I learned a lot this past year as president-elect, and I’m grateful to my predecessor, Dr. Virginia Clark, for her guidance and leadership, and to all the other board members who give unselfishly of their time, attention, and support.  I feel incredibly lucky to be stepping in at a time when OPA is stronger than ever.  Our membership levels are at an all-time high, we have forged strong partnerships with other organizations to improve access to mental health care for all Ohioans, and we’re focusing our efforts on issues that impact psychologists across the state.

I’m often asked what my priorities are for this next year, and that’s truly a difficult question because there are so many issues we face, and there are many wonderful initiatives taking place already.  But whenever I’m talking to OPA members, a few topics regularly pop up.

The first seems obvious, but has been a constant challenge…opening up better lines of communication with the OPA membership.  I plan to take a hard look at all the current methods of communication and work with our VP of Communication and those committees to shore up and fill in any gaps.

The second topic on my mind is addressing the shortage of psychologists in Ohio.  We’re already looking at the workforce pipeline from expanding undergraduate and graduate programs, to supporting more internships and post-doctoral fellowships, to finding ways to keep psychologists in Ohio.  This is a complex and multi-layered issue, but we’re making some strides.  It’s my intention to keep pushing in these areas.

And last, I want to explore our membership patterns to ensure that OPA is offering benefits to ALL psychologists in Ohio.  In order to stay strong, we need input from our colleagues in all fields; clinical practice, research, academia, public and private healthcare, consulting, I/O, etc., and we need to ensure that membership in OPA is value-added for all of us.  

I promise to work hard this year, and now I’ll ask you to do a few things for OPA.  

1. Take a good look at the OPA website…not just the main page, but scroll through and familiarize yourself with the entire site.  There’s a wealth of information available and it’s only a few clicks away.
   
2. Read through the committee pages and learn about all the activities and events coming up.  If you see something that excites you, contact the committee chair and join a few meetings.  We’re always open to new people and new ideas.  
   
3. Share this information with other psychologists you know, maybe even encourage someone to join who has been hesitant up until now.  
   
4. Let us know what you value most about OPA; send me an email or contact the OPA office and share your opinions.  
   

I want to thank all of you for your membership and your support…I don’t know about you, but my pencils are sharpened, a fresh notebook is on my desk, and I’m ready to jump into this new year and new role.  I can’t wait to see what we can accomplish together!

The main challenge of this year has been the succession of our long time CEO, Michael Ranney, by our new CEO, Dustin McKee.  Michael provided training and support for Dustin and Dustin has gotten off to an outstanding start.  Dustin is an energetic, engaging leader.  He has been building relationships inside and outside of OPA.  He listens well, he thinks clearly, and communicates effectively.  Dustin has a strong background in mental health advocacy and is already representing psychologists’ interests well at the state house and the broader state government. 

The one frustration I have had during my term relates to advocacy.  OPA has been in a defensive position this past year.  The Ohio House of Representatives and the Ohio Senate seem overly preoccupied with what I will call an “anti-woke” agenda.  OPA has been in a position of defending Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs and initiatives in our colleges and universities and defending gender affirming treatment for trans children.  We are doing all that we can on these fronts, but we are defending. 

I prefer to be driving the advocacy agenda in a positive direction.  Governor Mike DeWine is pushing the expansion of funding for mental health services.  This is the one area where we are moving with the tide.  The Governor’s office is aware that one barrier is the shortage of mental health professionals.  I would like to see this shortage addressed by the training of many more psychologists here in Ohio.

I would propose that OPA’s principal, long term advocacy goal should be the training of many more psychologists.  Currently there are about 3500 licensed psychologists in our state.  Demand for our services far outpaces our collective capacity and that demand keeps growing.  I am guessing that we could have 10,000 licensed psychologists in Ohio and still not fully meet the needs.  

Such a goal would require many changes.  I will name just a few.  Obviously, our university training programs would have to ramp up.  We would need many more clinical training sites, both predoctoral and internships.  We would need funding for this training.  The state supports the training of trades persons.  Why not psychologists?  Physicians are licensed during their internships allowing their hospitals to bill health insurance for their services.  Why not rethink psychologists’ licensure?  Perhaps the state could be persuaded to provide significant scholarships for psychology graduate students.  Or alternatively, the state could pay off graduate student loans for psychologists who stay and practice in Ohio for a prescribed number of years.  

I will close with the reminder that we are all in this together.

• Trying to keep it together for your patients when you have your own problems is exhausting.
• Science remains one of my heroes.
• Being isolated leads one to be more resourceful.
• Silence can be like a warm blanket.
• This year has shown us who is there to lift us up when we need it.
• Dogs make everything better.
• My zoom fatigue sets in about an hour BEFORE my first zoom meeting.
• The best people are overly critical of themselves while those who could benefit from some self-reflection are not particularly interested.
• Amazon Prime has significantly improved my quality of life.
• People who say “I’m just telling the truth” are always saying something cruel or unkind.
• Always plant more in your garden then you need.  There’s always someone who is grateful for the food.
• A good leader responds with support rather than challenging you to justify your experience.
• A good knife set is worth the monetary investment.
• All healthcare providers deserve therapeutic hand cream.
• We can’t be all things to all people.
• I love technology.  I hate technology.
• Be grateful for access to good healthcare.
• You will never regret a short commute to work.
• Self- care often eludes me but never disappointments me.
• Don’t keep people in your life who aren’t on your team. 

Despite the expected quiescence around OPA, your Association continues to work on behalf of you, our members, and Ohio psychology! August is the final month of our Association’s administrative and membership year, which means putting closure to the past year’s financial experience. While OPA lost the benefit of having its Annual Spring Convention, our commitment to professional development continued to shine and many of our scheduled convention sessions were converted into virtual webinars through the tireless efforts of Mrs. Karen Hardin, OPA’s Director of Communication and Education. Our membership has also continued to embrace the value of our Association, allowing us to exceed membership projections and expectations both in the present and into the 2020-21 new administrative year. OPA CEO, Mr. Michael Ranney, OPA Director of Operations and Finance, Mr. David Savoia, and OPA Finance Officer, Dr. Brandon Kozar, each should be complimented towards their astute financial stewardship throughout the spring pandemic restrictions that allowed OPA to remain financially strong relative to the limited viability so many other State and Territorial Psychological Associations, and many others within the non-profit world, sadly experienced. Our appreciation to our financial leadership for employing the necessary austerity measures and planning to navigate those treacherous stormy seas. Of course, the fall and winter months within the new administrative year will be equally as challenging and we will need to continue our lean budgets to weather the next round of the pandemic.

As we look ahead to the new 2020-21 year, this is also a period of transition. My leadership time as your Association President will officially come to an end on August 31, 2020. Certainly, when I was encouraged to run for OPA President-Elect two years ago, I never would have anticipated what my presidential year might involve or the challenges psychology, our membership, and communities would have faced. Despite over 20 years of non-profit leadership experiences, learning how to navigate a pandemic, the necessary practice evolutions towards telepsychology, the strain and stress our membership endured, and the compounded challenges from further racial injustice, murder of several Black and Brown individuals, and social unrest made the final 8 months a time of growth, reflection, and perhaps just some fatigue too as I tried to lead our Association. I will always be indebted to our CEO, Mr. Michael Ranney, our OPA Staff, and the entire OPA Board of Directors for their patience, commitment, and tireless contributions throughout this time. A special note of appreciate to former OPA Presidents, Drs. Katharine Hahn Oh and Mary Lewis for their mentorship, and our OPA President-Elect, Dr. Cynthia VanKeuren, for hundreds of hours of collaborative problem solving, discussion, and action that allowed our Association to nimbly address these shared challenges. I have humorously suggested that Michael, Cindy, and I felt as though we were in an awkward shared marriage across several of those months given the incredible number of emails, video conference calls, and other communications we shared in our efforts to lead OPA, oftentimes spending more time together than we did with our actual families. Although I would hope they have better tastes in marital partners than me moving forward, I celebrate and deeply cherish both of them for their time, boundless energy, and consistently high commitment to OPA. 

While I would not suggest this was the Presidential Experience I wanted to have, it was the experience I was afforded, and we built the plane as we flew it. With this message, I begin the process of becoming your OPA Immediate Past President, although I will continue beyond the presidential roles, maintaining my leadership work as the shared liaison between OPA and the Ohio School Psychologists Association (OSPA) hereafter. Thank you for allowing me to serve and support you, Ohio psychology, and our numerous constituents. OPA has a bright future ahead and outstanding leadership to begin the 2020-21 administrative year in Dr. Cythia VanKeuren and President Elect, Dr. Cathy McDaniels Wilson, whom I will be humbled to support take this year and advance us farther ahead.

In your service, one last time,
Erich R. Merkle, PhD, EdS, NCSP
President, Ohio Psychological Association, 2019-20

• Priority 1: Help Bring the Opioid Crisis to an End
• Priority 2: Support the Development of Professional Psychology in Ohio
• Priority 3: Ally with Communities and Systems

In restarting our Association efforts towards the Strategic Plan, we have asked our Priority Team leaders to schedule reset meetings throughout July to begin reorienting our leadership towards the work. In reviewing the Strategic Plan, we also are readily aware that we need to further address racial equity, racism, and social justice beyond our original design to ensure we capturing and fulfilling the vital needs of our communities in this period of powerful social activism.

During the coming new 2020-21 administrative year, OPA will be developing many new virtual professional development, assembly, town hall, and other outreach activities for our membership. Throughout this recent spring, our membership has embraced our supportive sessions towards transitioning into telepsychology, the various logistical and practice elements of such work, as well as broader topics of race, self-care, and even technology considerations. While our spring efforts were quickly organized to meet immediacy concerns, our hope is to be more intentional and planful in the coming year’s efforts. We readily recognize the need to further our social justice programming, supporting general societal challenges from the pandemic, substance use, PreK-12 educational environments, higher education staff and students, and the lifespan needs that result from intersecting all of the above. If you have any interest in volunteering your time towards our Strategic Plan, virtual sessions, or have content you would like to share as a presenter, feel welcome to contact me or our 2020-21 President-Elect, Dr. Cindy Van Keuren. We would be delighted to have you join our efforts!

Early July also brought the conclusion of our annual OPA elections. While we lost the opportunity to have our candidates outreach during the 2020 Spring OPA Convention due to its cancellation, we were able to promote the election experience virtually. Please join me in recognizing the following newly elected officers of the Ohio Psychological Association for 2020-21:

• President Elect: Dr. Cathy McDaniels-Wilson
• Vice President of Diversity: Dr. Chiathong Yong
• Vice President of Science and Education: Dr. Laura Burns
• APA Council Representative: Dr. Mary Lewis
• OPAGS President: Ms. Stacy Henry

We would also like to recognize those Association leaders who are stepping down after one of the most unprecedented and involved years of psychology leadership:

• Immediate Past President: Dr. Kathryn Hahn-Oh
• Vice President of Diversity: Dr. Elizabeth Harris
• Vice President of Science and Education: Dr. Rosemary Shaw
• Acting Vice President of Science and Education: Dr. Kimberly Burkhart
• APA Council Representative: Dr. Cathy McDaniels-Wilson
• OPAGS President: Ms. Lexi Smith

And, finally, we are delighted to recognize those Association leaders who will be continuing their leadership efforts on the Board of Directors during the new year:

• Vice President of Membership: Dr. Cathy Gaw
• Vice President of Professional Practice: Dr. Virginia Clark
• Vice President of Communications: Dr. Marc Dielman

Despite the considerable disruptions to OPA during the spring 2020 pandemic closures, loss of our annual Convention, and limitations of virtual professional development, the Association has weathered these uncertain times with stability and better than anticipated success. We are all indebted to the remarkable financial stewardship and sound decision making by our OPA CEO, Mr. Michael Ranney, OPA Director of Operations and Finance, Mr. David Savoia, OPA Finance Officer, Dr. Brandon Kozar, and the OPA Finance Committee. While balancing the proverbial financial books during this crisis required our financial team to have ingenuity and many difficult conversations, your statewide psychological association remains solvent, potent, and energized going into the forthcoming 2020-21 new administrative year!

