The IPA Membership Committee works hard each year to pursue three driving goals of recruitment, retention, and connection. Current committee members include:

Ashley Banta, IPA Student Representative
Angelica Castro Bueno, Student Liaison from Diversity and Social Justice Committee
Alissa Doobay, PhD, Co-Chair
Suzanne Hull, IPA Executive Director
Nicole Keedy, PhD, Co-Chair
Jenna Paternostro, PhD, Liaison to Early Career Psychologists Committee
David VanHorn, PhD, Committee Member

The committee continues to benefit from four ancillary members who assisted with projects such as reaching out to non-renewed members to encourage renewals and contacting Lifetime members to inquire about continued active engagement in IPA. These members include:

Ashley Freeman, PhD
Laura Fuller, PhD, ABPP
Lauren Garvin, PhD
Stacey Pawlak, PhD

The Membership Committee’s current Strategic Plan Worksheet, which guides committee efforts, is available for review in the overarching IPA Strategic Plan: www.iowapsychology.org (linked under the Committees tab).

As Co-Chairs of the Membership Committee, we have been honored to work with a committee that epitomizes the phrase “small but mighty.” Over the past year, this committee has successfully assisted in the recruitment of 40 new members, 19 of whom are student members. Additional goals met by the Membership Committee included:

• Assisting with activities to promote connection at conferences
• Requesting funding to support a number of social events across the state
• Creating an infographic regarding benefits to student members (https://iowapsychology.org/student-benefits-expanded)
• Posting thank-you videos and recognition to IPA leaders and committee participants
• Updating welcome emails sent to new members
• Sending emails and letters to prospect members and newly licensed Iowa psychologists
• Preparing a letter to send to all licensed psychologists in Iowa regarding the benefits of IPA membership
• Contacting members to encourage renewals
• Conducting a full review of the list of Lifetime Members, involving direct outreach and various information-seeking methods to ensure an accurate listing of current membership

Last summer, the Membership Committee announced a committee initiative to form a Marketing Consultant Workgroup. This workgroup has worked independently over the past year, under the leadership of Dr. Jenna Paternostro, to identify and select consulting groups to assist with updates to IPA’s branding and website design. As an exciting step in the process, the Workgroup offered a first look at the new IPA logo to Spring Conference attendees. This rebranding process is moving into a final phase and we anticipate seeing a full brand reveal, including a newly designed website and updated marketing materials, within the next few months.

Each May, the Membership Committee Co-Chairs provide an update of membership numbers for a spreadsheet listed under the Member Resources tab of the IPA website, which members may access by clicking this link and entering their login information: https://iopa.memberclicks.net/member-resources?servId=9168.

Aside from a reduction in the Lifetime member total following the outreach project listed above, we have continued to celebrate membership growth for the past several years. We continue to have a high number (40%) of licensed psychologists living in Iowa as members of the association, which places us among the top of small state associations.

The Membership Committee remains particularly proud of a gradual increase in recruitment of student members who have served as active contributors to IPA, and many of whom we hope will be future leaders of the association. Many thanks to members of Executive Council and IPA committees, all of whom devote countless hours to create a professional home for a vibrant and supportive psychological community. Thank you to all IPA members for being part of this phenomenal association!

As we quickly approach the IPA renewal date, the Membership Committee would like to highlight a few of the many benefits of membership in this outstanding association.

Our association celebrated another strong year in 2023 and our membership numbers have remained robust. As of January 28, we have 304 members, 52 of whom are student members (quite an accomplishment – IPA has typically maintained a total 30-40 student members in recent history). In fact, IPA was recognized by APA for being one of the states with the highest proportion of licensed psychologists choosing to join their state psychological association – this is a testament to the wonderful community you all provide to psychologists across the state! Student membership has flourished since implementation of our Student Mentorship and Sponsored Student programs; thank you to those who responded to our recent call for sponsored student donations! IPA has continued to offer excellent professional development opportunities to members, including a fabulous spring wellness retreat called “Taking Care of Us,” our fall conference on Therapeutic Assessment, and additional trainings on Providing Affirming Care for Gender Diverse Youth, Ethics and Risk Management, and Clinical Psychopharmacology, among others. Members can access a wide variety of recorded trainings from this past year through our website. After the renewal process has ended, all renewed members will receive their annual code for four free online CEs to use in 2024!

