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It is my pleasure, as CPA’s President for 2011-2012, to invite you to participate in all that our website, and indeed the association has to offer our members, our colleagues in practice and research, and members of the public with an interest in psychological health and wellbeing. Welcome all! CPA's mission is organized around three pillars of Science, Practice, and Education and is carried out through several key activities undertaken by senior staff and leaders within the association. These include:
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CPA’s annual convention is one of the events that showcase CPA’s pillars of Science, Practice and Education. In Toronto (June 2011), CPA hosted a record number of 2066 conference delegates! In addition to the wonderful keynote addresses, we had a packed scientific program comprised of many excellent symposia, posters, theory reviews and conversation sessions. Two new initiatives included the launch of high school psychological science awards and a graduate fair where undergraduate students could have an opportunity to learn about and meet representatives from graduate programs in psychology across the country. Many attendees remarked that this was best convention yet. The Convention Committee is working hard to pull together another excellent convention to be held in Halifax, Nova Scotia (June 14-16, 2012). I hope that you join us. CPA is far more than a great annual convention! Here are some recent highlights of our activity and accomplishments. Through our Science Directorate, we have been working with the granting Councils promoting the issues and concerns of psychological research communities particularly as these have been impacted by recent restructuring. In 2011, we have been effective in ensuring that graduate students in psychology have access to NSERC funding on the basis of their research activity, rather than on the basis of their area of specialization. We have also initiated targeted discussions with SSHRC and CIHR in order to better help the psychological research community understand and position applications for funding of psychological and health related psychological research. Through our Practice Directorate, we have been working with the provinces and territories in promoting access to psychological services. Activities in 2011 have included surveying health care leaders and the public about needs and access to psychological services and using this information to inform a position and message related to more accessible psychological services to those who need it. Through our more recently launched Education Directorate, we oversee the accreditation of doctoral and internship programmes in professional psychology and in 2011, we have launched the 5th edition of the Accreditation Standards and Procedures. Through its senior staff, CPA maintains a number of partnerships with other scientific and professional organizations. In 2011 alone, CPA co-chairs the Health Action Lobby (HEAL), co-chairs the Mental Health Table (MHT) and vice-chairs the Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health (CAMIMH). We sit on the Steering Committee of the Canadian Consortium of Research (CCR), are a member organization in the Canadian Coalition for Public Health in the 21st Century (CCPH21), and participate in the G7 alliance of health professional associations to name a further few. On behalf of CPA and the alliances in which we hold office, CPA provides input into the work of other governmental and non-governmental organizations such as the Mental Health Commission of Canada, Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada. One of my presidential objectives – which supports both science and practice in psychology – is to help move CPA toward becoming an international leader in the evidence-based practice of psychology and its dissemination. Consistent with this mandate, I am co-chairing (with Dr. Sam Mikail) a task force on evidence-based psychological treatments. The purpose of this task force is to develop a set of criteria to operationalize what constitutes evidence-based practice. How do we define evidence and do so in the context of clinical realities? This task force will make recommendations about how psychologists can best integrate evidence into practice to enhance patient care and to inform other professions and policy makers about the role of psychological interventions in the health care of Canadians. These recommendations will be made in the form of a series of positions or position-based guidelines that are readily accessible to practitioners and their communities of science and practice. It is a tremendous honour to serve as CPA President for 2011-2012. I have had the privilege to be involved in the leadership of CPA in some capacity – either on Committees, Sections or the Board – for the past 16 years. CPA has been my professional home and CPA members my professional family. We have a very dedicated group of staff who, under the leadership of our Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Karen Cohen, work so very hard to advance psychology for all. CPA also benefits immeasurably from the commitment and hard work of its volunteers – numerous people who give so generously of their time by serving within Sections, on Task-Forces, on the Board of Directors and on various Committees – to advance the discipline, to assist Canadians and to improve society. To learn more about the activities and contributions that CPA makes to the science, practice and education of psychology, I encourage you to consult our quarterly newsletter Psynopsis, available to members and non-members alike on our website. I hope you enjoy your visit to the CPA website, and invite you to share any comments or suggestions you may have about activities that CPA can take on for the science, practice and education of psychology in Canada. Please direct your email to executiveoffice@cpa.ca. David J. A. Dozois, Ph.D. |
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