Finally, as we reach the end of July, we recognize that there many uncertainties remaining in how each of us will practice and life in coming months as our COVID-19 numbers continue to escalate. We need your help in joining our OPA leadership committees to ensure we continue to remain responsive to our membership, support Ohio psychology, and our statewide community. If you have the ability to volunteer some discretionary time, please consider sharing your expertise by contacting me or our 2020-21 President-Elect, Dr. Cindy Van Keuren. The next OPA Board activity will be our forthcoming annual OPA Board Retreat in September 11-12, 2020. As we would anticipate, this experience will be virtually to maintain appropriate social distance and avoid larger group gatherings. We would love to see you participate in our leadership work.

The Ohio Psychological Association (OPA) continues to advance our duty towards supporting our membership in these perilous times. Since the past month, OPA has hosted several virtual assemblies and town hall sessions towards advancing our understanding and essential conversations about race. At the end of May, we engaged in a thoughtful dialogue about race and COVID-19 that explored the disparities in health care and differential challenges faced by People of Color and Indigenous Individuals, hosted by Drs. Elizabeth Harris and Kia-Rai Prewitt. Our graduate students through OPAGS also had a poignant town hall experience that further explored their responsibilities within social justice as training psychologists, expertly curated by Drs. Cathy McDaniels Wilson and Chikako Inoue Cox. Our Committee on Social Responsibility (CoSR) has developed both responses to these horrific deaths and provided numerous resources for both our membership and Ohio community through the OPA website (https://ohpsych.org/page/allypsychologistresources). If you are interested in supporting this critical work and our Association as we advance calls for law enforcement training, community and legislative outreach, and ongoing professional development for us all, please email me or contact the OPA office at 614-224-0034.

Separate, but interrelated to our Association’s advocacy on race, we continue to provide resources to our membership on navigating practice complexities within COVID-19. A multidisciplinary virtual panel was convened on Friday, June 5 that afforded practice information from a public health physician, several large practice owners, OPA’s Director of Professional Affairs, and legal-ethical guidance. In addition, our Prevention and Wellness Program (PWP) continues to offer biweekly self-care and wellness sessions, led by Dr. Howard Fradkin and his PWP team. In case you missed either the informative and well attended reopening practice session, or our ongoing PWP self-care forums, recordings are available as a benefit of your OPA membership on the OPA site at https://ohpsych.org/page/PandemicResources.

Finally, as we approach the beginning of a new fiscal year, please remember to renew your dues.  As the past few months of ongoing virtual training and community sessions have reminded us, OPA continues to be a responsive, nimble, and member focused Association that is here to support all of your practice and professional development needs. Thank you for your generous support and we look forward to being here for you moving forward.

Hearing from many of our membership, OPA is pleased to announce a Virtual Town Hall Forum entitled, “Unlocking the Lockdown: Keying into Reopening Your Psychological Practice Virtual Town Hall” on Friday, June 5, 2020 at 7-830pm. This unique and unparalleled community experience for our membership will feature a comprehensive panel of varied experts to help you towards restarting and reopening your practices. Panelists will include Cuyahoga County Public Health Medical Director and Case Western Medical School Professor, Dr. Heidi Gullett, Attorney and Forensic Psychologist, Dr. Bob Stinson, Practice Owners, Drs. Matt Capezzuto and Virginia Clark, OPA’s Director of Professional Affairs, Dr. Jim Broyles, and event MC, Dr. Richard Ashbook. The Town Hall topics will range from sanitation and social distancing considerations, insurance and billing issues, legal and ethical concerns, and learning about steps you can take to ensure you are both successfully able to reopen to see clients in person while ensuring everyone’s wellness. Please watch your email for an invitation for this free event, provided as a service to all of our OPA membership. Registration will be limited to the first 100, so be sure to register quickly before this event “sells out!” In case you miss the event, be sure to visit the OPA website afterwards where a recording the session will be available on our COVID-19 resources page (https://ohpsych.org/page/PandemicResources).

Similar to the forthcoming OPA Virtual Town Hall, OPA continues to support its membership during these precarious, uncertain, and involved times through numerous virtual assemblies, town halls, and consultation team meetings. Over the past month alone, OPA has hosted over 11 free events that ranged from prevention and wellness, information for Directors of Clinical Training, supporting our graduate students in OPAGS, to specialty areas like geropsychology and BWC. OPA continues to work on behalf of its membership and strives to maximize the value of your membership by offering these sessions. Within the community of professional psychology and state associations, OPA remains a national leader in its outreach, high quality professional development, and primacy placed on valuing each of you as our Association members.

Your OPA Board continues to meet monthly for virtual meetings and to transact the Association’s administrative affairs. The Board of Directors celebrates the leadership of our entire OPA staff during these tenuous times, being responsible financial stewards and fiduciaries of our limited resources. Please be sure to reach out to any of our OPA staff or me if there is something further we can do to support you as our valued member. We are in this together and strong as a community of Ohio psychology!

• Telepsychology insurance and billing matters
  
• Telepractice technological support, including HIPAA compliant platforms
  
• Telepsychology consultation groups, including specific sessions by practice specialty (e.g. child/adolescent, geropsychology, Bureau of Workers Compensation)
  
• Targeted COVID-19 content specific related training sessions
• Self-care and wellness through the OPA Prevention and Wellness Program

These virtual didactic sessions are being scheduled at a frenzied pace, free to any psychological practitioner as a service to our statewide community, based on OPA participant and member requests. To date, we have held 10 different virtual sessions across the gamut reflected above with 8 further sessions scheduled in the next 3 weeks. OPA members who are interested in any of these above topics are invited to attend. Please visit the OPA website (https://ohpsych.org/default.aspx) and check out the Calendar section for forthcoming sessions.

With the number of virtual sessions we are offering, a moment of gratitude is necessary for our volunteer facilitators, consultants, experts, and session MCs who have been incredibly generous in their time to contribute to those experiences. If you have telepractice, insurance or a specific area of COVID-19 related practice interest and would like to volunteer, please email me. 

Our OPA professional office staff, like so many of us, have had to adjust to the realities of telework and managing our Association from home. These same OPA staff have also graciously navigated all the logistics towards these virtual sessions, cancelling and redirecting our Annual Convention, and overseeing our complex Association financial picture. Particular appreciation to OPA’s Director of Education and Communication, Mrs. Karen Hardin, who is directly responsible for coordination of the educational and communication efforts is necessary here. Our outreach and membership support could not happen without Karen, recognizing that both managing the scores of virtual sessions while also converting our Convention into virtual professional development have been momentous undertakings. Our Association CEO, Mr. Michael Ranney, has been astutely coordinating an exhaustive cadre of diverse communications from members, Association leaders, and countless organizations as OPA continues to try to lead in these unprecedented times of disruption. With MCE concerns mounting, Ms. Beth Wherley has been at the helm, helping membership to ensure they meet their MCE expectations. Financially, our Association has had to further tighten its purses to remain responsible stewards of our monetary resources, given the uncertainty of losing the Convention and other revenue streams, with Director of Operations and Finance, Mr. David Savoia, leading these efforts. In addition, as our members have faced uncertainty and had numerous insurance, billing, and telepractice concerns, OPA’s Director of Professional Affairs, Dr. Jim Broyles has readily availed himself to nearly weekly updates and virtual consultation sessions. Finally, Mrs. Carolyn Green has been continuing her efforts as Director of Membership to ensure you are able to access all the resources OPA has to offer while ensuring you are receiving the most value from your membership contributions. Having offered this, please do remember that the volume of emails and outreach has been overwhelming in these past few weeks. If you have attempted to connect with the OPA office and our staff, please do afford them some latitude as they continue to parse through a mountain of such communication. And, please do remember to offer them your appreciation for an amazing job, well done over these past few weeks!

The next OPA Board of Director meetings will be held virtually at 10 a.m., on Saturday, May 16, Saturday, June 13, and Saturday, July 11, 2020, respectfully. Any OPA member who is interested in learning more about OPA or perhaps joining our leadership team are strongly encouraged to contact me for more information. You are most welcome to attend a Board meeting as a guest to discover more about OPA.

Finally, please remember OPA is here to support any Ohio psychologist in these uncertain times. If you discover an area of support or have practice questions, please do feel welcome to reach out. We have been servicing outreach throughout the United States, with several specific psychology practice related questions. Our dedicated elected officers, leadership teams, and OPA staff would be delighted to help you too. 

OPA delegates will be attending the APA’s Practice Leadership Conference (PLC) in Washington, D.C., in the beginning of March. Statewide, territorial, and provincial psychological association leaders will be convening to network, grow from one another’s leadership experiences, learn more about advocacy, and honor a selected member of Congress. OPA has long enjoyed a potent delegation at PLC and each year sends a diverse cohort from elected officers to early career leadership team members. This year’s PLC Reception will acknowledge US Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), a member of the Gun Violence Prevention Taskforce whose commitment to reducing gun related violent events through inclusion of mental health professionals, along with championing women’s health, keeping seniors from poverty, and mental health supports for active service members, all reflects upon her as a notable Congressional ally for psychology. To continue our Association’s rich tradition of PLC attendance though, we do need your help to fundraise so we can secure as many seats at the PLC dinner honoring Representative DeLauro. Please contact President-Elect, Dr. Cindy VanKeuren at to pledge your donation today!

Since adopting the Association’s new governance model, and reducing the size of the Board to the primary elected officers to afford a more nimble and streamlined administrative team, we will be gathering on March 28, 2020 in Akron, Ohio for an in-person OPA Board and leadership meeting. Our Association’s leadership has reported that they value coming together at least twice at year in-person to build upon the efforts we transact during our monthly virtual meetings. All Board of Director, Committee Chairs, and other Association leaders are most kindly invited to attend. 

Spring also brings OPA’s annual Association election cycle. This year we are seeking to fill member elected positions across APA Council, Vice Presidential roles in Science/Education and Diversity, and President-Elect. Have you ever considered running and volunteering your skills in the governance of OPA? We would be delighted to have you remit your interest and join our leadership team. Please contact me or President-Elect, Dr. Cindy VanKeuren to learn more.

Finally, the 2020 OPA Convention registration is open! Each year, psychologists and allied behavior/mental health providers from across the state convene to learn from scholars and leaders across numerous practice specialty areas. This year’s theme is “Today’s Psychology: Practice, Research, and Emerging Trends” will feature over 80 hours of programming, 15 hours of ethics, and 80 presenters throughout 26 scheduled sessions. Visit the OPA website to learn more, and I’ll look forward to seeing you there.

As always, feel welcome to contact me if you have any thoughts about how OPA can further support you and accept our best wishes for that arrival of an early spring.

On January 23 and January 24, 2020, OPA collaborated with the American Psychological Association (APA) leadership in offering a collaborative opioid epidemic advocacy and pain management experience entitled, “The Role of Psychological Pain Management Care in Addressing the Opioid Epidemic.”  Each of us in the practice of psychology are finding our clients, patients, and their interconnected systems affected by the opioid epidemic, making this APA and OPA partnership all the more salient today. 

Have you heard about integrated care? Are you wondering what integrated care looks like for psychologists? Join us online for the Ohio Psychological Association of Graduate Students (OPAGS) Winter Workshop, “Integrated Care for Psychologists” on February 22 from 9 – 11:30 a.m. OPAGS welcomes Dr. Kathy Ashton, Dr. Sara Heinz, and Dr. Catherine Troncone, who will speak about their experiences as psychologists working in integrated care. Topics discussed will also include advantages and disadvantages of integrated care and what to know stepping into integrated care. We hope that all and any psychology graduate students in Ohio will attend. See you then! For more information, please see the OPA website at https://ohpsych.org/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=1323550.

Finally, the OPA Board of Directors is also seeking members who may be interested in pursuing committee membership and leadership opportunities within our shared Association. We have openings available in all of our various committees and specific leadership positions within Political Advocacy, Communications/Technology, and many other areas, depending upon your interests and availability. In addition, as OPA continues to emphasize the promotion of diversity across numerous domains in Ohio psychology, we would love to have our membership, especially those who identify themselves across any number of diverse dimensions, further involved with our Diversity leadership teams. Our Nominations and Election processes are also readying for the 2020-21 election cycle, with elected leadership positions in our APA Council Representative, Vice President of Diversity, Vice President of Science, and OPA President-Elect roles all available. If you ever thought about sharing your professional talents, passion, and giving back to Ohio psychology and your Association, please consider dropping me an email, and I would be delighted to link you with Association leaders who are “standing by” as our marketing and sales colleagues are opt to say.