Our Executive Council, committees, and other leadership have been hard at work implementing IPA’s Strategic Plan. The Diversity and Social Justice Committee has been increasing awareness and understanding of diverse populations and culturally responsive practices. The Finance Committee has been an excellent steward of IPA’s financial wellbeing. Our Advocacy Team continues advocate on behalf of all psychologists in the state by being a voice on legislative issues at the state and federal level, informing membership of action alerts on timely topics, and representing us during public meetings of the Iowa Board of Psychology. Recent Advocacy Team successes include a $10 million increase in Medicaid mental health rates and ensuring inclusion of testing codes, a $35 million increase in substance abuse treatment funding, and continued funding for Iowa internship and post-doctoral training sites. We are excited to announce the recent appointment of a new State Advocacy Coordinator. A big thank you to Dr. Melinda Green for your willingness to serve in this role! Internship and Postdoctoral training opportunities in Iowa are growing with support from our Training Director following the expansion of insurance reimbursement to psychology interns. After several years of dedication, the Policy and Procedures Manual workgroup is putting the final touches on our fully updated P&P Manual, which has been modernized to better reflect IPA’s current priorities, practices, and needs. These accomplishments are just the tip of the iceberg! If you are interested in learning more, this spring the Strategic Plan Committee will post our Year-End Strategic Plan report summarizing the goals and accomplishments of each IPA committee; this comprehensive report will be available on the IPA website under Member Resources.

We eagerly anticipate the opportunities 2024 will bring! Registration is already open for upcoming trainings on Cultural Humility, Ketamine: Trends, Myths, Research, and Clinical Care, and Treating Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Our Advocacy Team has set their priorities for the next year, and our P&P Workgroup is eager to turn their attention to updating IPA’s By-Laws (hooray!). In the next year, you will see some changes to the appearance of IPA as we embark on an exciting rebranding campaign, which will culminate in a website update and redesign. Under leadership of Dr. Jenna Paternostro, the Marketing Consultant Workgroup is now actively working with a consulting group regarding the updating of our logo and overall branding. Branding encompasses visual and design-related strategies to ensure our mission reaches our target audience, which includes both Iowa psychologists and Iowans seeking psychological services. We invite you to review additional member benefits on our website, which you are encouraged to share with others who may be interested in joining our thriving community.

On behalf of the Membership Committee, our Executive Director Suzanne Hull sent recruitment letters in September (originally written by Dr. Jody Jones with updates from Dr. Laura Fuller) to every psychologist who became newly licensed in Iowa since September 2022 and we had three newly licensed members join within one month. Student members have collaborated with full IPA members to meet with students from every doctoral program in Iowa for recruitment efforts (with clear results – we had 7 sponsored student members join within the month following the meetings). Student member Angelica Castro Bueno, in collaboration with IPA Student Representative Ashley Banta, created a beautiful infographic to print for student recruitment and to include on our website – it is well worth a look: https://iowapsychology.org/student-benefits-expanded.

In 2023, IPA hosted social events in Des Moines and Iowa City and an after-conference social that were well attended. Many thanks to Dr. Ashley Freemen, Dr. Sarah Fetter, Dr. Valerie Keffala, Dr. Lauren Garvin, Dr. Laura Fuller, and Executive Director Suzanne Hull for organizing these events. We look forward to social events planned for 2024.

Thank you to our many members who have renewed your membership. Every timely renewal helps to lighten the workload of the Membership Committee. If you have not renewed, you still have time! All non-renewed members will lose access to member benefits within a few weeks of the renewal date of February 1. For any members who have not yet completed their renewal, the easiest way is to click the link to your invoice, located at the bottom of one of the renewal emails you have received this month.  That link will take you to an invoice that you may either pay online or download to print with your mailed payment. When renewing your membership, please take a moment to ensure your email address and profile on our website are up-to-date. You can do so by visiting www.iowapsychology.org and, without logging in, review your profile for accuracy under the “Find a Psychologist” tab.  You can then log in to your account and make edits as needed.

We appreciate your continued support of IPA and we look forward to another great year of connection, education, advocacy, and growth!

