Dear Membership:

My presidential year of 2023 has come to a close.  It is with gratitude and humility that I pass the baton of leadership to Matthew Syzdek, Ph.D., LP, MBA as President, and I am grateful to have G Zachariah “Zach” White, MFA, PsyD, LP as our President-Elect in 2024. In this season of the celebration of light out of darkness, I reflect on the 2023 year.  Minnesota Psychological Association continues to be a successful and thriving organization.  I am grateful to all the persons who have contributed over the year, including the Executive Committee: Yasmine Moideen, Ph.D., LP (Immediate Past-President), Thyra Fossum, Ph.D., LP (Secretary), Matthew Syzdek, Ph.D., LP, MBA (President-Elect), and Kelly Nelson, Psy.D., LP (Treasurer).
 
Education and Training
We have had some extremely powerful and meaningful educational offerings both in the areas of ethics as well as treatment strategies.  We had a successful annual conference that was well attended in April 2023.  There have been offerings from diverse and multicultural speakers, and we have worked at the dual goals of excellence as well as broad, inclusive, and diverse programing. We had speakers on topics such as the Business of Practice, Supporting Women: Post Partum Mental Health and Early Childhood Parenting, Ethics and Risk Management, Ambiguous Loss, Considerations in Psychotherapy with Mothers of Black Children, Medical Aid in Dying, Working with Divorcing Families, Family Building with LGBTQ+ individuals, and Radical Healing: Black Women Sexual Assault Survivors.  If you did not attend these live Friday Forum events, many of them are in our online education library here.
 
Advocacy
This year brought good tidings of passing legislation which affects psychologists and our clients.  The legislative committee was successful in helping to pass a bill regarding the banning of conversion therapy and helping trans youth seeking healthcare.  We are still working on two bills; one is related to the provider tax to shift the burden to insurance providers instead of healthcare providers, and the other is working on a Medicaid rate adjustment.  As always, MPA will keep you posted on new legislation coming in 2024.
 
Divisions and Committees
Our divisions each continue to maintain list-serves and hold division meetings.  The Student Division has been very active in meeting at coffee shops or breweries over the past year.  Other committees such as Ethics, Membership, Multi-cultural, Payor, Awards, Annual Conference and Education & Training continue to meet on a regular basis.  We have also been holding a multicultural book club for the past few years with very active and enthusiastic regular participants.
 
Finally, I want to acknowledge the Harrington Corporation and the employees that keep our organization running.  Many thanks to Amber Schletty, Katie Benson, and Cheren Werner for their work supporting the association.
 
Thank you all for a great year.  I hope you will continue to maintain your membership in this association.  Feel free to contact me with any questions, ideas, or suggestions. 
 
Best Wishes,
Sharon Stein McNamara EdD, LP
President, Minnesota Psychological Association