WSPA Winter Newsletter | December 2022 |
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Welcome to our New Board Trustees
WSPA would like to announce the newest members to the Board of Trustees, voted on by the membership. The new Trustees start their 3-year term in January 2023 and will have the option to continue with a second term in 2026. |
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Starlyn Hawes, Ph.D.
Dr. Hawes is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist with Health and Rehabilitation Psychology specialties in Everett, WA. Dr. Hawes also founded a consultation + coaching business specifically designed to MPower diverse clinicians to build a private practice and legacy based on their passion + power + purpose while honoring life balance. She also offers life, career, and academic coaching to graduate students and beyond.
Her participation with the Legislative Advocacy Committee is a way to learn more about the issues that impact our profession and to advocate for our profession. She sees serving on the Board of Trustees as a broader application of being a part of a motivated team of clinicians who are invested in doing positive work for our profession and the communities that we serve.
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| Phyllis Sanchez, Ph.D.
Dr. Sanchez has enjoyed working in neuropsychological training and evaluations, substance abuse treatment, rehabilitation psychology, mental health counseling, and ADHD/LD testing. These experiences have given her the opportunity to practice psychology in a wide range of settings as well, such as VA facilities, large hospitals, a community medical clinic and small private practice offices.
Dr. Sanchez believes her varied experiences in psychology will allow her to assist WSPA members with information and the best business practices they need to address a dynamic and changing healthcare environment. These experiences will also guide Dr. Sanchez in advocating for public policies that promote psychological services, the field of psychology and a psychologically healthy Washington. She is located in Seattle, WA. |
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| Nasreen Shah, Ph.D.
Dr. Shah is a Clinical Psychologist, with research, teaching, and clinical focus on counseling diverse populations. By joining the board of trustees, she is seeking to bring an active voice to the following issues: how to support early career professionals, navigating barriers to licensure and professional involvement, as well as critical issues for psychologists practicing in clinical and academic settings in Washington State.
Supervision, remote work, and clinical services are all areas that are rapidly changing. Dr. Shah's goal is to provide increased professional support to develop a strong community of Psychologists in the state. As a member of the board from Spokane, WA, Dr. Shah strives to increase our sense of community and engagement with each other, especially the support of new Psychologists. |
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Reschedule of Saturday Fall 2022 Northwest Psychological Convention Workshops
Due to the number of presenters and attendees affected by power outages from the windstorm on November 5th, 2022, the workshops below are in the process of being rescheduled as stand alone events in Spring 2023. Refunds will be issued to those who cannot attend on the new date. Please contact us at wspa@wspapsych.org with any questions.
Workshops: -
Early Career Psychology and Beyond: Sustaining Oneself in the Field of Psychology. Presented by Liang Tien, Psy.D., Wren Hudgins, Ph.D. & Tona McGuire, Ph.D., PLLC
- Intersections: Gender Affirmative Care and Race. Presented by Dr. Matt Goldenberg, Psy.D. and Dr. Kiranmayi Neelarambam, Ph.D.
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FASD: Evidence Based Interventions and Common Secondary Disabilities. Presented by Erin Johnson, Ph.D. & Erika L. Stannard, Psy.D. is scheduled for an April presentation with the Alaska Family Behavioral Health Conference
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Implicit Bias: Reducing clinician implicit prejudices and implicit stereotypes in clinical practice. Presented by Lori Woehler, Psy.D. & Abi Martin, Psy.D.
- Introduction to and Application of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I). Presented by Mari Yamamoto, Ph.D.
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The 2022 Annual Meeting provided an update from the board president, our financial health, and membership growth. An update on Prescriptive Privileges for Psychologists, our Director of Professional Affairs provided a video, and an appeal for the WSPA Foundation were also a part of the annual meeting.
The meeting was recorded so we will only are providing highlights of the reports. The full video is available to watch below those highlights. President's Report
Christen Carson, Ph.D.
Dr. Carson reported that in 2022, WSPA focused on 4 major areas to provide benefits and value to WSPA members:
- Advocating for public policies that promote psychological services
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Creating and sustaining an environment of diversity and inclusion
- Ensuring the advancement of academic knowledge
- Assisting members with information and best practices
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We have maintained our 3 year trend to keep expenses lower than income, and again we will have a year end net gain for 2022. This has allowed WSPA to continue to build its reserve account and stay financially healthy.
Membership and CE Workshops continue to be our primary income streams. We retain 85% of our renewing membership but this year our new membership income grew by 60%! The increase in new membership and high renewing membership retention can be attributed to the value our DPA, Lobbyist, and office staff provides to members. A 170% increase in CE income also adds to our financial net gain with the increase attributed to timely topics of interest and the high quality of the CE presentations.
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Membership Report
Marvo Reguindin & Sierra VanderHoogt
Over 3 years, membership count has increased 20% and the renewing membership retention rate continues to be a high of 85%.