Until then, please do accept my best wishes for a wonderful 2020 and we look forward to having OPA be a part of your new year’s professional experience in Ohio psychology.

As we appreciate in the behavioral sciences, prescription opioid use is a major risk factor for developing opioid use disorder, and initiatives underway in both Ohio and across the country have begun reducing opioid prescribing. However, rates of prescription opioid use in the U.S. are still two to five times higher than in most other developed countries, and the CDC reports that Ohioans are being prescribed opioids at a higher rate than the U.S. average. OPA, in partnership with the American Psychological Association, will be hosting a first-ever Ohio Opioid Summit, shared across two days: January 23, 2020 and January 24, 2020. The January 23 event will be a shared forum with Federal, State, and Local policymakers, national pain management experts, along with APA and OPA leadership to review evidence-based psychological pain management interventions and their potential role in patient care, and discussion of policies affecting access to these services. The next day, January 24, 2020, OPA will be hosting a daylong Psychological Pain Management Training that will feature nationally recognized experts who will provide participants with a strong understanding of the biopsychosocial nature of pain and the use of psychological and behavioral approaches to addressing chronic pain in adult populations. You can learn more about both events through the OPA website, and we look forward to seeing you there.

Over the past weekend, your OPA Board of Directors also convened for its December meeting. We are excited to announce a new focus for the former OPA Colleague Assistance Program with a new name, the OPA Prevention and Wellness Program. This group of dedicated OPA colleagues offers the opportunity to support OPA members in a diversity of needs, ranging from consultation to linkage to our own psychological services to ensure we are functioning at our best while protecting the interests of our clients and patients. Our appreciation to the exceptional Prevention and Wellness Program Committee for their passionate efforts to advance this resource for our members. You can learn more by visiting the OPA website.

Ever wonder how you can support the Foundation for Psychology in Ohio (PSYOHIO) while transacting many of the online activities so many of us already do, especially during the fleeting days of holiday shopping? Consider linking your Amazon account to the Amazon Smile program, an effort by Amazon.com to allow its customers to support the organizations and causes that mean the most to them. As a part of this program, customers can select their preferred non-profit or charity, which Amazon.com will donate .5% of their eligible purchases. PSYOHIO’s mission is to promote healthy communities throughout Ohio. We do this by supporting educational programs that increase access to and awareness of psychology; and philanthropic efforts and initiatives that promote psychology. The Foundation for Psychology in Ohio envisions a day when “good health” in Ohio is synonymous with “good psychological health” for all Ohioans. You can learn more at the Shop…Save…Support with Amazon Smile at https://ohpsych.org/news/480655/Shop-Save-Support-with-AmazonSmile-Program.htm.

Calling all students…Michael Sullivan Diversity Scholarship applications are now being accepted! The Michael Sullivan Diversity Scholarship Fund was created to provide financial assistance to support graduate student research projects in honor of Dr. Sullivan’s work with American Psychological Association, State, Provincial, and Territorial Psychological Associations and his commitment to diversity and inclusion. The deadline for the 2020 award is January 7, 2020. Proposals must be submitted electronically by 4:30pm (eastern) on Tuesday, January 7, 2020. Proposals must be in Microsoft Word or PDF format as described on the OPA website (https://ohpsych.org/page/MichaelSullivanDivSc). For more information or to submit proposals, please contact OPA’s CEO, Mr. Michael Ranney at mranney@ohpsych.org.

Finally, as an early Save the Date, our Diversity Committee will be hosting the 2020 Multicultural Conference, Saturday, November 14, 2020 at the Quest Conference Center. Dr. Josephine Ridley will share an entire day with attendees as she emphases culturally responsive psychological practice. Stay tuned for more information! 

On behalf of all of us at OPA, please accept our best wishes for a peaceful and joyous holiday season. We look forward to starting a new year in 2020 and working on behalf of each of our members to promote Ohio psychology. As always, do feel welcome to contact me if I might offer anything to support you.

Over the past week, your Board of Directors reconvened for its November Board meeting where we transact the affairs of the Association. OPA remains financially strong through the generous support of our members and fantastic attendance at OPA’s Annual Convention. Yet, we need to redouble our efforts towards improving our Association’s standalone workshops as an important offering in our professional development product line, accessed by many in the mental and behavioral health arenas. Our OPA membership base represents the premier body of Ohio psychologists who have advanced training and extensive content to share with our constituents. If you are interested in sharing your background and specialty area knowledge, please reach out to OPA’s Director of Education and Communication, Karen Hardin (khardin@ohpsych.org) to learn how to offer a standalone workshop in the coming year.

Speaking of our Annual Convention, we had over 40 outstanding proposals submitted for the 2020 Annual OPA Convention! With the licensure biennium arriving in a few weeks, please plan on attending next April 23-25, 2020 at the Quest Conference Center, where you can access everything in the realm of professional development you need to renew your license, including ethics and multicultural content matter. 

On January 23-24, 2020, OPA will be hosting a shared APA/OPA Opioid Pain Management program, which will be attended by many of the APA executives and should be both a wonderful opportunity to learn more about the challenges of treating opioid related issues while simultaneously showcasing Ohio’s leadership in this domain. Be sure to watch your email and the OPA webpage for more information as we close in on this exciting training and professional networking experience. 

Finally, I would like to acknowledge the commitment our Colleague Assistance Program has in serving OPA members by adopting a new name, the OPA Prevention and Wellness Program! Remember, this program of psychologists serving psychologists is one of the benefits you can access as an OPA member and helps to distinguish our Association in its care for its membership in times of need or wellness alike.

Fall is also a time of celebrations in the Ohio Psychological Association. During this past week, members of your Board of Directors held its October Board meeting and commemorated our future leadership pipeline members in the Leadership Development Academy (LDA). This year, 9 LDA fellows participated in a 10-month leadership experience, overseen by a cohort of OPA faculty, representing a diverse collection of our Association’s preeminent leaders, who met with these fellows on a regular basis towards development of a capstone project that supports Ohio psychology. Several of these LDA fellows shared their remarkable projects during the Board meeting, with topics ranging from substance use disorders, eye-opening Ohio psychological practitioner demographics, to development of a mentorship program for state and regional psychological associations among so many others. OPA envisions these LDA experiences to offer value to our membership towards cultivating leadership opportunities while helping us identify future Association leaders. Our next LDA cohort will be beginning in Fall 2020, and we cordially invite you to contact Dr. Wanda McEntyre, Dr. Jim Broyles, or Dr. Peg Mosher if you would like to become involved in this symbiotic and remarkable leadership exchange opportunity!

On October 26, 2019, OPA will be hosting its annual Fall Virtual Assembly, lead by President-Elect, Dr. Cynthia VanKeuren. The Annual Assemblies, which occur during fall and spring of each year, are a part of the Association’s new governance model we began several years ago. These assemblies are opportunities for you to discuss current challenges in psychological practice while informing your OPA leadership about topical trajectories we should pursue. This year’s Fall Assembly will focus on “Despair Deaths,” recognizing the societal and psychopolitical impacts of mass violence, suicidality, and trajectory so many of our clients and patients have experienced. Please accept this outreach as my warm welcome to have you join us for a dynamic and didactic professional experience this coming October 26. You can learn more about registering on the OPA website.

Finally, in reviewing the past year of fiscal and Association activities, we discovered there has been a shortage of standalone workshops offered through our Association’s professional development programming compared to prior years. We know our OPA membership represents a diverse and incredibly talented pool of myriad practice specialties, with so many of our members able to contribute outstanding learning opportunities for all of us. As the licensure renewal biennium comes upon us in 2020, we are hopeful to see many new workshop opportunities come to be offered. As someone who has presented in many of these workshops, I can tell you the process is very simple to propose such a workshop through our Association’s Education Committee, which carefully guides your proposal into a successfully scheduled workshop. From there, our dutiful OPA professional staff, led by Karen Hardin, organizes all of the logistics in consultation with you, allowing you to simply focus on preparing and delivering the training experience. If you would like to learn more about proposing and offering a future standalone workshop, please contact Karen Hardin in the OPA office at khardin@ohpsych.org. I look forward to learning from many of you in the coming year’s time.

As always, please do feel welcome to reach out to me if you have any comments, questions, or concerns. I continue to look forward to hearing from our members and offering any support I can throughout my presidential year.

Aside from starting a new membership year, your OPA Board of Directors have been assiduously working on behalf of you and leading the Association for another dynamic year. On Friday, September 13 and Saturday, September 14, 2019, the OPA Board of Directors convened for their annual day and half Leadership Retreat. Specific content areas included orienting the Association’s leadership teams towards their efforts on each foci of the Strategic Plan, creating specific action plans to advance the Plan over the coming year, and engaging in team building to help the leadership further their professional relationships towards transacting the affairs of the Association. This year’s Retreat was further benefited through the participation of Dr. Steve Gravenkemper, an organizational psychologist who recently relocated from “that state up north,” and whose efforts facilitated the Board to learn about aspects of a “Psychologically Healthy” Board and Association. At the conclusion of the Retreat, each Board member had gained further clarity on their respective leadership expectations, a decisive action plan, and considerable knowledge about navigating the challenging dualities of Association leadership and everything else our Association leaders have within their spheres of life.

Several days after the OPA Annual Retreat, OPA hosted its annual Legislative Day at the State Capitol in Columbus, OH. While usually held in the spring, this year the Legislative Day was moved to the fall and September 18, 2019 to better match the legislative activity cycles and be ahead of their efforts. This year’s participants were able to receive professional development from Dr. Amber Hewitt, a counseling psychologist and manager of advocacy for a national children’s healthcare system, on how to engage in legislative grassroots advocacy and lobbying, an essential but sometimes misunderstood part of our psychology work. From there, participants met with their state representatives to discuss our Association’s legislative platform for the coming year, particularly around RxP and PsyPACT. The day concluded with a reception in the Capitol to convene with Ohio’s lawmakers and support staff in a relaxed atmosphere.

Finally, as your new OPA President, I would be remiss if I did not offer a lens into my leadership priorities for the coming year. As a school psychologist who has been in social service and psychologist leadership for 20 years, becoming your Association president has been a humbling and outstanding learning experience for me to support each of you and our Association. Over the coming year, I am striving to navigate three priorities throughout my leadership tenure: (1) Facilitate action on the Association’s Strategic Plan elements; (2) Address and resolve barriers to successful implementation of the Plan’s workflow; and (3), Promote interconnectivity and shared interdisciplinary collaboration across Ohio’s social and mental/behavioral health entities, which further aligns with our Strategic Plan. If I can make fractional inroads to each of these, I will conclude my presidential term as having some modicum of success.

Until then, please accept our best wishes for a new wonderful start of fall and we look forward to supporting each of you as our membership. As always, I remain at your service and welcome hearing from you if you have thoughts, ideas, or actionable items how to improve your OPA membership experience.

Johnson et al. suggest that we develop “competency constellations” to help us stay accountable and well. Their idea is that competency can be reduced at different times throughout our careers as we face health problems, overwhelming stressors, or fail to maintain up-to-date knowledge. If we accept this as normal, then we can talk openly with trusted others about our concerns and let them help us to (a) maintain our competency through additional learning, treatment, or expert support, or (b) know when to take a break from our practice for more intensive treatment. 

I have a few people who are part of my own constellation. Across my professional organizations, these are people I call to ask about challenges I’m facing for the first time. As I’ve been leading the OPA Board this year, I’ve asked for feedback about how I’m doing as a leader. At work where I direct our Counseling Center, I get advice and feedback from trusted colleagues and my staff to help improve my work. In the Counseling Center, we recently read Robin DiAngelo’s article on White Fragility, discussed it among White staff and then all together as a diverse group. We agreed to call each other out when we hear a racial microaggression so that we can each improve our own work toward dismantling racism. So in this way we are pushing and supporting each other to enhance our competencies with implicit bias. 

