- [Narrator] Guided by APA President, Dr. Jennifer Kelly,
and policy and resolutions passed
by the APA Council of Representatives,
including the groundbreaking resolutions
on immigration and COVID-19,
APA is moving into 2021 as a stronger organization
that is more nimble, more effective,
more globally focused, and is having more impact.
Nobody could have predicted the way
the world would change in 2020,
from a global pandemic to a national reawakening
to the daily horrors of systemic racism,
there's never been a time when psychologists
and their expertise in human behavior
were more relevant and needed.
APA's mission and strategic plan set ambitious goals
that are serving as beacons as we navigate
through the aftermath of 2020 into 2021.
In August, Council passed a resolution
on psychology's understanding of the challenges related
to the COVID-19 global pandemic in the United States.
That resolution offers a framework
for the association's continued
and intensive efforts in this area.
We have highlighted psychological science
to help people deal with stress, anxiety, and grief,
and developed specific resources to address
common challenges like overcoming financial stress,
and dealing with social isolation.
We have focus to the nation on the impact of stress
through APA's award-winning Stress in America project
assessing patterns in America's stress levels
over time and giving people tools
to cope and build resilience.
We've helped healthcare professionals cope
as they stand on the front lines of the pandemic,
developing a toolkit of science-backed,
self-care resources specifically designed to help
this critical population manage
seemingly unimaginable stress and anxiety on the job.
We've helped parents navigate new stresses
as they adjust to changing routines
with resources that address home learning,
healthy habits in quarantine,
and helping kids cope with change.
We've helped employers and workers stay
psychologically healthy and productive,
as many were forced to quickly adapt to remote work
and others faced unexpected unemployment
and financial crises.
And we're sharing our science with decision-makers
to support not only vaccine uptake and dissemination,
but to help employers keep their workforce
physically and psychologically safe
when they ultimately return to the workplace.
We've helped teachers transition
to virtual learning with free lesson plans
and psychology-based guidelines
to help ensure that students stay on track.
And we've helped leaders and legislators
understand the research behind people's behavior,
and communicate more effectively with constituents
throughout the crisis while managing their own stress,
partnering with groups like the National League of Cities
and the National Governors Association.
APA has also helped people better understand
the health disparities surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.
We launched Equity Flattens The Curve to build
a community of leaders and experts dedicated
to participating in advocacy efforts
addressing equity issues related to COVID-19.
And we're working with the new administration
to ensure that psychologists
and our research and scientific expertise are
at the table and influencing decisions.
Today, we face an urgent challenge as an association,
discipline, profession, and as individual psychologists
to bring our expertise to bear
on the many critical issues affecting the field
and broader society as the world works
to achieve a new normal.
Issues like discrimination, racism,
and longstanding social, economic,
and political inequalities,
from police brutality to the disproportionate spread
of the coronavirus among Black and Brown people
to the soaring unemployment rates in communities of color.
And of course, the inequities our nation
has created and perpetuated that lead
to poorer outcomes for people of color
now exacerbated by the pandemic.
APA worked to make psychological science
and its applications to real-world bias,
discrimination, and trauma highly visible,
including the science on racial bias,
which we featured at the APA 2020 Virtual Convention,
and an event with the NFL,
and on a very popular Facebook Live event
with APA leadership.
And of course, APA is supporting the psychologists
who do the important work that helps the world cope.
With most practitioners needing to pivot
from in-person practice to telehealth,
APA quickly developed resources
to make the transition smooth,
from guidance to free training,
which more than 35,000 psychologists took part in.
And our advocacy efforts helped ensure that psychologists
were able to provide telehealth services,
including audio only to as many people as possible.
Preserving this flexibility as the nation
continues to fight this pandemic is part
of our 2021 advocacy agenda to strengthen the role
of psychologists in achieving health equity.
APA has asked Congress to provide $25 billion
in financial assistance to researchers.
And we're working to garner support for crucial research
that will help improve the country's response
to the current crisis and future pandemics.
And we have fought to protect the future of psychology,
ensuring that psychology students have the tools
they need to continue their educations,
from a virtual convention that topped the charts
with almost 15,000 attendees from 101 countries,
to our work to educate people on the importance
of integrating psychological science
into effective technology use, design, and innovation,
to our conversations with the nation's top scientists
and decision-makers that utilize cutting edge
psychological research and data,
APA is elevating the public's understanding of,
regard for, and use of psychology.
As the world continues to transform,
APA will continue to ensure that psychology
and psychologists are front and center,
making a real impact on a world
that needs us now more than ever.
(upbeat music)