Degree Requirement for Professional Practice of Psychology.
- Update on PUBLICATIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS (P&C) BOARD ACTIVITIES
- Updates on the Council Liaison Oversight Committee, the APA Diversity Matrix, And the Development of CPGs (Clinical Practice Guidelines)
Hopefully this gives you an overview of what we will be covering for now. Be on the lookout for the summary which will be published in the next newsletter as well as sent out to Division 49 membership, via our Division 49 listserv. As always reach out as needed regarding CoR questions/concerns through my email: mribeiro@westernu.edu
Thank you!