Finally, I have had the privilege to have supervisors who helped me think about my own mental health and how it can be managed while helping others. During my doctoral program, my depression kept me from going to my practicum site a few times: if I couldn’t stop crying to get ready, I didn’t go. With treatment, I was able to work every day and be present with clients. My supervisors helped me explore how the depression impacted my work and how I could increase my treatment to recover from it. After multiple major depressive episodes my psychiatrist recommended staying on medication indefinitely, and colleagues helped me adjust to this reality. Now I see a therapist every two weeks and continue medication. I’ve been depression-free for four years, the longest in my adult life! As I’ve supervised practicum counselors and interns over the years, a number of them have let me know about their own depression or anxiety symptoms. We are not immune to mental health concerns because we practice in the field, but we can support each other and make it okay to talk about. 

OPA is an organization that cares about us as people. The Colleague Assistance Program is one way to connect with others for support. As I’ve been involved with OPA, I’ve met mentors and friends who are part of my trusted community. Whether your community is with colleagues or family and friends, I hope you have a constellation of people looking out for you as you do the important work of healing, teaching, consulting, or researching. 

We are able to give about $500 to each candidate. Over the course of a year, we typically receive about $10,000 in donations which are then given to candidates. In contrast to these numbers, other health professions have much more robust Political Action Committees, sometimes giving $10,000 to each candidate with over $100,000 annually to spend. Ohio is not unique in this regard. Psychologists give less to PACs than psychiatrists, physicians, and social workers. I wonder if we are less aware of how interconnected we are with those making laws and shaping policies? Or if we think we are somehow getting our hands dirty by contributing to politicians’ campaign funds. What might prevent you from giving to our PAC? 

Both OPA and APA give in a bipartisan manner, seeking out legislators who care about health care and the social determinants of health. Here are some of the legislators the OPA PAC has given to so far this year (with relevant quotes from their official online bios): 

• Rep. Beth Liston of Dublin is a physician and faculty at OSU. “A passionate advocate for affordable, high quality healthcare, State Rep. Beth Liston ran for office to bring her knowledge about health and the health impacts of policy to our state government.”
  
• Rep. Derrick Merrin represents portions of Fulton and Lucas counties. “As Chairman of Health Committee, he has advocated for policies to reduce health care costs, promote price transparency, and better patient access.”
  
• Rep. Bill Seitz is from Cincinnati. “Throughout his legislative career, Rep. Seitz has been at the forefront of criminal and civil justice issues, leading the effort to reform Ohio’s criminal sentencing laws and eliminate the barriers to employment many nonviolence offenders face following their release from prison.”
  
• Senator Kenny Yuko is from Cuyahoga and Lake Counties. He previously served as a Representative. “Yuko ran for State Representative in 2004 with the goals of protecting working families, promoting health care access, and improving Ohio’s economic climate. Served on the Committee on Health and Aging and the Committee on Veterans Affairs.”
  
• Senator Cecil Thomas of Cincinnati previously served on Cincinnati’s City Council. “His most notable success is the Cincinnati Initiative to Reduce Violence (CIRV). This program provided direct resources and outreach services to at risk youth/young adults in Cincinnati’s most troubled neighborhoods addressing the critical problem of violence and crime. The implementation of the CIRV program resulted in a significant reduction of crime and improved community and police relations to which is now being modeled nationally and internationally.” He currently serves on the Education, Civil Justice, and Insurance Committees. 
  

So, I want to encourage you to give to the PAC. Even $20 can make a difference in communicating that we care about these issues. 

What are your own legislators doing about issues you care about? Check out their bios and view these Tips for Effective Communication with Legislators! Our Advocacy Committee, led by Dr. Brad Potts, has created these great resources for finding out who your legislators are, establishing a relationship, writing a letter, etc. The first step is just learning about them, and the next step is reaching out. This fall, OPA will have a Legislative Day at the Capitol when you can learn more about how to advocate with your legislators, then visit their offices and attend a social hour. But I encourage you not to wait but to become an active citizen now. 

A third strategy for making a difference would be to run for office yourself! I had the pleasure of seeing Dr. Amber Hewitt recently. She was faculty at U of Akron, then had a year-long legislative fellowship through APA and is now looking to run for office herself in the D.C. area. What could we do if we had more psychologists in the State House here in Ohio? One of the goals for our Strategic Plan is to get more psychologists involved in committees or task forces for the state. If you are currently serving on a task force or committee for the state government or if you are serving in a public office (City Council, etc.), please let me know so that we can reach out to you and help others get involved too! You can email me at: k.j.hahn@csuohio.edu

I look forward to seeing what more we can do for psychology and the public as we contribute, reach out to our legislators, or run for office ourselves! 

While psychologists manage some sense of fear that we could lose clients to master’s level clinicians, we know that there is a shortage of mental health care (plenty of clients for everyone). As I think about the larger perspective, my sense is that the underlying problem is access to healthcare, rather than not enough clients for all of us. In my work at CSU’s Counseling Center, we are able to provide short-term therapy for free to students, but then we have to refer out for continued longer-term work. This allows us to provide some care for all students who want it. Our clients sometimes have good insurance, but even then, the deductibles can be prohibitive! For people with really good health insurance and plenty of income, mental health care is accessible. But for those without extra funds to pay deductibles and co-pays, significant barriers exist. We also see a lot of students who have no insurance. If they are eligible for Medicaid, the process of signing up is bewildering and long.

For decades, young adults have been at higher risk for suicide, and the trend for college students over the last five years is increased suicide risk and self-harm. When these students go without treatment, we risk seeing more deaths by suicide. So, the barriers to long-term therapy create heightened risk. I see this problem as both ethical and related to diversity. How can we ethically allow people at risk to go without treatment, knowing that their lives may then be in danger? While we know that those with money and privilege have access to care (hence well-being and safety) while those without do not, how can we do nothing?

As I enter my last year as an Early Career Psychologist (10 years since doctorate), I see more and more how our work is affected by the social and political context of healthcare and access to mental health treatment. My first four years at Cleveland State University, working with a diverse urban student body, have coincided with my greater involvement in OPA where I’ve learned more about Advocacy. Together these experiences have given me a passion to try to change the system that leaves some people well and others at risk.

If Advocacy is something that interests you, I encourage you to get connected with one of OPA’s committees. Some committees actively engaged in advocacy are the Diversity Committee, the LGBT Sub-committee, and the Advocacy Committee. As we start to implement our Strategic Plan goals, (1) we will be helping psychologists understand how national advocacy for Medicare changes impacts Medicaid and private insurance reimbursement, (2) we will be developing strategies to hold insurance companies accountable for mental health parity, (3) we will be supporting legislation that addresses issues of diversity and cultural competency, and (4) we will work to get the RxP bill passed and begin working to get PsychPact on the legislative agenda in Ohio. These concerns impact both psychologists and the public, allowing us to provide much-needed services and opening up greater access to treatment.

Sunday and Monday were filled with keynotes and conference sessions. I attended a few extra informational sessions as well: a briefing with Chief of Practice, Dr. Jared Skillings, who will give our keynote at the OPA Convention in April; and a session on the master’s accreditation issue. Both of these discussed how APA is changing to meet current challenges. Dr. Skillings addressed the need to think more creatively about what we have to offer that is different from our market competitors, and the master’s issue program reviewed both opportunity and challenge as APA seeks to provide accreditation criteria for master’s programs in Psychology. I also attended sessions on the Opioid Crisis and Applied Psychology (thinking about what we have to offer in industry, government and other sectors). 

Dr. Sandra Shullman, APA President-Elect moderated a panel of leaders and asked them to share a challenge they faced and what they learned from it. This was perhaps my favorite content from the entire conference. The insights shared rang true for me: “when you take on a leadership role, you never know what you are signing up for.” They discussed challenges that were unexpected and that they could not prepare for but which they somehow met well enough. Dr. Arthur Evans, APA’s CEO, described the day he was recruited for a position when the current leader was suddenly fired, and he walked over to see all his new employees walking out in protest about the change in leadership. He went on to succeed in that role and then get hired as APA’s CEO! 

On Sunday night, I had the privilege to attend the black tie dinner with Senator Bill Cassidy from Louisiana. I am grateful to all the members of OPA who helped contribute to the price of my seat there! It is perhaps one of the few times I will attend an event with a $1000 price tag. At my table were some of the heavy-hitters for APA Advocacy (a professional lobbyist, Dr. Skillings, Dr. Jennifer Kelly who is running for APA President, and others). So I let them talk when Senator Cassidy was present, and they made a good pitch for increased access to healthcare through House Bill HR 884, “Medicare Mental Health Access Act.” Once he moved on to the next table, his aide, Mary Moody, sat with us, and I took the opportunity to talk with her about an issue close to my heart: suicide prevention on university campuses. When I mentioned that suicide prevention does not receive as much funding as it should, given the death rates by suicide, she was already aware and had done some research on this. When I mentioned how veterans are disproportionately affected, she agreed and talked about what she was learning about suicide among women veterans. Overall, I hope I made a small impact, but it was a wonderful opportunity to have relaxed time with Senator Cassidy and Mary Moody. 

On Monday, I got to participate in a “pure democracy” experience. I put my name in the hat to run for Committee of State Leaders (the group that plans Practice Leadership Conference each year). I had one minute to talk about why I should be elected, and then those present could vote. It was nerve-wracking to talk in front of so many experienced leaders, but I won! Thanks to Jim Broyles and Michael Ranney for helping me with my speech on the walk there!
Finally, the capstone of the experience is always the day on Capitol Hill. I got to advocate with Jim Broyles and Adrienne Jett at two Republican Representatives’ offices. As we got warmed up, we engaged more personally with the aides, and it was good to get to know them a bit. We will be following up with them to continue our advocacy and relationship-building. The three asks from APA were: support the Medicare Mental Health Access Act, support the Mental Health Telemedicine Expansion Act, and generally preserve mental health and substance use disorder coverage in Medicate and private health insurance plans. We also provided some information about Argosy (Dr. Evans had sent a letter to Betsy DeVos to advocate for their students), and we mentioned that we will follow up with the appropriate aide to discuss OPA’s concerns about the separation of immigrant families. It sounded like the representatives were aware of the increased need for mental health care, partly due to awareness of the opioid crisis. Whether or not they will support these bills is uncertain, but it was good to just begin the relationships. 

If there was a take-home for me, it was the importance of relationships. I had some lovely conversations in between things with Adrienne Jett, our ECP Committee Chair, and learned more about her work in the prison. I shared a cab and lunch at the airport with Kathy Ashton and got to get her advice for the rest of my presidential year in OPA, and I had time to talk with Michael Mobley who served with me on the Board of Division 17 (Society for Counseling Psychology). He was present at PLC as a Public Interest delegate, and we talked about the stresses of our leadership roles at work (he’s on faculty at Salem State during a transition time) and play (he’s chair of APA’s Board on the Advancement of Psychology in the Public Interest). I also stole as much time as possible with Sandy Shullman who has been a mentor for me. It was great to watch her relationship with current APA President Rosie Bingham. I can see how Rosie and Sandy will each do what is best for APA in their year and then hand the baton to the next one to lead the organization forward. They’ve committed to this strategy of collaboration and organization-first over personal priorities. I left the conference warmed by these relationships and inspired for the year ahead!

This issue of access to care is the main topic of our Capitol Hill visit this year in D.C. On Tuesday, March 12, hundreds of psychologists from across the country will be on the Hill to visit with our Senators and Representatives (or their very sharp aides). APA staff members will prepare us to advocate (1) for telehealth to be covered by insurance (the Mental Health Telemedicine Expansion Act), (2) for psychologists to be able to provide services without physician approval under Medicare (Mental Health Access Act or “Physician Definition Act”), and (3) for general support of health care coverage. In addition, we may organize our Ohio delegation to speak intelligently about the issue of families being separated during the initial immigration process here. APA has already advocated for change in this practice, and we may be able to speak personally with our Congress people about our concerns. 

Then at a black-tie dinner organized by APA’s Political Action Committee or PAC, I will have a chance to talk with Senator Bill Cassidy, Republican from Louisiana. Previously, he founded a free clinic in Baton Rouge and worked as a gastroenterologist. In the House of Representatives and now in the Senate, he has been a champion for mental health care and coverage. Last year, he fought to maintain Medicare payment for psychological testing. I am inspired by his approach to improve access to care for people most in need and by the fact that we come from different political parties but share a passion for access to mental health care.

