It was my good fortune serve as President of the Society during this past year.  I leave that position with a great deal of appreciation for the exceptional work being done and for the learning opportunities this role has afforded me.  

I knew that the Board of Directors would be there both for support and to ensure that nothing inadvertently went “off course.”  In fact, this was more than borne out.  The people you as members have chosen to lead our Society are exceptional in their dedication to the Society as well as in the wisdom and creativity that they employ in governing it.  This is certainly true as well with our Administrator, Tracey Martin.

The visible evidence of this work is to be seen in the exceptional quality of our journal, our Bulletin, our web page, our convention programming, our webinar series, and in the Society’s grants and awards.  But as well, there are many less public ways in which the Board is actively at work promoting the Society and its mission.  They deserve our appreciation.

My own particular focus this year has been on examining and implementing ways to increase the Society’s presence as a global organization.  To this end, we appointed an International Affairs Task Group (co-chaired by Fred Leong and Patrick Leung) that has been instrumental in really moving us ahead.  The Board of Directors has approved the creation of an International Affairs Domain, which will shortly be brought for vote to the membership as it will require a by-laws change.  We are off to an excellent start and I know that as President and President-elect, respectively, Armand Cerbone and Jeff Zimmerman are committed to continuing this global push.

I would offer, though, that to become an intellectually vibrant global Society we will need to become more effective in ensuring that the exchange of ideas becomes (in the words of my  colleague, Changming Duan) a two-way street.  That is, ideas about psychotherapy change mechanisms and procedures need to flow not only from the United States, but also to the United States.  This idea exchange can occur in a number of ways, including particularly ensuring international content in our convention programming, on our web pages, in our journal, our webinars and in this Bulletin.  I am pleased, therefore, that in this issue of the Bulletin Beatriz Gómez describes the work of the Aiglé Foundation, which has become highly influential throughout Latin America.  As Dr. Gómez notes in her piece, Dr. Héctor Fernández-Alvarez, one of Aiglé’s co-founders, was recently selected as the recipient of the 2016 APA Award for Distinguished Contribution to the International Advancement of Psychology. I would like to add my personal congratulations, and I look forward to learning a great deal more about psychotherapy as it is practiced around the world.

In short, I have been personally and professionally enriched by this year as the Society’s President.  I am very appreciative for having had the opportunity.

0

0

Be the 1st to vote.

Rodney K. Goodyear, Ph.D.