WSPA added 152 new members this year, growing our membership to 741 members. This puts WSPA in the APA Division 31 medium state association size of 400 to 800 members. In 2023, WSPA should easily move up to a large state status by adding 59 or more new members. |
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2022 WA State Psychologist Awards |
Congratulations to our award winners for 2022. We appreciate all you do in the community and for our state association! |
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Legislative Service Rep. Kelly Chambers 25LD |
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Public Citizen Anita Khandelwal,
Director of the King County Department of Public Defense |
| Distinguished Psychologist Alexandra Murphy, Ph.D. |
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Distinguished Service Stephen Feldman, JD, Ph.D. |
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Andrew H. Benjamin Wren Hudgins, Ph.D. |
| Sustained Service
David Shearer, Ph.D., MSCP |
| Presidential Service Christen A. Carson, Ph.D., ABPP |
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| Executive Director and Staff Transitions |
Office Manager Sierra VanderHoogt has been promoted to Associate Executive Director and will begin a transition during 2023 to Executive Director under the mentorship of current Executive Director, Marvo Reguindin.
WSPA is managed by Thinking Cap, an association management company with three association accounts. Sierra has been handling all aspects of the office and membership for the past seven years and the timing is right to mentor her to provide leadership with WSPA, and she is excited to take on the new role and challenge. "After working with the membership so closely and understanding the needs of our members deeper, I'm ready to take on a leadership position and continue working with the Board of Trustees while WSPA's evolves with the ever changing world." Sierra noted. Some of the lighter office duties will be handled by Caitlyn Baker, another Thinking Cap staffer who recently graduated from Eastern Washington University with a Bachelor's degree in psychology.
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Marvo will continue to oversee Sierra when he promotes her to Executive Director in the future. He will continue to serve as Executive Director for Alaska Psychological Association but a majority of his attention will be focused on the leadership of a Spokane BIPOC business association called AHANA. "Because of Alaska Psychological Association I will not be completely removed from state psychological association work," says Marvo. He adds that working with AHANA is a calling. With his life experience as a BIPOC business owner he will provide leadership and advocacy to begin the long work to reduce the discriminatory barriers that BIPOC businesses have faced since Affirmative Action in Washington ended by almost 25 years ago.
Karena Kliefoth is the one Thinking Cap staffer that will keep the status quo. Karena is the staff graphic designer and provides staff support on website updates and proofreading. |
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A Call to Re-engage The World WSPA Foundation By Chris McCurry, Ph.D. |
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Dr. Chris McCurry, 2015 WSPA Board President, presented something that has lain dormant for a while now during the Annual Meeting. That something is our own Washington State Psychological Foundation, Inc. which is considered the 3rd pillar of WSPA.
WSPA is one of only 11 state psych associations with a foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, organized to operate exclusively for charitable and educational purposes. The charitable status allows the Foundation to seek funding, such as grants, from corporations and government agencies. The Foundation also relies on donations from individuals -- members and non-members; but unlike your WSPA membership dues, contributions to the Foundation are deductible on your personal taxes. WSPA dues are not tax-deductible, but can be considered a business expense.
The mission of WSPA’s Foundation is to: - Promote psychology as a science and as a profession by disseminating information through meetings and publications
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Promote the public welfare through the advancement of scientific, educational, and clinical interests
- Encourage research, improve research methods, and support the application of research findings in the field of psychology
- Promote the ethical practice of psychology
As mentioned, other states have foundations, and they are used to primarily provide grants and scholarships, to support dissertation research, conference attendance, and public education projects. In the past WSPA’s Foundation has provided grants and scholarships to students and early career psychologists as well as partnering with the APA Foundation. But there are many possibilities of projects to support and other organizations to partner with, particularly within the state of Washington.
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Chris McCurry, Ph.D. 2015 WSPA Board President |
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Additionally, WSPA’s Foundation hopes to create an endowment that will grow and contribute funds for future projects and scholarships. An endowment can be a way for any psychologist to leave a legacy as they make estate plans in their retirement years. An endowment has an annual distribution that can be used in any way the foundation board decides. Distributions can be 3% to 5% of the fund, so with a $100,000 endowment an annual distribution of $3000 to $5000 could be available for scholarships or funding research projects.
At this time, Chris McCurry has been tasked with reviving the work of The Foundation. There are two important steps that can be taken now. -
The Foundation plans to survey the WSPA membership regarding what should The Foundation do, what projects, generally or specifically, would you want them to support?
- The Foundation wants to establish a steering or exploratory committee to investigate how to energize and direct The Foundation’s mission and activities in the coming year.
There’s a lot of need out there, a lot of science, training, and education we could make happen. Please contact Chris McCurry to talk further on questions or ideas at cmccurry@abcdseattle.com |
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