California Psychological Association

The Professional Affairs Department at CPA is responsible for providing professional practice consultations and resources to CPA members. This year, the departments director provided over 520 professional practice consultations (phone and email). To keep association members informed about key issues, such as new laws affecting psychologists, the director sent six email alerts to members. She also maintained and updated the Practice Tools and Information webpage on the CPA website with information on topics such as licensure, laws and regulations, practice guidelines, confidentiality, ethics, risk management, child abuse reporting, billing and coding, recordkeeping, and telepsychology. The director also presented at the CPA Convention on Legislative and Regulatory Update: Whats New and Whats Next.The departments director represented CPA at five meetings of the California Board of Psychology, several subcommittee meetings of the California Board of Psychology, and at the American Psychological Association practice leadership conference. The director supported CPA legislative advocacy efforts, mainly by providing analyses of relevant laws and regulations.

Continuing EducationCPAs professional development CE Program consists of several major programs around the state that we present, generally in concert with our affiliated Chapters. In 2024, we presented two ethics and risk management courses with the Insurance Trust (one of the two primary malpractice providers for psychologists in the US). In addition, we co-sponsor many of the CE programs presented by our affiliated local Chapters and CPA Divisions. We also grant CE credit for reading articles in our professional practice magazine and taking an on-line test. In total, CPA presented or sponsored 21 live presentations and 22 distance learning courses for a total of 69.5 credit hours. We also worked with several of our Divisions to create webinars; these do not produce significant income but do provide a significant benefit of Division Membership. A total of 344 people attended the APAIT Risk Management courses. The On-line Learning Center is no longer available.

ConventionAnnually, CPA hosts a four-day convention in a major California city. The convention typically consists of approximately 23 educational presentations ranging in length from 1.5 hours to 4 hours, with featured keynote speakers as well as national and state-wide experts. The convention includes an exhibit hall, networking opportunities, award presentations, and student poster presentations. We held our 2024 convention in San Jose, CA. 280 people attended the convention, which offered a total of 20 continuing education credits to psychologists.

Governance Program CPA has a Board of Directors that has nine (9) voting members (10 on alternate years when there is a Treasurer-elect). All members of the Board of Directors are elected by the full CPA membership, except for the Student Member Seat which is filled by the chair of our student organization.The Board establishes policy for the Association and, according to the CPA bylaws, has the responsibility for actively overseeing the work of the Association to ensure that the Association is adhering to state and federal laws relative to non-profit corporations, corporate ethics, and anti-trust requirements. The Board typically holds several in-person meetings per year and telephone or videoconference meetings monthly. This was modified during the pandemic, and all our meetings have been virtual. During an annual meeting at our convention each year CPA members receive an update on the activities of the association and the CEO and the Board members present are available to respond to questions from the membership regarding the activities of the Association. There are six standing committees of the Board, as well as other committees and task forces that are established as needed for the work of the organization. The Board oversees the work of all committees and task forces. The work of the committees encompasses overseeing the finances of the Association, providing ethical consultation to our members, developing educational opportunities such as continuing professional education, reviewing changes to any governing documents of the Association, developing strategies for membership recruitment and retention, and overseeing the organization of our annual convention that includes professional development and networking opportunities for psychologists in California. CPA also provides, through our various committees and task forces, information to the public about the importance of psychologically healthy behavior and lifestyles and offers services to California communities. An example is our Public Education Committee, whose members are available to speak to community and public organizations such as PTAs and the Rotary Club, and who also respond to inquiries from the Press about current events that have implications for psychological well-being of Californians. The CPA Disaster Resource Network provides relief services in the event of a natural disaster or significant events such as wildfires that affect California communities, and psychologists with special training are on call to respond as needed. CPA also participates as a member organization of the California Disaster Mental Health Coalition that includes other mental health professional organizations. Through the work of the Board we extend our activities and services to the members of our 20 chapters and our 8 specialty divisions. Our advocacy efforts benefit all psychologists in California, even those who are not members of our organization. This means that we provide services primarily to our approximately 3,000 members and secondarily to the additional 16,000 licensed psychologists in California.