I could not be more pleased as I review the membership trends that Dr. Alissa Doobay, Co-Chair of the Membership Committee, diligently updated this year to allow continued tracking of the committee’s outcomes. Two trends immediately captured my attention. First, we experienced the greatest one-year increase in the total number of members, primarily driven by the largest one-year increase in full members with advocacy since we began tracking in 2000. Second, we experienced an increase in student members that returned us to our 2019 number, after a significant drop in student membership from 2019 to 2020 that appeared to be associated with the unfortunate cancellation of the 2020 spring conference. Additionally, we celebrated robust retention across all membership categories this year.

The Membership Committee has implemented a number of tactics in line with the committee’s overarching Strategic Plan goals of Connection, Recruitment, and Retention that have assisted in promoting the notable increases in membership numbers. Additionally, a number of initiatives from IPA’s Executive Council and our fabulous committees have been instrumental in promoting connection, recruitment, and retention.

With regard to recruitment and retention, the Membership Committee implemented several important tactics over the past year. Specifically, sparked by an idea Past IPA President Dr. Benge Tallman learned while attending a Practice Leadership Conference, the Membership Committee initiated both a Student Mentorship Program and a Student Sponsorship Program. Thanks to the organizational and leadership skills of Dr. Doobay, as well as generous donation of time and financial support from many IPA members, these programs have successfully assisted in connecting students with mentor psychologists and providing one year of free membership for students. Thank you to all members who have participated in these programs, and to the students who have increased their IPA engagement as a result of these programs.

The Membership Committee continues to inform non-members of the many benefits of IPA membership, as well as introducing new benefits for members. In collaboration with the WEB Committee, the Membership Committee has facilitated the members-only benefit of four free continuing education credits for online content. Dr. Doobay continues to send emails to non-members who attend IPA conferences to inform them of the many benefits of IPA membership. The committee owes gratitude to Dr. Jody Jones, who has offered her exceptional writing skills for updating an annual letter the committee sends to newly licensed Iowa psychologists regarding the benefits of membership.

The Membership Committee placed a great deal of effort into encouraging prompt renewals and reminding members to renew after the due date, with outstanding results. Special thanks are due to Dr. Jessica Tartaglione, Dr. Lauren Garvin, Dr. Laura Fuller, and Dr. Ashley Freeman for contacting members to assist with renewals; and to Dr. Alissa Doobay and Executive Director Suzanne Hull for assisting with renewal questions and special renewal circumstances. Thank you also to the vast majority of members who renewed promptly to facilitate a smooth renewal process.

Regarding connection, the Membership Committee has continued to host social events to assist in connecting members, with an exciting new development of pairing with the Diversity and Social Justice Committee to increase interest and attendance. These virtual social events have been thoroughly enjoyable and we are excited for the time we may return to hosting them in person. The committee has also continued sending introductory information to the Elist for new members and connecting new members with established members in their region of the state for a warm welcome.

The Membership Committee has appreciated efforts by other committees that have supported the goals of connection, recruitment, and retention. The Psychopharmacology Committee’s recent lunch and learn drew new interest to IPA as it highlighted the unique advocacy and information this committee offers members. The Diversity and Social Justice Committee has offered numerous avenues for connection and increased awareness regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion for IPA members. The WEB Committee has seamlessly navigated the switch from newsletter to blog and continued updating the website to share information of interest to members and the public. The Advocacy Team has successfully urged state legislators to mandate equivalent reimbursement for telehealth services, which has served as a crucial benefit to many IPA members. The Public Education Committee has launched a podcast to disseminate psychological information to the public, allowing IPA to increase visibility. The Early Career Psychologist Committee’s efforts in recognizing members with awards and scholarships, as well as organizing social events, have no doubt assisted in member retention. The Ethics Committee continues to field questions regarding ethical dilemmas members wish to keep confidential, and the Finance Committee continues to work behind the scenes to provide essential stability and oversight for our association.

To offer a snapshot of gratitude for the benefits IPA offers, three members generously provided the following testimonials that they welcomed the committee to share:

As mentioned in a similar article in The Iowa Psychologist last year, the greatest benefit IPA offers is the connection between its members, which currently comprises 258 dedicated members of the psychology community in Iowa. Please continue to reach out to each other as well as to non-members who may benefit from joining this supportive, knowledgeable, and generous community. Thank you for your membership and your engagement in IPA.

The IPA Membership Committee launched the Student Mentorship program in the Fall of 2020. The primary goal of this program is to increase student engagement in IPA early in their doctoral training by building relationships between current members and doctoral students in psychology training programs. An additional goal for this program is to promote professional endeavors of students and interns within the state of Iowa through their increased engagement. All student members of IPA are provided with the opportunity to be connected with a mentor. At present, IPA has 30 student members, and 35 IPA members have volunteered to serve as mentors.

