Presidential Message
Happy June, SPP members!
As we head into some warmer weather, I’m excited to give you updates on some great activities occurring within SPP and provide a follow-up on membership dues.
SPP Membership Dues: In April’s progress notes, I provided an update on our SPP Financial Taskforce. This group, led by our SPP treasure and past treasure, has focused on our fiscal responsibility and financial stewardship. Within that work, we have cut expenses, reallocated funds to support initiatives that you, our members, have indicated are important to you and re-evaluated our membership dues. We have looked hard at the expenses involved in running our organization, including holding SPPAC, and the revenue we receive. As a result, we will have a change in membership dues moving forward. For 2024, student membership will be $25 and regular membership will be $125. We have created a new membership dues category for retired pediatric psychologists and international members (defined as those living outside the US or Canada). Dues for this category will be $50, however, you must join/renew your membership and pay directly through SPP. We continue our fiscal work, including examining ways outside membership dues to increase revenue, and continuing to be a vibrant organization that supports the needs of its members.
APA 2023: I hope to see many of you August 3rd - 5th in Washington, DC for the APA Convention! A huge kudos to our program chair Thomaseo Burton, PhD and co-chair Colleen Stiles-Shield, PhD. The APA Convention has an amazing program showcasing the best of what pediatric psychology has to offer. I also hope you will be able to join us during the convention on August 4th at 4pm (ET) for our business meeting. Here, we will review the SPP year to date as well as have three presentations from trainees. You won’t want to miss it!
SPP Workforce Survey: Work is underway for our next iteration of the SPP Workforce Survey. The previous work done with the survey has been tremendous! We hope to carry on their great work with a survey that demonstrates the great diversity of work that pediatric psychologists do and provides the ability to be nimble and provide regular, timely data. Any SPP members interested in helping with the survey are welcome to join – we are particularly looking for pediatric psychologists not practicing within children’s hospitals to join our group.
Coffee hours with the Board: Be sure to mark your calendars for Coffee Hours with the Board.
This is an informal gathering with SPP Board members (or delegates) to learn more about the things happening in our organization, and for us to hear from you. Zoom links will be sent on the listserv. Come join us!
Be well and please do not hesitate to reach out at any time!
Melissa Santos, PhD
SPP President
msantos@connecticutchildrens.org