Staff Perspective: The Society for Military Psychology celebrates 75 years as a charter division of the APA
In 1945-46 the American Psychological Association (APA) underwent a reorganization and merger with the American Association of Applied Psychology and 19 charter divisions representing various constituencies were established, Division 19 was Military Psychology. Dr. Maurice Sipos, current Division President noted that, “Next week at the APA 2021 Virtual Convention, The Society for Military Psychology will celebrate 75 years of steadfast support of the field of military psychology through research, advocacy, applied science and evidence-based interventions for service members, veterans and their families. I am proud of our continued commitment to this legacy.”
I am honored this year to be the Convention Chair for Division 19 and to invite you all to consider attending the Division’s programming and support military psychology. We have an informative and fun program planned for 12-14 August. The program includes continuing education presentations, discussions on revisions to the APA ethics code, networking opportunities, student presentations and our “famous” Wine Down, Posters Up social where you can hear from our top ten submitted poster presenters and win door prizes! Registration for Division 19 programming is free and available at https://forms.gle/gd9ocoPXktQjAmZE6. You can learn more and download the Division program at https://www.militarypsych.org/apa-convention/. If you register soon, you can choose to receive a commemorative 75th anniversary wine glass or glass coffee mug with the division logo. Registration for APA is separate and includes access to all APA live and prerecorded programming, learn more at https://convention.apa.org/.
I am fiercely proud of the work of Division 19 and their support of military psychology. To be honest, I renounced my APA membership over 10 years ago (I am sure they hardly noticed!) because I felt unsupported by APA first as a military psychologist who had deployed, and later as a civilian psychologist working in the DoD. I felt betrayed by APA, culminating in their (continued) acceptance of the Hoffman Report. (You can learn more about the Hoffman Report and the Division’s response at https://www.militarypsych.org/hoffman-report/.) Division 19 has consistently and steadfastly stood behind military psychologists and continues to do so. You don’t have to be an APA member to be a Division 19 member and the division provides many benefits including; subscription to the quarterly journal, Military Psychology, subscription to the triannual newsletter, the Military Psychologist, eligibility to apply for research awards, travel awards, and writing contests, excellent networking and social opportunities and publication opportunities. Membership the first year is free.
You don’t have to be a member of the APA or Division 19 to attend our convention programming, so register now and come meet with your colleagues and support military psychology.
A few final words. In 2006 the APA lobbied Congressman “Bill” Young (R, FL) to support the establishment of what would become the Center for Deployment Psychology (learn more here) and the APA has consistently supported the CDP. I have renewed my APA membership and volunteer my time with Division 19 to support military psychology and to advocate for the men and women who continue to serve ethically in our armed forces, the most lasting change comes from within. The CDP and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences does not endorse Division 19 or the Society for Military Psychology and has no fiscal relationship with either entity. The opinions expressed in this blog are mine solely and do not represent the CDP, USU, the DoD the US Government or Division 19.
The opinions in CDP Staff Perspective blogs are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Science or the Department of Defense.
William Brim, Psy.D., is the director of the Center for Deployment Psychology (CDP) at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. He joined CDP in 2007, initially as a deployment behavioral health psychologist at Malcolm Grow Medical Center and served as deputy director until 2017.
In 1945-46 the American Psychological Association (APA) underwent a reorganization and merger with the American Association of Applied Psychology and 19 charter divisions representing various constituencies were established, Division 19 was Military Psychology. Dr. Maurice Sipos, current Division President noted that, “Next week at the APA 2021 Virtual Convention, The Society for Military Psychology will celebrate 75 years of steadfast support of the field of military psychology through research, advocacy, applied science and evidence-based interventions for service members, veterans and their families. I am proud of our continued commitment to this legacy.”
I am honored this year to be the Convention Chair for Division 19 and to invite you all to consider attending the Division’s programming and support military psychology. We have an informative and fun program planned for 12-14 August. The program includes continuing education presentations, discussions on revisions to the APA ethics code, networking opportunities, student presentations and our “famous” Wine Down, Posters Up social where you can hear from our top ten submitted poster presenters and win door prizes! Registration for Division 19 programming is free and available at https://forms.gle/gd9ocoPXktQjAmZE6. You can learn more and download the Division program at https://www.militarypsych.org/apa-convention/. If you register soon, you can choose to receive a commemorative 75th anniversary wine glass or glass coffee mug with the division logo. Registration for APA is separate and includes access to all APA live and prerecorded programming, learn more at https://convention.apa.org/.
I am fiercely proud of the work of Division 19 and their support of military psychology. To be honest, I renounced my APA membership over 10 years ago (I am sure they hardly noticed!) because I felt unsupported by APA first as a military psychologist who had deployed, and later as a civilian psychologist working in the DoD. I felt betrayed by APA, culminating in their (continued) acceptance of the Hoffman Report. (You can learn more about the Hoffman Report and the Division’s response at https://www.militarypsych.org/hoffman-report/.) Division 19 has consistently and steadfastly stood behind military psychologists and continues to do so. You don’t have to be an APA member to be a Division 19 member and the division provides many benefits including; subscription to the quarterly journal, Military Psychology, subscription to the triannual newsletter, the Military Psychologist, eligibility to apply for research awards, travel awards, and writing contests, excellent networking and social opportunities and publication opportunities. Membership the first year is free.
You don’t have to be a member of the APA or Division 19 to attend our convention programming, so register now and come meet with your colleagues and support military psychology.
A few final words. In 2006 the APA lobbied Congressman “Bill” Young (R, FL) to support the establishment of what would become the Center for Deployment Psychology (learn more here) and the APA has consistently supported the CDP. I have renewed my APA membership and volunteer my time with Division 19 to support military psychology and to advocate for the men and women who continue to serve ethically in our armed forces, the most lasting change comes from within. The CDP and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences does not endorse Division 19 or the Society for Military Psychology and has no fiscal relationship with either entity. The opinions expressed in this blog are mine solely and do not represent the CDP, USU, the DoD the US Government or Division 19.
The opinions in CDP Staff Perspective blogs are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Science or the Department of Defense.
William Brim, Psy.D., is the director of the Center for Deployment Psychology (CDP) at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. He joined CDP in 2007, initially as a deployment behavioral health psychologist at Malcolm Grow Medical Center and served as deputy director until 2017.