At APA and perhaps in OPA as well, there has been a distinction at times between advocacy for issues that are considered “practice” issues vs. those considered “social justice” issues. My participation in meetings this month has encouraged me to begin to challenge this dichotomy. In the February OPA Board meeting, the Insurance Committee joined us and shared the work they have been doing and how their work helps psychologists offer adequate care. Several of the committee members and board members framed their work as social justice work which allows clients to have access to care. For instance, insurance companies may take actions that seem to discourage more than a 45-minute therapy session, but for many clients, that length of session may be inadequate. We know from research that conducting a brief measure of symptoms (e.g., OQ-45 or CCAPS) before treatment and periodically throughout treatment improves outcomes and may reduce the number of sessions needed; however, insurance tends to barely reimburse or not reimburse these brief measures. The work of understanding and advocating for changes here can seem quite technical and specific to practice that relies on insurance billing. However, from a broader viewpoint, it is clear that clients relying on insurance (which is most of us) may not have access to all the care we need without this advocacy. Those with fewer resources are perhaps the most impacted by these barriers to care, and thus, advocating for “practice issues” is social justice work.

At a webinar with APA staff who were preparing delegates to address a “social justice” issue of our choosing on Capitol Hill, participants spoke passionately about their practice being inherently social justice oriented. One participant shared that the majority of his clients are from the LGBTQ community; thus, the distinction between practice and social justice issues is not a real one in his lived experience as a psychologist. Anyone working with underserved clients or those with fewer resources may feel the same. 

I wonder how we might continue to break down this dichotomy in our work at OPA. Where we have both Republicans and Democrats, agnostics and Christians, liberals and conservatives in our association, can we see how our practice advocacy improves access for all and thus advances social equality? My guess is that we may have many differences in worldview across our members, but we all value the health and well-being of all people, whether it be LGBTQ clients or children just immigrating to the U.S. with their families. 

When you take the Gallup Strengths Finder, you are provided with your top five strengths, and three of mine are Ideation, Intellection, and Learner (the other two are Achiever and Relator). This means I could come up with ideas all day long and that I love to think about ideas and learn just for the sake of thinking and learning. If I didn’t have Achiever in my top five, I might struggle to complete any projects! In any case, my answer to what I love about learning is “nearly everything.”

Becoming President of OPA, I worried that I didn’t know enough about all aspects of psychology in Ohio, but I’ve found that it’s been a joy to learn more (and that, thankfully, I don’t have to know it all). This year, I’ve learned more about challenges in getting reimbursed, about what a quality worker’s compensation evaluation includes, and about the many aspects of the opioid crisis. 

I find myself curious about local and statewide efforts to improve the well-being of children by increasing the number of school psychologists (there is a severe shortage), by subsidizing childcare, and by cleaning up the lead problem in our housing here in Cleveland. This year our OPA Board includes several members who work with children or in children’s settings, and I’m curious to learn more about their perspectives on these urgent concerns that appear to have bipartisan support. How might we use this opportunity to be proactive in our work to improve the lives of Ohioans? 

These are the kinds of questions our OPA Board wants to discuss this year. At our last Board meeting, we took a critical look at how we spend our time during meetings and decided to experiment with a different type of agenda. This spring we will be alternating our focus from business items in one month to a broader discussion of more strategic issues the next month. We want to do a good job of anticipating the challenges and opportunities facing our field and the public and guide our association to lead more proactively. This change also allows all of us to learn how to frame and participate in these broader discussions. As we try something new, not yet knowing quite how it will work out, I feel the excitement/anxiety that comes with learning a new skill and working at my edge. As a Board, we are practicing what Sandra Shullman calls “learning leadership” as we learn the situation and the skills while leading.

Of course, not all learning is joyful. As I talk with people who face significant challenges at work or who have intense caregiving responsibilities with family who have health concerns, I know that learning we wouldn’t choose is sometimes imposed on us by life. When life has given me challenges and lessons that go beyond a healthy stretch, I’ve heard myself say, “well, I’m learning a lot” as a way to look on the bright side. But much of the time lately, I’ve been able to choose what and when I learn, and then the experience is mostly joyful. In this new year, I wish for each of you to come through challenging times and to have moments – or years or decades – of joyful learning. 

At the Leadership Development Academy (LDA), we had 10 up-and-coming OPA leaders as fellows: Kistry Engel, Adrienne Jett, Katy Jones, John Lodge, Kadian Miracle, Jeeseon Park-Salzman, Amanda Ross, Geoff Schwerzler, Brittany Sommers, and Chiaothong Yong. They work in private practice, state hospitals and pediatrics, at college and university counseling centers, and in veterans’ substance abuse treatment. I am excited about the diversity of experience and perspective they will bring to OPA’s future. As a group, the LDA fellows were attuned to the collaborative, mission-focused, and organization-focused leadership that Sandy and I spoke about. Some of their ideas of leadership include...

• creating a culture of trust
  
• maximizing team strengths
• acknowledging failure, biases, weaknesses
• coming back from failure (being resilient)
  
• being genuine
  
• promoting participation
  
• being brave
  
• respecting diverse views
  
• managing conflict
  
• adapting to the group

It seems we have a group of generous leaders in our future, and it was a joy to spend a day with them at their first training. The LDA fellows will meet online with the faculty, attend Board meetings, work with a mentor, and complete a project over the course of the year. 

Sandy spoke in her presentation about her concept of being a “learning leader” (Shullman, 2017). Given the fast pace of change in our world and in our profession, how do we as leaders help navigate through this change? Sandy described the qualities or skills that have best helped leaders succeed in times of great ambiguity like these: (a) curiosity and motivation by mystery, (b) risk tolerance, (c) future scanning, (d) tenacity, (e) personal excitement and enthusiasm of others, (f) flexibility, (g) simplifying, and (h) focus.

Both APA and OPA are currently in a Strategic Planning mode, with our OPA strategic plan all but finalized. Our process has been one of learning and stretching ourselves to meet the current needs in our world and profession. For instance, one goal focuses on reducing the Opioid Crisis, and one initiative is to increase our work with First Responders. Related to our profession, we hope to assist APA’s advocacy for better reimbursement with Medicaid and Medicare and to increase psychologist involvement in state government committees and task forces. Once the plan is finalized, we may call on you to help us meet our goals! I hope we can apply Sandy’s lessons and role model to be humble enough to take a learning approach to leadership and tenacious enough to hold steady through ambiguity and change.

Peg Mosher transformed the leadership retreat that Cathy McDaniels Wilson began, and now we have the Leadership Development Academy (LDA), which has resulted in more diverse and early career leaders serving in OPA (2 LDA fellows now serve on the Board, and 5 of the 11 Board members are early career—within 10 years post doctorate). Related to diversity, we have a ways to go, but I was encouraged by our discussion of diversity and leadership at the OPA Board Retreat this year. 

At the Board Retreat, we discussed how our identities have shaped our approach to leadership, what leadership means to us, and how we can create a space for openness and authenticity as we work together this year. We affirmed our commitment to hearing diverse and divergent viewpoints, working intentionally to include perspectives that may not be at the table with us: rural concerns, politically conservative viewpoints, religious approaches, transgender and gender non-conforming perspectives. 

What is leadership? We used words like listening, service, support, humility, vulnerability, sacrifice, and collaboration. The word that came up most often was “authenticity.” We want to be our true selves as we lead, make room for others to bring their full selves to the table, and provide what is needed in a genuine way. This involves mentoring, being mentored, giving voice to others, and finding voice ourselves. 

We came to the weekend ready to tell our stories of what led us to lead or accept leadership roles when they were offered to us. At times, it may not be clear what the benefit is of leading in a professional association. For me, one of the great benefits is the wider view of the field. It would be easy for me to lose perspective. As the Counseling Center Director at Cleveland State University, October is a busy time with many crisis walk-ins, on-call responsibilities that keep me up late, and urgent meetings to address university-wide concerns. It would be easy to feel that my job is difficult, and some days it is. But being connected to psychologists across the state, I am aware of how my colleagues working in prisons, in community mental health, and in hospitals, may face these kinds of challenges at even greater levels than I do. Knowing people who work in these settings keeps me grounded and grateful!

The leadership and service I do also gives me the chance to intervene at a higher level of system. In addition to my work with individual clients, I am able to help change the larger systems that impact my clients (e.g., supporting candidates who improve belonging for LGBTQ+ individuals and thus reduce their risk of suicide). Because I am involved in OPA, I was invited to a fundraiser for Rich Cordray and was able to ask him what he plans to do to enforce mental health parity laws. He had a very good answer about how the governor does have enforcement power for laws already passed, even if the state legislature is not moving in the same direction. By giving to the OPA Political Action Committee (PAC), I was able to further support candidates who are proponents of mental health. Certainly, these actions are less direct than doing therapy with an individual client, but they have the potential to impact many more people in Ohio. 

As we enter the month of gratitude with Thanksgiving on the way and the holiday time of giving, I wonder what you are grateful for as a psychologist in Ohio? And from that gratitude, what will you give (in time or gifts)? OPA has many venues for us to contribute: you might consider joining a committee, giving to the PAC to support candidates, giving to the Foundation, or offering to provide a webinar for CE’s. I hope you will know that there is space here for you to have a voice, and the OPA Board is made up of leaders who want to hear your voice. If you’d like help to get connected or find the right way to contribute, feel free to email me at k.j.hahn@csuohio.edu.

Of course, all communities are made of people who are fallible, and I came to be critical of the Salvation Army as I questioned my faith and made friends who are LGBTQ+. Now, I try to hold both a critical and engaged stance with my communities, always wanting to help improve the groups I’m part of. I have a sense that if I can help others feel a sense of belonging, then they also can engage more and help improve the community. 

This is my hope as I start my year as OPA President – that I can help you feel a sense of belonging in the OPA community and that I can encourage you to contribute in ways that help psychologists and the public in Ohio. It is humbling to imagine what I will be able to achieve in this one-year volunteer role. I’m very aware that most of the work is done by the dedicated staff and the hard working committees and affiliate groups, but I hope to contribute my bit. I appreciate how much the Presidents before me were able to accomplish and especially want to thank Mary Miller for modeling such inclusiveness as a leader!

I notice for myself and a number of other psychologists that we often feel on the outside of a group. It can then be easier to do less, speak up less, or simply critique rather than engage positively, and this may keep us feeling like we’re on the outside. I want to challenge you and myself this year to courageously speak up, engage with each other, and try to make a difference. For each of us, the next steps in engagement will be different. 

For Brad Potts (Advocacy Committee Chair) and Gary Carrington (past VP for Diversity), talking with their legislators is easy and normal. For me, it will be my stretch this year – to meet with my legislators and talk about some of the important issues OPA wants to address. I also want to remain responsive to emails, though at times it will be a challenge when my job as Counseling Center Director at Cleveland State gets hectic. If you would like to join me by creating your own stretch goal or two, here are some thoughts about what they could be: 

• Add your voice a few times each month to the Listserv discussion
  
• Submit an article to the OPA Review
  
• Attend the October 20 Virtual Assembly to discuss the draft of our Strategic Plan
  
• Talk with leaders about joining a committee in OPA
  
• Attend an event hosted by your Regional Psychological Association
  
• Offer to serve as a judge at the Science Fair
  
• Contribute $25 online to the OPA Foundation or Political Action Committee
  
• Watch for Call to Action emails and call your legislators
  

If you want to join me this year to engage a bit more with the OPA community or to advance OPA’s mission, what will you do? I would love to hear! Please feel free to email me.

As I reflect on the year, I would like to take this column to personally express gratitude to everyone who has made this year an outstanding one, not just for OPA but also for psychologists in Ohio. My professional gratitude list includes the following:

OPA Staff: I cannot speak highly enough about Michael, Karen, Carolyn, David, Jim, Lynn and Beth. They are an outstanding group of individuals who work together so well and keep OPA running like a well-oiled machine. Because of their work, OPA brought in more revenue at convention this year, allowing us to end the year positively and continue to fund crucial advocacy work. Their positive attitude and energy kept me going, even when it felt like there was no way to stay above the workload. 