The IPA Membership Committee comprises a group of committed and creative members whose efforts center around three driving goals of recruitment, retention, and connection. This blog post serves to provide a summary of recent membership trends and much-appreciated efforts by the Membership Committee to maintain a trend of growth. Current committee members include:

Ashley Banta
IPA Student Representative-Elect

Angelica Castro Bueno
Student Liaison from Diversity and Social Justice Committee

Alissa Doobay, PhD
Co-Chair

Eric Field
IPA Student Representative

Suzanne Hull
IPA Executive Director

Nicole Keedy, PhD
Co-Chair

Jenna Paternostro, PhD
Liaison to Early Career Psychologists Committee

David VanHorn, PhD
Newly Welcomed Committee Member

The committee also benefits from the assistance of three ancillary members who reach out to non-renewed members each year to assist and encourage renewals. These members include:

Ashley Freeman, PhD
Laura Fuller, PhD, ABPP
Lauren Garvin, PhD

The Membership Committee is guided by their unique Strategic Plan Worksheet, which is included in the overarching IPA Strategic Plan as linked on the home page of the IPA website: www.iowapsychology.org. Several successful efforts utilized over the past year have included recruitment meetings with Iowa’s doctoral psychology students, renewal outreach and assistance, updating application forms to promote inclusivity, connecting members with leadership opportunities, sending recruitment letters to newly licensed psychologists and conference attendees, maintaining the student mentorship and sponsorship programs, highlighting the contributions of student members, and recognizing the dedicated efforts of IPA’s leaders.

One particularly exciting effort by the Membership Committee in recent months included reaching out to leaders from a variety of IPA positions to form a Marketing Consultant Workgroup. The Membership Committee carefully considered the committee experiences and perspectives that would be desirable to fulfill the desired responsibilities of this workgroup. Under leadership of Dr. Jenna Paternostro, this group will seek proposals and select a consultant to assist IPA with branding (e.g., logo, brochure and website graphics, etc.), and other aspects of IPA’s marketing strategy. This workgroup includes:

Angelica Castro Bueno, Student Member
Alissa Doobay, PhD
Suzanne Hull, Executive Director
Sarah Fetter, PhD
Jenna Paternostro, PhD
Mark Poeppe, PsyD

We are excited to receive updates as this highly capable and enthusiastically formed workgroup aims to define and pursue their goals over the next year.

Each May, the Membership Committee Co-Chairs provide an update of membership numbers for a spreadsheet listed under the Member Resources tab of the IPA website. This spreadsheet and many additional members-only resources may be found by clicking this link and entering your login information: https://iopa.memberclicks.net/member-resources?servId=9168.

As the numbers and graph below illustrate, we have continued the trend of membership growth since 2020. With strong numbers in 2022, simply retaining the same number of members through renewal time would have been a notable feat. To have increased member numbers across multiple categories and to have nearly half of licensed psychologists living in Iowa as members of the association are commendable accomplishments by this devoted committee.

These trends demonstrate a high degree of success by the Membership Committee in pursuing their Strategic Plan objectives over the past year. It is noted that all leaders and committees in IPA participate in the efforts that assist in providing highly valued benefits to our members. We wish to extend our highest gratitude to these individuals whose commitment provide the foundation of a strong and growing association. Additionally, we wish to extend appreciation to all IPA members for contributing to a supportive, productive, and engaged membership that promotes a desire to remain connected through IPA!

Renew your membership with IPA in 2023!

Happy New Year to my IPA colleagues and friends! It is that exciting time of year full of new ideas, hopes, goals, and adventures. I sincerely hope that renewing your commitment to IPA is one of your goals for 2023. 

As an organization, we have had an excellent 2022. As of December 31, IPA Membership has grown to 309 total members. More specifically, we have 185 Full Members (12 of whom are Early Career Psychologists), 9 Academic Members, 7 Associate Members, 46 Retired or Partially Retired Members, 12 Out-of-State Members, and 50 Student Members. 

We have seen excellent professional development programming, including trainings on SPACE Treatment for Anxiety and OCD, Compassion-Focused Therapy, Disability as Diversity, LGBTQ+ Clinical Competencies, the Iowa Legislative Process, and many more. Members can access a wide variety of recorded trainings from this past year through our website, including psychopharmacology content from New Mexico State University.

Throughout 2022, our Diversity Liaison and Diversity and Social Justice Committee continued to host book clubs and expand our knowledge of cultural holidays and remembrances. Our incredible advocacy team has had success in efforts related to insurance reimbursement for supervised psychology interns, opposition of a bill that would have allowed attorneys in civil cases full access to all psychological testing materials and data, and the creation and funding of a new loan repayment program that applies to psychologists in Iowa. Members have been adding excellent content to our blog, and we have had some fun social events, including a “get to know your EC” game at our recent fall conference. Our student membership has grown substantially since implementing our Student Mentorship and Sponsored Student programs, and many of our committees now have student representation. This summary highlights only a few of IPA’s accomplishments over the past year. If you are interested in learning more, I encourage you to read the Year-End Strategic Plan report, which will summarize the 2022 goals and accomplishments of every IPA committee; this will be available on the IPA website under Member Resources.

