Educational Affairs Committee

EAC Annual Report (2020-2021)

The EAC consists of Laurie Donze, Sheryl Jacobs is the vice-chair, Kim Burgess, Shalena Heard, Shep Jefferies, David Roth, Alex Szollos, and new members this year, Gloria Carpenter and Sarah Crawley.  New MPA member Edwin Oliver plans to join the committee in September, and Shalena has agreed to be vice-chair starting in the fall.  The EAC is supported by MPA staff Veronica Rand, Stefanie, Jean Holmes, and Jasmine Middleton, who works on marketing.  I wanted to start my report with a shout-out to the EAC members and MPA staff who all contribute to the success of MPA’s educational programs!

Accomplishments:

 

The committee organized both MPA’s Annual Convention and Essential Requirements Conference (ERC) to be entirely virtual this year, as well as standalone workshops including the Lunch and Learn Series.  EAC also developed a non-credit webinar dedicated to helping prepare speakers to present for MPA or other professional venues.

 

  • Multi-Day Conferences:  Annual Convention 2020 included 10 workshops spread out over six days.  Essential Requirements Conference (ERC) was held over two days with four workshops specifically on Diversity, Ethics, and Supervision topics.

 

  • Four free-standing workshops included:  COVID-19, Vaccines, and Returning to your Office; Assessment and Treatment of Suicide Risk; Using Cognitive-Behavioral Strategies to Treat Perfectionism Across the Anxiety Disorders in Children and Adolescents, and Clinical Approaches to Recognizing and Managing Depression and Grief in Older Adults (in June).

 

  • Four 90-minute Lunch and Learn workshops were held via Zoom for distance learning and recorded for our webcast library.  Topics covered this year included: Email and Texting in Mental Health Practice; Closing your Office, but not Your Practice; Helping Families Navigate a Return to In-Person Education; and Ethical and Legal Considerations for PSYPACT.

 

  • There were 850 total registrants across all live workshops, bringing in $76,445 in total revenue, with profits of $62,390.  Expenses included speaker fees and video editing.

 

  • MPA’s Home Study CE library has grown with 9 new offerings ranging from 1-3 CEs.
    • Income received from home study courses increased from $5220 in 2018-19 to $12,810 in 2020-21, with a peak of $14,879 in 2019-20.

 

  • The online workshop proposal form was revised so that all workshops can be recorded for home study, with post-tests submitted in advance.

The EAC’s initiatives this past year included expanding the marketing reach for MPA workshops and co-sponsoring events with other MPA committees and other organizations.  

 

  • Jasmine Middleton’s marketing campaign included:
    • 2-3 email blasts per workshop to members and non-members.
    • 1-3 social media posts on each social platform about an upcoming workshop or relating to the topic of the workshop.
    • Each TMP has a Continuing Education Corner which always promotes our home study courses and any upcoming workshops.

 

  • EAC co-sponsorship included:
    • Partnering with the Professional Practice Committee (PPC) to sponsor the Closing your Office, not Your Practice workshop in December, the February Lunch and Learn on Email and Texting, and the upcoming PSYPACT workshops.
    • We have also worked with the Early Career Psychologist (ECP) committee to offer CE credit for early-career speakers and are planning to offer a joint movie event in the fall.  
    • In February, we coordinated with the Missouri Psychological Association to offer a webinar presented by former MPA member Jeff Barnett on Self-Care as an Ethical Imperative.
    • We continue to co-sponsor and provide CEs for other organizations; this year we worked with Marilyn Monteiro, McGhee and Associates, Pediatric Psychology Center, Great Minds Abroad, Institute for HEALing, Rebecca Resnik and Associates, and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

 

Moving forward, although Convention 2021 will be fully virtual again, we hope to eventually offer at least some hybrid events, which would allow both in person and virtual attendance, promote continued extended reach to Maryland psychologists (and elsewhere), and expand our home study library of webinars. 

 

The lineup for Convention 2021 includes:

  • Conspiracy Theories- Joe Pierre, MD
  • Social Media and Videogames- Kim Burgess
  • Child Problematic sexual behaviors Stefanie Wolfe
  • Decolonizing trauma work- Cassie Walker
  • Involving Minors in Decisions about Mental health Care: Legal, ethical, developmental, and clinical considerations - Mary Ann McCabe
  • Assessments with students of color – Linda McGhee and Tanisha Drummond
  • And in the works:
  • Working with military couples
  • Toxic Stress and Resilience- Joan Kaufman
  • Cybersecurity
  • Informed consent- Richard Bloch