The “New” Board: A smaller board with more frequent meetings was a challenging adjustment, but each board member found ways to adapt. I am particularly grateful to everyone for being willing to join in the new governance model, even without knowing 100% what the expectations and challenges would be for the group. A huge thanks to Eric, Tom, Katharine, Peg, RoseMary, David, Cathy, Marc, Angela, and Gary for your commitment to OPA and making the first year a meaningful one for me 

OPA Committees and Task Forces: There isn’t enough space to thank all the chairs and members of the numerous committees and task forces that are within OPA. Truly, this is where the rubber meets the road for OPA. The volunteers that commit hours and energy to OPA are what make us outstanding year after year. 

Liaisons, Collaborators and Affiliates: Psychology is not insular, and OPA has relationships with other organizations that support our work and provide needed assistance. Some special thanks to Penny Tipps, our lobbyist, who has been essential over the last year as we work towards the RxP bill passing, as well as Erich Merkle, our OSPA liaison (and now incoming OPA President-Elect), who has spent numerous hours strengthening the connection between our organizations. 

OPA Members:  Ohio is an amazing state to be a psychologist, and I am enormously grateful for those of you who choose to support OPA through membership. Each member contributes in their own way to making this organization great, and I appreciate the commitment demonstrated to our profession. It is humbling to have been the leader of such an incredible group of colleagues. 

Research shows that creating gratitude lists is a healthy way to combat stress, as well as improve well-being and positive moods.  What is your professional gratitude list? Feel free to share it on social media with myself or OPA! And thank you for your support this last year, it really has been an experience that has helped me grow and develop as a psychologist and leader.

It was not all that long ago that our hard-fought battle against consolidation of our Board of Psychology, to remain independent and ensure that our profession is distinct and appropriately overseen by psychologists, and not by individuals from other professions.  While the paperwork, payments, and details can be challenging for some of us, I do appreciate that our Board and the State of Ohio have given us the responsibility in maintaining continuing education on the science and practice of psychology. As a profession, this keeps us updated and nimble, as well as provides opportunities to learn and understand new populations, practice areas or therapies, and network with others to provide strong referral systems.  

When I think about getting my license in the mail, 15 years ago, it is a wonderful memory filled with excitement. I was so proud to hang the license on my wall, and with every passing biennium, my renewal is a reminder of the hard work and dedication it took to get to that point. Being a psychologist is not just a profession – it is a privilege. Each day we work with incredibly strong and vulnerable individuals, families, groups, and businesses to support and guide them to psychological well-being. 

I am grateful to you, each and every OPA member, for supporting OPA’s role in ensuring psychologists are on track to maintain licensure, and supporting OPA by attending the variety of continuing education programming sponsored by the organization. I am also particularly grateful to Beth Wherley, OPA’s Director of Mandatory Continuing Education, who navigates the thousands of submissions each year and handles many of the stressful calls related to MCE. Each year at the Practice Leadership Conference, when I hear about the challenges that other states deal, I am thankful that OPA has incredibly dedicated and hard-working staff to support us.  

As a reminder, OPA has some detailed instructions on submission of CEU’s to OPA, as well as how to ensure you are doing your responsibility for reporting at this link: https://cdn.ymaws.com/ohpsych.org/resource/resmgr/files/mce/OPA-MCE_2016-2018Psychologis.pdf

It is incredibly easy to renew your license! All license renewals are now online, and it took me less than 10 minutes to complete my renewal. The Ohio e-License Portal is at this link: https://elicense.ohio.gov/OH_HomePage

Ohio Association of County Behavioral Health Authorities 2018 Opioid Conference: Strengthening Ohio’s Communities (June 11-12, 2018)
OACBHA is sponsoring their 9th annual opiate conference in conjunction with the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addictions Services, as well as the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. This year’s conference is being held on June 11-12 at the Hyatt Regency in Columbus. There are spots for 1,200 attendees, with two full days of educational sessions. Keynote speakers include Ret. Admiral James “Sandy” Winnefeld, Co-Chair of SAFE (Stop the Addiction Fatality Epidemic), Rita Noonan, Ph.D., Chief Health Systems Branch from the CDC, and a media panel moderated by Jerry Revish of 10TV. For more information and a detailed schedule of presenters and topics, please visit this website: https://www.oacbha.org/ohios_2018_opiate_conference.php. OPA will have representation at the event, and we hope to share information with the Board as well as general membership after the conference is complete. This information should inform our work moving forward after the Assembly discussions on the opioid crisis from our own convention. 

Ohio School Safety Summit (September 12, 2018)
The Ohio School Safety Summit, to be held on September 12 this year in Columbus, is sponsored by the Ohio School Boards Association. Proposals are currently being accepted (deadline June 8th: http://stearns.ohioschoolboards.org/nominatess_include.php ), the focus of the conference is collaborative effort involving a multitude of education groups, mental health organizations and law enforcement agencies to address the issues surrounding the safety and security of Ohio’s schools.  Nearly 20 groups have committed themselves to working together to make a difference for the schoolchildren of this state.  They have developed both short- and long-term goals that focus on mental health, safety procedures and training, cooperative relationships between law enforcement and school districts, weapons in schools, family and parental involvement and more. Currently this effort involves the following groups:   Buckeye Association of School Administrators; National Alliance on Mental Illness - Ohio;  Ohio Association for Career and Technical Education; Ohio Association of Elementary School Administrators; Ohio Association of Public School Employees; Ohio Association of School Business Officials; Ohio Association of Secondary School Administrators; Ohio Department of Education; Ohio Homeland Security; Ohio Education Association; Ohio Educational Service Center Association; Ohio Federation of Teachers; Ohio High School Athletic Association; Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services; Ohio PTA; Ohio School Boards Association; Ohio School Counselors Association; Ohio School Psychologists Association; and Ohio School Resource Officers Association. 

OPA is currently seeking representation to attend this summit, and Dr. Elizabeth Harris, Chair of the OPA Committee on Social Responsibility, is submitting a proposal for this conference. The conference is free to attend, and will have numerous topics including the following: Trauma, Identification of resources, School climate, Supporting children and families, Intervention, Managing mental health, Roles of school psychologists and counselors, De-escalation techniques, Stadiums/extracurricular activities, Bus safety, Schools, Legal aspects of arming staff, Building plan evaluations, Law enforcement, First responders, Threat assessment, Emergency management plans, and Collaboration with local and county governments. These topics fit well with the goals of the OPA Anti-Violence Task Force, and our hopes to work with other organizations to create a “one-stop” website for violence prevention and response resources. 

Please OPA if you are interested in either of these efforts, particularly the School Safety Summit. Again, if you are aware of other collaborative opportunities for psychologists, or are involved in those efforts, please share that with myself or other OPA board members. We are grateful for your involvement in inclusive, positive community engagement as well as the facilitation of a psychologically-healthy Ohio!

During the first two days of convention, we also held our first OPA Assembly meetings. This year’s topic was the Opioid Crisis and how OPA can address this specific concern. There were rich discussions on both days spanning a number of concerns, as well as practical steps that OPA could utilize to move forward on this topic. Please watch your OPA publications for a more detailed analysis of those discussions, as well as an opportunity for you to give us feedback if you were not able to attend the convention this year. Our goal is to tie the suggestions into the work the OPA Board has already done with the strategic plan, and share that with the general membership soon.

Some specific suggestions that came out of the Convention Assembly included the following:

• More proactive and purposeful collaboration with family physicians to educate all stakeholders (physicians, psychologists, and patients) about the wide spectrum of pain management options beyond opioid medications.
  
• Holistic and collaborative continuing education training provided for a broad range of providers in the medical community, including integrated care models, pain management, addiction treatment, and destigmatization of mental health.
  
• Active engagement with legislators on models of pain management and specifically address continued funding and access for Medicaid. 
  
• Participate in current Opioid Town Halls/Conferences and potentially sponsor some of these meetings, to include families, schools, psychologists, medical providers, and the media, to understand all perspectives and barriers to solutions. 
  

The OPA Planning and Development Committee, as well as the OPA Board, will take all of the suggestions and work through them to identify a priority list as well as the realistic nature of each. Again, we look forward to hearing your feedback once the full Assembly notes have been published.

I would specifically like to thank the OPA staff for all the hard work and “behind the scenes” preparation that they do to make Convention appear seamless! OPA is blessed with a committed and engaged group of individuals that truly make our lives easier. A huge thanks to Michael, Karen, Carolyn, David and Beth for another outstanding convention!

Please join us for next year’s OPA Convention, held Wednesday, April 24 to Friday, April 26th at the Quest Convention Center. The topic will be “Working Together to Build a Culture of Understanding,” and registration opens February 4, 2019. We look forward to seeing you again next year! 

One of the sessions I would like to report on was entitled “Social Justice & Advocacy Matters: Navigating “isms” and Building Allies in SPTAs and Other Professional Settings” which was co-facilitated by Charmain Jackman, PhD, Diversity Liaison; Chair, Diversity Subcommittee, Committee of State Leaders and Gary Howell, PsyD, Diversity Liaison-Elect. During this session, we participated in a fishbowl exercise that allowed participants to explore issues of race/ethnicity, religion, gender, ability and other diversity factors related to their training, mentoring experiences, and professional sites. My take-home message from this experience were numerous: how crucial it is to listen and trust our colleague’s experiences, to actively find ways to have effective ally-like behaviors, and to never stop working towards equity and removal of barriers based on stereotypes. Social justice work can be exhausting, yet is crucial to the future of our profession and nation.

A second important session was entitled “High-Impact Governing:” Building Successful Leadership Partnerships” and was presented by Eloiza Altoro, MS, HS-BCP, CAE, Principal Consultant, Mind Redesign Consulting, Milwaukee, WI. She walked attendees through successful and non-successful factors related to non-profit boards. I had many take-aways from her presentation, as well as the follow-up session co-facilitated by Jo Linder-Crow, Ph.D., CEO of the California Psychological Association and Paul Marcille, Ph.D., President of CPA. It was clear throughout that it can be easy to fall into dysfunctional behaviors within non-profit governance models, and continuous reflection and effective leadership should be part of the process to reduce that dysfunction. Further, the interaction between volunteer board members and staff in the organization is one of the keys to effective and successful organizations. 

As we continue to refine and work on OPA’s new governance model, these two sessions helped me focus on several of our growing pains, and have given me ideas on next steps. While practical goals such as the updating of the Policy and Procedure manual is important, our association has also been working on meaningful goals that our membership has directed us towards: Violence prevention, addressing the opioid crisis, and workforce issues, to name just a few.

To address these, we must refrain from too narrow of a self-focus and ensure we collaborate with colleagues across professions. OPA’s relationship with OSPA is a good example of a healthy collaboration, with our current focus being to create a combined website of pre-existing resources for psychologists, school psychologists, teachers, parents, and other healthcare professionals to address school violence. Our hope is to put forth a “one stop resource” site for practitioners and consumers to visit, rather than being directed to numerous sites and not knowing the quality or efficacy of those. 

To close, I’d like to send a warm Congratulations to OSPA on their 75th Anniversary! They will be celebrating the year at their 2018 Conference, which will be held April 19-20 in Hilton Columbus in Polaris. The celebration program will kick-off Thursday morning with Dr. John Kelly, the current President of NASP with a keynote address entitled “The Power of One.”  Following his address, Dr. Kelly will present “Delivering Effective Mental Health Services in Schools” with a focus on student anxiety and depression. For more information visit the OSPA website. 

One last reminder: Don’t forget to register for the OPA convention, which is the following week April 26, 27, and 28th at the Quest Conference Center in Polaris! We will have Dr. Arthur Evans, Jr., CEO of APA kicking off convention with a keynote entitled “The Future of Psychology and the American Psychological Association.” There are sessions to interest everyone, and numerous networking opportunities. Looking forward to seeing you there!