We are eagerly looking forward to the opportunities 2023 will bring. IPA has already planned some excellent trainings, including the IPA Spring Conference: Taking Care of Us on April 28-29, and the 2023 Trust Workshop: Perplexing Problems in Psychological Practice on June 9. Additionally, our advocacy team has an exciting list of priorities set for next year, including advocating for reducing barriers for prescribing psychologists, increasing funding for psychological internships, requiring self-insured plans to self-identify, and protecting the use of the title “psychologist.” Please review additional member benefits on our website, which you are encouraged to share with others who may be interested in joining our community.  

As a member of IPA, I have a great sense of pride in our organization. I have pride in our accomplishments; our strategic plan; our advocacy; our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion; and our commitment to making affordable, high-quality trainings available to IPA members and other mental health professionals in our state. However, even more importantly, I experience pride and gratitude in our community – we have an outstanding community of intelligent, generous, compassionate, talented, creative, and dedicated members who improve the quality of life for Iowans every day with their actions. I hope that you, also, feel inspired to recommit to IPA through membership and volunteerism in our organization. 

If you have any questions about the renewal process, please contact me at alissa-doobay@uiowa.edu.

The following letter was sent to in-state and out-of-state licensees who have been licensed since September 1, 2021. We’re publishing here to remind everyone of the great benefits included in your membership. Also, you can share this blog post with anyone you know who you think should consider membership in IPA! A huge thank you to the Membership Committee (co-chaired by Dr. Nicole Keedy and Dr. Alissa Doobay) with a special thank you to Dr. Jody Jones for constructing and updating our recruitment letters to keep IPA thriving. 

Congratulations on obtaining licensure in Iowa! We are glad you are serving Iowans, and we would like to invite you to join the Iowa Psychological Association (IPA). 

Your membership in IPA will benefit you in many ways, including: 

Continuing education at discounted rates 

• Spring and Fall Conferences: IPA sponsors top-quality spring and fall conferences each year in the state of Iowa, including a day with Dr. Russell Kolts on Friday, October 7 in West Des Moines. Members will pay a reduced rate to attend and learn about compassion-focused therapy from one of the nation’s experts on the topic. You may find information about this and other upcoming events at https://iowapsychology.org/upcoming-events.
• Virtual CEs and recorded events: 
  • IPA members receive four (4) free CEsannually for recorded events available on our website
  • We also offer multiple virtual CE events at discounted member rates. Upcoming topics include:
    • Ethics, diversity, and the role of psychology in working with people who have disabilities
    • Iowa’s legislative process
• Ethics CEs: Every other June, IPA offers 6 hours of continuing education in ethics. This is important for you because 6 hours of ethics training are required for each licensure renewal cycle. We’ve got you covered!
• CE tracker: Avoid the last-minute scramble to find certificates of your CE credits at license renewal time! Our convenient CE tracker will keep them organized for you.

Advocacy and Representation

The IPA Advocacy Team monitors and addresses state and federal issues affecting the profession of psychology. That team includes our State Advocacy Coordinator, Federal Advocacy Coordinator, Director of Professional Affairs, Training Director, Lobbyist, and others interested advocating for psychologists. The IPA Advocacy Team provides:

• Legislative influence to protect and enhance the profession
• A voice in Congress when IPA leadership meets with members of Iowa’s Senate and the House of Representatives
• Participation in our annual Legislative Day
• Representation in APA (American Psychological Association) governance

Recent Advocacy Team successes include:

• the creation and passing of a bill that allows predoctoral interns to become provisionally licensed and able to bill through their supervisors;
• successful opposition of a bill, HF 2386, that would have allowed attorneys in civil cases full access to all psychological testing materials and data;
• the creation and funding of a new loan repayment program for non-prescribing mental health professionals, including psychologists, to address IPA’s calls for improved recruitment and retention of psychologists in Iowa; and
• organized Hill visits in July for IPA/APA members by our Federal Advocacy Coordinator (FAC) to attend during the APA Federal Summit on Addressing the Impact of Climate Change and Health Equity.

IPA is pleased to keep you informed about these statewide issues; in addition, IPA’s Federal Advocacy Coordinator provides regular communication regarding federal action alerts that could impact your work.