Over the past month, mentors and mentees participating in this program were invited to share about their experiences, both to highlight the benefits, as well as to identify aspects of the program that may need some reworking. Thank you to those of you who responded!

First, many of those surveyed expressed an appreciation for the opportunity to connect with others through this program, including by learning about specific individuals’ backgrounds and the unique experiences they bring to IPA, as well as hearing about how graduate training has changed over time. Some individuals identified specific benefits, such as being able to talk with a mentor about preparing for the internship application process.

“This past semester, I applied to internships and submitted my rankings and it was really nice to have a mentor to talk about their experiences with internship and how they decided on their rankings, especially because they weren’t my direct supervisor or from my training program. I really appreciated being able to talk about the application process with someone who has gone through it and can ask me questions about things like training goals that I had not thought about before. I also found that my mentor was very supportive around the time of my interviews and served as a great “trial run” for getting to know someone completely online and just how to present myself during interviews. She helped me feel like interviews were less scary. My mentor also was really great at helping me decide how to rank my internship sites. She was someone with whom I was able to share my genuine reactions, whereas I felt I had to be overly positive when speaking to my major professor. I can honestly say that my internship application experience was made much better by my mentor and her guidance.” –IPA Mentee

Mentors reported that they have been able to support their student in connecting with additional resources or psychologists in the state who share professional interests with the students. Others noted that, since connecting with a student mentee, the student has become more active in IPA through committee participation. Another mentor shared that they have benefitted from their mentee’s enthusiasm, and specifically enjoy the opportunity to have conversations about professional topics and discussing visions for career growth.

“Having conversations about professional topics and discussing how a person sees their career growing has been very rewarding. It is also helpful to hear about how training, approaches to interviewing, and different pathways can shape next steps for someone. I have enjoyed the opportunity to connect and hear about someone’s enthusiasm toward the field.”  –IPA Mentor

A few mentors focused on how this program benefits IPA more broadly through gaining an understanding of contemporary interests and needs of current graduate students. Mutual benefits were described about the mentor becoming more aware of how the IPA community can contribute to the success of graduate students and early career psychologists through the development of additional resources and tools, while the mentee may benefit from reflecting with a mentor on opportunities that fit with a person’s desired career path that are available but may not be readily apparent without the support of someone with more experience.

“Reflecting on how we (as a community) can provide others with extra resources/tools to be successful has been beneficial.”  –IPA Mentor

The primary challenge identified was initial difficulty connecting with assigned student mentees. Some mentees have either not responded to their mentor’s emails, or they have expressed not needing or not having time to participate in the mentorship program. Additionally, some mentees have reported a desire to engage in this process, but were unsure how to best take advantage of this time and resource.

“It has gone well to schedule zoom meetings every month or so and set the date at the end of the current call, that way it is for sure on each of our schedules. I looked forward to our meetings and getting to check-in!”  –IPA Mentee

A few ideas were presented for improving the program. As one mentee noted, scheduling regular check-in times with their mentor helped to ensure that they both made time to develop the relationship. It was also recommended that students and mentors could be provided with tips on how they can benefit from this program. A couple of respondents suggested a system of having mentees opt into the program rather than being automatically assigned a mentor upon joining IPA, which may increase the likelihood of the student mentor showing active engagement in the program. Likewise, there was a suggestion of matching mentees and mentors based on shared professional interests or goals. Student respondents had some creative suggestions for growing this program, such as potentially incorporating the opportunity to shadow the mentor at work to gain experience and familiarity with different work settings and interdisciplinary teams. Additionally, there was a recommendation to facilitate opportunities for social engagement between mentors and mentees.

“I would have like a full zoom call with all the mentors and all the students involved to get to network and just connect with the other students of IPA. This could involve like an icebreaker game with us and our mentors on a team for trivia or some other game, just something that could highlight some team building!” –IPA Mentee

This is very useful feedback that the IPA Membership Committee will take under advisement. Plans are already underway to host a mentor/mentee social event in Fall 2021. We also encourage mentors and mentees to connect at IPA conferences and trainings, particularly as we begin to resume in-person events.

“I think all the current efforts to connect and to seek input have been outstanding.” – IPA Mentor

More information about the IPA Student Mentorship Program is available here on the IPA website, including expectations of mentors and mentees, and a list of potential discussion questions. If you would like to serve as an IPA mentor, or if you have any questions or comments regarding this program, please contact Alissa Doobay at alissa-doobay@uiowa.edu.