From my prior experiences at PLC, it is easy to feel overwhelmed at times at the huge amount of information given, as well as all the potential roles we play as psychologists and leaders in our community. Even outside of PLC, there are abundant federal, state and local advocacy issues to follow, and each year we face the challenge of understanding how funding sources (insurance, grants, etc.) impact our daily work. Societal issues that impact our practices are ever-changing, and research that informs our practice is evolving rapidly. Bringing things from the thousand-yard view to our daily work is a constant balancing act. Even as a mid-career psychologist, the cognitive load that this balance takes can leave me exhausted at the end of the day. Yet I have privilege that others do not, and I think about their daily exhaustion and fatigue. 

Today, I struggle to prioritize for myself which seems to be the most crucial topic to focus on, yet not lose sight of the important concerns from prior weeks. The OPA Strategic Plan revisions should help us focus as an organization, but what about individual OPA members? How do you filter through information overload and source amnesia? What resources do you use in overwhelming times to identify important advocacy issues? 

Here are a few resources that may help psychologists identify what is important to them, and continue to be aware of state and federal laws and policies that may impact your teaching, practice, or research. 

• OPA Bill Box (http://ohpsych.org/page/OPABillBox): Let OPA do the searching for you! OPA staff and our Advocacy Committee can identify current Ohio bills that are relevant to psychologists, as well as the relevant Representatives and Senators for the bill. 
  
• The Ohio Legislature “My Ohio Legislature” (https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/my-ohio-legislature/dashboard): This site allows you to create an account and choose specific topics to be notified about, including global topics such as healthcare or education. You can also select specific topics such as Medicaid, Higher Education, etc. 
  
• APA’s Practice Organization (http://www.apapracticecentral.org/advocacy/index.aspx): APAPO identifies national bills and advocacy topics that are relevant to the practice of psychology, and provides not only links but the Legislative Action Center, where you can easily send letters and emails.
  
• APS (Association for Psychological Science; https://www.psychologicalscience.org/policy): This organization has a page dedicated specifically towards advocacy and policy statements related to the science and teaching of psychology. 
  

At the end of the day, we do make choices about where we focus our time, passions, energy, and money. I am thankful to each of you who have chosen to support OPA and continue to be members of this organization, to allow us to work and be advocates within Ohio for important issues. I hope that you will continue to support us and provide feedback on our work.

Once I became an adult and started traveling to college in Manhattan, KS, I realized how crucial it was to have a road map and proper preparation before heading out on a long trip. While hopping in a car and taking a spontaneous trip could be fun and interesting, planning a destination and knowing the route was more helpful for me. I traveled with a road map in my car, knowing there could be a detour, and I would have to find a new route, but the destination always remained the same. My choice of road was determined by my personality (back roads rather than interstate) and timing (how early did I have to go to class the next day).

It can be easy in this day of Google Maps, Waze, and other smart phone technology to just plug in a designation and let the phone tell you where to go. There is a security in letting technology, or “someone else” point you in the right direction. However, it’s a positive thing to have a backup plan – a road map in the car in case you run out of cell data, go into a limited coverage area, or (like me), just like to be prepared in case of emergency! 

As an organization, OPA has a destination that is outlined by our mission statement:  “To advance the creation, communication and application of psychological knowledge to benefit society and to improve people’s lives in Ohio.” While this sets our goal, it does not tell us how to get there or what specific pathways are available to us. Our route choices should be guided by our vision and values – championing human rights and well-being for all, modeling diversity and inclusiveness, being role models and collaborating with others.

Ultimately, the specific twists and turns that we make from this moment today to get to our destination are outlined by OPA’s strategic plan. The strategic plan goals are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound (SMART goals), and will move us closer to our mission in Ohio. This year, the new OPA board of directors has been charged with revisiting the strategic plan, and re-examining our route. This process started during the OPA board retreat, continued with feedback from each board member and committee chair, and was continued at an intensive meeting on Saturday, January 27th at the OPA offices. 

One of the challenges of such a diverse organization as OPA, is that we will not all agree with the road to take to get to the final mission statement destination. We may not even agree with how our values translate into specific SMART goals. Some members may be content to let the OPA leadership “drive the car” and trust in the process. Others might be more interested in route planning and identifying the best roads to take. 

My hope is that no matter what level of engagement our members want or the differences in our opinions about how to arrive at our destination, the process will be transparent enough; so that, we can arrive as a cohesive and unified organization. The goal of the strategic planning process is to be forthright regarding how the three-to-five-year goals and process to achieve those was chosen. Then, creation of a continuous feedback loop can exist between OPA leadership and members to constantly adjust our route to maintain alliance with the strategic plan. While I know timing may be perceived differently to different members, I hope that we will move at an appropriate pace to be both thoughtful, but timely. 

For the record, the distance between Phillipsburg and Hoxie is only 83 miles, but there are three different routes to get there. All roads are rural, all paved(ish), but also 55 mph – ensuring that it would take at least an hour and a half, and up to two hours to get there. Two hours as a child was an eternity – two hours today feels like nothing. I’m grateful to my Mom for studying the map, memorizing it ahead of time, and finding a way to make both the trip and the destination a pleasant one for all of us. It truly taught me that the time on the road can be as meaningful as the time at the final destination. 

References:
http://ohpsych.site-ym.com/page/Mission

To achieve success with your goals, APA Help Center and other media sources have some concrete suggestions. These include starting small, focusing on one goal, setting SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-based), chart progress, making yourself accountable, and celebrating successes. Having social support and emotional outlets are also helpful for goal-achievement. Psychologists are well-equipped to help individuals of all ages reach their goals, whether set on the New Year or throughout the year. 

While I personally do not make New Year resolutions, preferring to set goals throughout the year, I would like to set some goals as the OPA President this year that I believe will meet the success criteria outlined above. 

• Align the strategic plan with the new governance model
  
• Update the OPA Policies and Procedures manual
  
• Create one new revenue source for OPA
  
• Nominate at least three psychologists for OPA awards
  

Additionally, as OPA goes through this transitional year with a new governance structure, I also think it is helpful for the leadership of OPA, as well as the general membership, to step back and broadly reflect on the goals and purpose of OPA within our changing world. Columnist Courtney Martin has written a blog with insightful questions that can guide this discussion and reframe our goals and strategic plan. While the questions are individual-based, I think we can use these to lead our thinking for 2018. 

• What was one of the moments that OPA most brought you pride in 2017? (My answer to this is fighting off board consolidation!)
  
• Who within OPA enriched your life in a big way? 
  
• What did OPA resist most effectively? What did we surrender to?
  
• What is one question you found yourself asking regarding OPA’s goals over and over in 2017?
• How can that question lead us to the next steps for OPA?
  
• Finally, what about OPA gives you hope for 2018? 
  

It is easy for all of us to get mired in the details of daily life – grading, billing, analyzing data, commuting, etc. We know if we take a moment each day to step back, breathe, and be mindful about our presence and purpose, it keeps us healthy. As an organization, I hope that stepping back and being mindful about our guiding principles, strategic plan, and purpose in Ohio can keep us focused and healthy in 2018 and beyond. 

May your 2018 bring joy and hope throughout the year!

........................................................................................

Sources:

• APA Help Center (2018). Making your New Year’s resolutions stick. http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/resolution.aspx
  
• CBS News (2017). Why New Year’s resolutions fail … and how to make them stick. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-new-years-resolutions-fail-and-how-to-make-them-stick/
  
• Martin, C. (2017). Seven questions to end 2017 with clarity and start 2018 with intention. On Being: Blog Post. https://onbeing.org/blog/courtney-martin-seven-questions-to-end-2017-with-clarity-and-start-2018-with-intention/#.Wkk5CW8mDks.facebook

Katharine Hahn Oh, PhD, and Michael Ranney, MPA, compiled a list of resources from external sources, and posed these four questions to guide the discussion: 

• How can we improve mental health care providers’ response to victims and witnesses of gun violence?
  
• What systems-level interventions might be helpful (at the community/neighborhood level, in healthcare, in training/continuing education, legal or policy changes)?
  
• How does culture influence our interventions, and how can we create culturally-appropriate responses?
  
• What action steps does our group suggest for OPA and for our members?
  

The two-hour assembly generated a rich and deep discussion around these questions, and posed some challenging discussions about how OPA can be a source of information and support for mental health providers and individuals who have been impacted by gun violence. Some notable suggestions included preparing an op-ed piece about the role of language used in the mass media around incidents of gun violence, increasing awareness of alternative and effective practice models, continuing education and trainings on trauma-informed care, training on how to engage with communities impacted by gun violence, especially communities of color, workshops on cultural competence for other healthcare professionals, and expanding our relationships with legislators to educate and become resources on supporting those impacted by gun violence. 

Each time I have the privilege of sitting down with a group of psychologists to work on a broad topic, such as the one presented at the assembly, I am humbled by the vast knowledge and compassion demonstrated by the participants in the group. The diversity of ideas represented in the assembly was inspiring! I truly feel that OPA can be guided by the group’s recommendations, and that the nature of the “next steps” given were supportive of collaboration – not only among the OPA committees and leadership teams, but also among other healthcare professionals and community stakeholders. 

The next OPA Assembly will be held Thursday, April 26th and Friday, April 27th of the 2018 convention, at 8 a.m. both mornings. It is likely the assembly topic will be a spin-off of this fall topic, although the assembly planning team is open to other suggestions. When you register for the convention this fall, please plan on coming to one of the morning assemblies! I look forward to your feedback and suggestions, especially as OPA moves forward with our new governance model and updating our strategic plan. 
 

We live in an increasingly collective world, fueled by technology and with a growing acknowledgement of the critical role of multicultural psychology and diverse perspectives in our work. Clients and student’s ever-changing physical environments, political climates, globalization, and the rapidly changing social world require us to keep up with these rapid changes. Further, research demonstrates that working in collaborative groups at all academic and practice levels is efficacious and helps with problem-solving, empathy development, psychological adjustment to college, and higher self-esteem, to name a few (e.g., Johnson, Johnson, & Smith, 2013). Psychologists have embraced collaborative work with others, whether via integrated healthcare, active and collaborative teaching models in academics, or cooperative research teams.

Collaborative leadership, similar to collaborative learning, should consist of five factors: Positive interdependence, individual and group accountability, positive interaction (preferably face-to-face), learning interpersonal and small group skills, and group processing (Johnson & Johnson, 2017). Dr. McDaniel, when President of APA, promoted an idea of “collaborative habits,” wherein she challenged all of us to be mindful and intentional about our interactions and learning from others, while being flexible and fluid in those experiences (McDaniel, 2016). 

OPA is a model of collaborative leadership in numerous ways. We are active members of the Coalition for Health Communities, thanks to the efforts of Michael Ranney, our ED. The new OPA governance structure is another model of collaborative leadership, working across silos and fostering engagement and interdependence. Further, our first OPA General Assembly (a virtual meeting held Saturday, November 18th) engaged members in a discussion about critical issues facing Ohio psychologists to inform the strategic plan of OPA. 

I’d like to also note that one of our mutually beneficial collaborations has been a long-term relationship with the Ohio School Psychologists Association (OSPA). Dr. Erich Merkle, our current OSPA liaison to the OPA board, frequently attends OPA board meetings, shares information from OPSA with OPA (and vice versa), and had a well-attended workshop at the OPA Convention in the spring. I appreciate Dr. Merkle’s collaborative spirit, and willingness to be flexible as we navigate this new governance structure, as well as his expertise and understanding about how our two organizations can work together. 

As I mentioned in my first e-newsletter article, collaboration is critical in this current climate! Initiating strong relationships with other organizations that support mental health is just one step of collaborative leadership. The next step is facilitating a mutually-beneficial interdependence, as well as being mindful about actively maintaining and improving the relationship. Our connections may be with medical professionals, religious organizations, school systems, non-profit agencies, and legislators, all of whom have different cultures of engagement. The OPA staff and board has a commitment to building and working with our healthy networks, and we would love to hear about your experiences with collaborative connections with others, if you are willing to share.
 

Navigating Traumatic Events as Psychologists – And a Human Being

As I sit down to write this e-newsletter article, I am reeling from the largest mass shooting in U.S. history and wondering how to talk to my clients, children, and friends about this event. My friends have reached out to me, wanting to know why psychologists cannot predict violence, or prevent harm, or ways to navigate the helpless feelings that may arise when national disasters and traumatic events occur, seemingly in a constant cycle these days. I do not have perfect answers, but there are a number of resources that I can direct them towards as a way to manage emotional and cognitive distress.