Connections, Networking, and a Professional Home 

Through IPA, you will make connections with professionals in the field across the state. In addition to the in-person relationship building you will gain through participation in conferences and other CE events, IPA provides:

• Job postings: You can post job openings on the website for free as an IPA member.
• IPA E-list: The E-list is a forum that allows members to share and discuss ideas, request informal consultation, and make referrals with colleagues across the state. 
• Facebook: IPA members who are Facebook users can join our closed Facebook group where we have more social interaction.
• The IPA Blog provides opportunities for members to learn more about IPA, psychology in Iowa, and their colleagues with regular blog posts on a variety of engaging topics! Check it out: https://iowapsychology.org/blog

• Legislative actions and updates: You can receive first-hand information regarding legislative issues and action alerts, and you have access to the legislative advocacy team and lobbyists.

Professional Growth

Members have numerous opportunities for leadership positions within IPA, in addition to gaining access to communication tools and the wisdom of the professional community.  Increasing collaboration in the psychology community has been made available with opportunities for student mentoring.

Affordable Rates

IPA’s membership dues are low compared to the rates of other professional organizations, and with membership you gain the discounts for continuing education mentioned above. 

• Full membership dues are currently $350—but we offer a discounted rate for new members of $200 the first year. 
• If you received your degree in the last 3 years, you qualify for our Early Career Psychologist discounted rate – $0 the first year, $150 the second year, and $250 the third year.  
• Psychologists in academic, non-clinical positions qualify for a discounted rate of $150.

In addition, if you join before December 31, 2022 your membership extends through all of 2023, meaning you will not renew your dues until February 2024!

Go to www.iowapsychology.org and click on “Join IPA Today.”

As Co-Chairs of the Membership Committee, we were recently forwarded correspondence by Dr. Bethe Lonning, IPA’s Director of Professional Affairs, that she received from Dr. Lawrence Perlman, Member at Large for APA’s Division 31 (Division for State, Provincial, and Territorial Psychological Association Affairs). Dr. Perlman requested updated information regarding IPA’s membership numbers. In the message, Dr. Perlman stated that his research of state associations found Iowa to have notably high success for recruiting and retaining members with a budget of our size, which he labeled a “remarkable achievement.” He intended to highlight IPA’s accomplishments in a Division 31 presentation at APA’s annual convention.  Dr. Doobay provided the following totals for each membership type to Dr. Perlman, as of August 1, 2022: 

Full Member: 147
Academic:     9
Advocacy-Exempt:     9
Early Career Psychologist:   18
Student Member:   39
Lifetime/retired:   44
Out-of-State:   10
Associate:     6
Total IPA Members: 282

Number of IPA Members who are Licensed Psychologists in Iowa: 176
Number of Licensed Psychologists in Iowa (and living in Iowa): 489
Percent of Iowa Licensed Psychologists in Iowa who are members of IPA: 36% 

We have known for several years that IPA has celebrated one of the highest percentages of licensed psychologists who reside in the state and who are members of their state association. Receiving recognition from APA’s Division 31 confirmed and reinforced the collective efforts of various IPA committees and leaders in the association who have assisted in both recruitment and retention of our devoted and active members. 

With this blog post, we hope to share our joy upon receiving this uplifting recognition with all IPA members. Iowa’s psychologists are a uniquely involved and connected group and we continue to grow.  As shown in the graph, our membership numbers have risen over the past two years, creating an incredible sense of pride for IPA leadership. We have many people to thank for their tireless work that maintains the strength, productivity, and many benefits of this outstanding association. 

As always, our connection serves as a driving force for our success as an association. Thank each of you for your contributions to the organization and your efforts to maintain meaningful connection with other members. Please continue to share your experiences with prospect members who could also benefit from joining what many members consider to be their professional home. As we grow in numbers, we expand our diverse experiences, we broaden geographical representation in Iowa, and we strengthen our ability to advance the mission of the association. Many thanks to each of you for your part in this growth.

Although Spring hasn’t quite sprung yet in Iowa, we are in a season of change for the IPA blog! In response to feedback from our members, we’ve made a couple changes.

Having to take that extra step to log in was prohibitive in accessing our content. As of today, the blog is now available without having to log in. This will make it easier to go directly to the posts that interest you and will make it easier to share links to posts. Please note, this also makes blog posts visible on search engines and to the public.

Prompted by constructive feedback from a member, we updated accessibility of the blog and the website.

• Video captioning is now available during all IPA Zoom meetings and presentations. Anyone joining can request to turn on closed captioning and the host will approve it.
• Alternative text has been added to all images on the IPA website retroactively and will be added to all images in the future.
• We ran an accessibility check against Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and made recommended changes.
• We adjusted website settings to ensure a sufficient contrast ratio between background and foreground elements to assist low vision users.

As you can see, the WEB committee has been busy! We are also looking to add another 1-2 members to our committee. If you’re interested, please contact Katie Kopp.