Executive Director Report: The Year 2020 – Ebb and Flow

The Year 2020 – Ebb and Flow

Keira Boertzel-Smith, JD NJPA Executive Director

The Merriam-Webster dictionary states that ebb and flow is used to describe something that changes in a regular and repeated way. Over the last nine years with NJPA, I witnessed the remarkable ebb and flow of NJPA’s rhythmical pattern of decline and regrowth through many organizational transitions that taught me about organizational lifecycles, including rebirth, the importance of healthy teamwork, as well as maintaining a core Central Office staff, and a network of volunteers who approach NJPA’s work from a place of genuine interest and passion.

Over the past five years, in my role as executive director, I had many meaningful professional highlights including experiencing NJPA organizational cultural shifts after taking over the association management from retiring, long-term employees and supporting new NJPA diversity and inclusion initiatives. I have the responsibility of overseeing the implementation of a robust NJPA continuing education policy and process to provide psychologists with quality programming to satisfy the new mandatory continuing education requirements. Related, in 2019, we successfully moved the NJPA Central Office to a new building with better access to common space for hosting NJPA meetings and programs. We make good use of our virtual meeting platform to make NJPA and NJPA Foundation meetings accessible. I am vigilant in ensuring that the organization’s work remains firmly within budget each year, even with significant revenue and expense shifts. I enjoy working with the New Jersey Inter-Mental Health and Psychological Associations Coalition (IMPAC) leadership. Throughout these years, I also had the privilege of managing the NJPA delegates at the annual American Psychological Association Practice Leadership Conference and Capitol Hill visits in Washington, DC, and in 2019, became the elected chair of the Council of Executives of State, Provincial, and Territorial Psychological Associations with a membership of 60 executive directors and chief executive officers.

Of course, I could not do any of these things without the help of the amazing Central Office Team, Christine, Ana, Jennifer, and Marion, or the support of the board.

What can we expect in 2020?

1. A continued commitment to and focus on the NJPA Mission and Strategic Plan that incorporates member, committee, and board feedback.

“The mission of the New Jersey Psychological Association is the advancement of psychology as a science, as a profession, and as a means of promoting health and human welfare in an atmosphere that supports the diversity of its members and the society at large.”

NJPA Strategic Plan

Goal 1: Provide a professional community for all members of the New Jersey Psychological Association.

A. Advocate for the Professional Interests of Members - Legislative Advocacy.

B. Regulatory Advocacy.

C. Membership Recruitment and Retention.

D. Provide professional development opportunities for members.

E. Assess members’ needs and evaluate efforts to address these on an ongoing basis.

F. Support and strengthen the interrelationships among all organizational components of NJPA.

G. Publicize the value and work of NJPA and of its members both within the association and with the general public.

H. Develop and improve opportunities for member-to-member professional communication.

Goal 2: Infuse and address diversity and inclusion issues into all areas of the association.

Goal 3: Address issues related to social advocacy involving the application of psychological science and psychological services related to the mental health of the diverse populations of New Jersey. 2. Fiduciary Responsibility - A commitment by the NJPA executive board and executive director to due diligence and oversight to ensure that the organization is well-managed and that its financial situation remains sound. 3. Advocacy Changes - A push for more member engagement and transparency with our association’s advocacy efforts, and stronger statewide relationships with legislators. These changes include a revised confidentiality agreement for the Committee on Legislative Affairs (COLA) to allow for comments on upcoming legislative matters, the NJPA president-elect co-chairing the COLA and reporting to the board and membership, as well as a transition to having COLA submit legislative bill position recommendations to the board for board approval. Read more about the transitions in this journal’s advocacy article. 4. Continuing Education/Membership NJPA will continue to provide a robust calendar of live and homestudy continuing education opportunities for psychologists. NJPA is working on greater inclusion of diversity in NJPA program planning and program presentations. You will also see NJPA hospitality ambassadors at each NJPA program reaching out to our attendees, including non-members and new members. We want you to join us in making all of our members feel welcomed at NJPA events, and help encourage non-members to join NJPA. We keep hearing a call for more personal networking and connection, so let’s make it happen in 2020! 5. Communications and Culture Focus You will see NJPA working hard in making use of our multimedia platforms and perfecting NJPA messaging and news sent out to members, potential members, and the public. We want to make better use of association and NJPA Foundation’s news and activities and recognize our members on a regular basis. The NJPA culture will see more attempts to encourage statewide member engagement in a February 14, 2020 association orientation, on April 17, 2020 RxP Town Hall, a September 18, 2020 association check in, leadership road trips across the state, and other ways to connect, unify, engage, and support one another.

This year NJPA should have an exciting and positive ebb and flow of mission and volunteer driven association activities. The NJPA Central Office team is looking forward to this good association work! ❖