Violence has plagued our society as long as we have been documenting history, yet it seems more visible, visceral, and “in your face” due to the 24/7 nature of news sources and social media. Raw video from disasters, man-made or otherwise, can be viewed with no filters, no warning notices, and tap into our fears. This triggers the availability bias, which can heighten the fears that we are vulnerable to shootings or hurricanes. This is despite the data that demonstrates our odds of being killed in a mass shooting is much lower than that of dying of suicide, car accident, or heart disease (National Safety Council; http://www.nsc.org/learn/safety-knowledge/Pages/injury-facts-chart.aspx). Additionally, research is demonstrating that repeated exposure to media coverage can trigger higher acute stress (Holman, Garfin, & Silver, 2013; http://www.pnas.org/content/111/1/93.abstract). For those with already-existing trauma or stress-related disorders, this can trigger a re-occurrence of their symptoms. 

While psychologists are experts at helping others manage their emotions and cope with stressful times, I think it is a good reminder to consider reflect on how we are taking care of ourselves during this time. We are also human, and vulnerable to fears, worries, anxiety, sadness, anger, and other emotions related to daily stressors. The recommendations that APA and other national health groups offer are good reminders of ways to perform self-care in stressful times, and I want to remind all of us of a few of those suggestions.

Create a safe space. Our offices can be safe and brave spaces for our clients or students, but is there a space that you have where you can create peace and healing for yourself? Do you mindfully choose to retreat to this space when you need to sit and breathe, or restore your energy? My safe space is often outside, in nature, so that I can ground myself and reconnect with green space and fresh air. 

Turn off media and electronics. Some of us may feel compelled to keep checking news for more information, or using social media to share information to help others. I am quite guilty of this (see my Twitter or FB accounts)! However, research shows that disconnecting from media sources, even for short periods of times, can be psychologically healthy. This also helps re-set our mental outlook to one that may be more realistic. 

Use your support network. No matter whether you are introverted or extroverted, have a large or small network, this is a good time to reach out to those who support and love you, and remind yourself that there is still kindness and love in the world. It may just be a simple phone call or an offer to meet for coffee. Maybe it is snuggling with your pet, or a movie night with your family. Caregivers benefit from caregiving also.

Find balance. I continue to find that no matter what part of the career life-span that I am in currently, finding a balance in work/life as well as exposure to positive/negative news is one key to remaining healthy myself. We can seek out positive news stories and focus on the good things that are occurring in our daily lives, which may help buffer the effect of constant negative news.

Help others. While we do help our clients, students, and organizations on a daily basis, sometimes it is nice to move outside of those circles to do a kind act and spread positivity. Personally, I have started a Sunday afternoon tradition of writing one “card of gratitude” to a friend of mine. While this seems like a small act, it may be incredibly helpful to the recipient. 

Take our own advice. We help others find ways to practice self-care, whether it be through mindfulness, relaxation breathing, cognitive restructuring, honoring emotions, exercise, healthy eating, etc. I am constantly reminded of the old adage that “we cannot help others if we do not help ourselves.” It is easy to focus on helping others and forget to take care of ourselves. 

What other ways do you find are helpful in maintaining a focus on self-care in your daily life, especially in difficult times? Are there particular activities that seem to be calming, or invigorating? Please remember that part of OPA’s mission is to “support the personal and professional lives of psychologists throughout their lifespan, from student status through retirement.” If you are willing, I would love to hear the strategies that you are using care of yourself as well as additional ways OPA can support your self-care endeavors. 

In closing, I want to share with you a brief list of resources that may be useful to both you and your clients and students. If you have additional resources, please feel free to email them to me. 

Resources
Managing your Distress in the Aftermath of a Mass Shooting
http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/mass-shooting.asp

OPA Colleague Assistance Program
http://ohpsych.org/page/OPACAP

Tips for Survivors: Coping with Grief after a Disaster or Traumatic Event https://store.samhsa.gov/product/SMA17-5035

Coping with Traumatic Events: Resources for Children, Parents, Educators and Other Professionals:
https://www.samhsa.gov/capt/tools-learning-resources/coping-traumatic-events-resources

Trauma-Informed Approach 
https://www.samhsa.gov/trauma

Impact of Mass Shootings on Survivors, Families and Communities
https://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/newsletters/research-quarterly/V18N3.pdf

I also want to reflect on how important timing, opportunity, and openness to new experiences can be in regards to how we interact with the public. In graduate school, sometimes a message is sent that only hard work achieves results! Work diligently (and a lot!) on your dissertation, grant funding, practicum hours, etc. That message denies the reality of those who start at a different place in their lives with fewer advantages, and less privilege than others. Research also demonstrates that serendipity is critical in career path choice and personal development (Williams, Soeprapto, Like, Touradjui, Hess, & Hill, 1998). We all have the opportunity to find ourselves at the “right place, right time” and engender change in our communities. 

Here’s one good example. I am, by virtue of my flexible academic position, able to have access to Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook throughout the day. My goal as a psychologist using social media is to find 1-2 articles each day that have to do with wellness, mental health, human development, or other psychological topic, and post it on these sites as a way to educate the public about psychology. I had the fortune to see the article about the NAMI-Google partnership, using the PHQ-9 to offer a screen for depression for individuals doing a mobile google search for “depression.” My tweet was viewed by a correspondent from BBC World Radio News, and she reached out to me to see if I would be willing and able to participate in a radio interview. From the time of my tweet to the moment I was live on international radio was approximately 2.5 hours! I am grateful for my timing, the serendipity of the moment, and the opportunity to network with the media to give feedback from a psychologist’s perspective on this topic. 

Collaboration is so critical in this time. We are all working towards the same goal of supporting healing and positive well-being for individuals, families, organizations and communities! While we may have different theoretical orientations, approaches, comfort levels with technology, and backgrounds, this common goal brings us together. Allport’s Contact Hypothesis (Allport, 1954) still holds true that individuals with equal status, common goals, intergroup cooperation, support of authority figures, and personal interaction can improve relationships between all of us. 

I would challenge each of you to go outside your comfort zone and try something new! Explore one of the following action steps to collaborate and help promote psychology: 

• Find one organization that has the same goal as you, and reach out to them with the goal of collaborating (e.g., NAMI, MHA, Red Cross, YMCA, local religious organization, senior center, library, etc.)
  
• Please let OPA know if you are willing to be a media resource, write a letter (as many of you did with the potential Board consolidation), call a legislator, participate in a committee, or lead an OPA team in a local walk. 
  
• Become a Disaster Response Network psychologist through APA and help out with local, state, and national disaster responding. 
  
• Be mindful and deliberative in your social media and public presence to create opportunities to educate the public about psychology and the role of psychologists. 
  
• Rely on your psychological and scientific expertise to provide educational materials in various modalities, in numerous environments.
  
• And above all, do so in an ethical manner!
  

For more information, see these links:

• https://www.apa.org/education/ce/best-practices-online.pdf
  
• http://www.apa.org/practice/programs/drn/
  
• http://ohpsych.org/page/socialmedia
  
• http://ohpsych.site-ym.com/page/Committees
  
• http://drkkolmes.com/clinician-articles/
  
• https://kspope.com/volunteer.php

The Ohio Board of Psychology is being eliminated! 

1.  Be prepared to speak with your legislator personally. Personal contact is what counts. We will help you by preparing talking points for you to cover. Get to know them. Offer to help them as a consultant on any mental health concern. We are their experts. We voted them into office, and are their constituents, and supporters.  
2. Attend Legislative Day. Clear your schedule, and give us one day of your time. Drive down to Columbus, and spend the day meeting face-to-face with Ohio State Senators and Representatives. You’ll have lunch with legislators from across Ohio in the Statehouse Atrium. We will also set up appointments for you and your colleagues to have face-to-face meetings with your legislator, or their aide. 
3. Stay in touch. We are putting together our advocacy strategy. When Michael Ranney, Penny Tipps, Brad Potts, or anyone else from OPA reaches out to you for help in the near future, please pick up the phone, or read their email, and respond.

Final thoughts

First, our Executive Director Michael Ranney, lobbyist Penny Tipps, and Advocacy Chair Brad Potts, along with the rest of the OPA Board, will put together our strategy to preserve the licensing board. Our strategy must be thorough, and effective. 

Second, our previous strategy worked. One of the sponsors of last year’s bill to eliminate the psychology board would have refused to sponsor it again, because of all the opposition that we pulled together against the bill. We were part of a coalition of over 100,000 licensed professionals who opposed the bill. Many of them reached out to complain.

Third, you are paying the bill for the licensing board, through your licensing fees - Don’t settle for less than the best. You should get what you already pay for. Ohio Board of Psychology Executive Director Ron Ross, PhD, and Board President Alice Randolph, Ph.D. and the rest of the board and staff have provided us with excellent, responsive, and efficient service, in both licensing and investigations.

Finally, I cannot promise you that we will win this battle. 

However, I can promise you that the Ohio Psychological Association will do everything in its power to defeat this proposal. We need an independent Ohio Psychology Board!

If you have any questions or comments, please comment below or call OPA today!
Sincerely,

Thomas P. Swales, Ph.D., ABPP
President, Ohio Psychological Association

We will be hiring a new Director of Professional Affairs after Bobbie Celeste retires in December. We have also budgeted to hire Penny Tipps as lobbyist. Your membership funds both positions. We have excellent organizational leadership and services to support your practice. Our staff, lobbyist, and advocacy committee members under Brad Potts all work together to read every bill that potentially affects our profession, and works with the OPA Board to set our legislative positions and agenda.

How can you help… call and meet with your legislator.

You have the power to change what happens politically in Ohio, with one face-to-face meeting. All it takes is one phone call to set an appointment with your State Senator or Representative. The power of face-to-face contact is priceless. If you hand over a personal check, or a check from our PAC, the impact is compounded exponentially. Contact the OPA office, and we will give you a handout to share that will provide facts, not fiction, on the key legislative bills we are supporting.

Thank you,

Thomas P. Swales, Ph.D., ABPP

President, Ohio Psychological Association 

Many states have taken action to either de-criminalize marijuana, or created rules for the prescription of marijuana for certain medical conditions. Ohio is one of the states that has created a medical marijuana law where physicians can prescribe marijuana for the treatment of certain qualifying medical conditions. Bob Stinson, PsyD tasked me to investigate the Ohio medical marijuana law, and I spent a great amount of time reviewing the scientific literature. The evidence is clear that marijuana has benefit for patients with certain neurological disorders. So, how can medical marijuana be harmful, when there is scientific evidence of its benefit to patients?

Posttraumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury were included as qualifying medical conditions in the Ohio medical marijuana law. What is interesting is that these conditions were included in the law based upon personal testimonies, rather than compelling and convincing scientific evidence. This is a reminder to me of why it is important for the Ohio Psychological Association to remain engaged in the legislative process.

Lesson learned. The devil is always in the details.

Reading the bill after it was rushed through the Ohio legislature, it was easy to be distracted by the list of other qualifying medical conditions included in the bill. It is essential that the Ohio Psychological Association stays vigilant, to protect the best interests of our society. Thanks to psychologists Emily Gilmore, Nate Tomcik and others, a position statement on Marijuana as medicine for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury was crafted.

There is no scientific evidence that marijuana or medications derived from marijuana are effective treatments for PTSD. There is growing evidence that marijuana used by individuals with PTSD has many risks, including worse response to treatment, as well as increased risk of violence and addiction (i.e. cannabis use disorders). Most importantly, there are many existing treatments for PTSD that are safe and highly effective. There is no scientific evidence that marijuana or medications derived from marijuana are safe and effective treatment for traumatic brain injury. Finally, marijuana use is associated with higher rates of occupational problems; psychiatric problems, including addiction; neurological and cognitive impairment; and lower quality of life.

Would you like to share your opinion? Feel free to weigh in with your opinion, or additional research, by contacting me, or any other OPA Board member. We will discuss and hopefully take action on the proposed position statement at the next OPA Board meeting.

Thank you,

Thomas P. Swales, Ph.D., ABPP

President, Ohio Psychological Association