Ros Knight FAPS FCCLIN FCCOUNS GAICD
President

It is my pleasure to welcome you to the Australian Psychological Society’s 2020 Annual Report. This has been a year of unprecedented change and future-focused decision-making for our organisation, and it causes me to reflect with pride on what our incredible community of psychologists has achieved. 

We have all faced challenges in 2020 that we could never have anticipated – in particular during the second half of this reporting period. 

The experiences of the Australian summer will be with us for decades to come. The Australian community reeled and watched in horror as landscapes, homes and lives were lost. People struggled to adapt and find stability again. The APS reached out with advice for practitioners and also for the public on how to cope and find assistance through this difficult time. Our practice certificate in disaster support was well subscribed by members who stepped up to be trained in this area, some of whom went on to provide outreach support to assist people in these horrendous circumstances through the Disaster Response Network. We advocated for increased Medicare sessions to assist Australians and educated the public through media and resourcing on the website. We made a difference as an organisation, and as a profession, to the lives of many.

Then, the world was changed fundamentally by COVID-19. As has been routinely mentioned, this was a calamity unseen in any of our lifetimes – and is still not over. The APS pivoted promptly to work remotely and meet member needs – barely missing a beat. Admirably, our members also pivoted to telehealth in droves and the APS was there to support them through this, at times, unnerving process. We provided members with the training and resources necessary for the mental health of Australians to be as widely treated as possible. 

We continued to advocate for more sessions and for continuation of Medicare subsidised telehealth, given the apparent and emerging benefits. We also focused on the public, providing dozens of resources on our website and through social media. Our loneliness resources were particularly well received, as were our COVID-19 resources, and over 2000 Australians attended our free public webinar on how to cope with loneliness during the pandemic. We have excelled and our efforts have been utilised.

Our increased presence over these issues has meant that we have the opportunity to work with other organisations to improve our messaging and impact for the betterment of the public and the profession. The Psychology Industry Advisory Group [1] has worked together over COVID, psychology education funding and other key issues. We have presented a strong voice to government and other stakeholders on the value of psychology and psychological science and practice. We have also moved into working with providers such as the Black Dog Institute in the area of mental health as we aim to ensure high quality service provision by psychologists where appropriate. This meeting of the minds will continue into the future.

The APS White Paper: The Future of Psychology in Australia – developed in 2019 – has remained an important tool in advocating for a whole-of-psychology workforce. The White Paper continues to underlie our advocacy efforts, and has been pivotal to various APS submissions including the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System and our submission to the Mental Health Productivity Commission’s investigation into the social and economic benefits of improving mental health in Australia. This is not to suggest that all of our submissions are mental health. We have also provided 35 submissions across a range of areas included aged care, child and family welfare, disability, workplace and employment, and more. 

In 2020, the APS has again recognised the contribution of members and psychologists. It was an absolute pleasure to acknowledge Ron Taft’s 75 years of membership with the APS. He has been with us from the very beginning and is a remarkable man. Dozens of members were celebrated for their work via the educational, science and practice awards through to branch and college awards, and more. The President’s Award for 2019 was awarded to Professor Pat Dudgeon, and also to Professor Shane Thomas for their exceptional work for psychology across the country and internationally.

The education and training of members excelled this year. We offered 400 hours of CPD via multi-model formats – despite the challenges to face-to-face learning posed by COVID. An incredible 25,000 individuals took part in continuing professional development webinars offered by the APS in 2020. This is a threefold increase on 2019, which is a massive achievement – both for the staff working to produce such a high level of online learning, and for our members who embraced learning in this way. We expanded the number of e-learning modules by 36, which were accessed by over 8000 individuals. 

More than 700 delegates took part in the three key APS conferences – the College of Organisational Psychologists Conference, College of Organisational Psychologists Workplace Excellence Awards and the College of Clinical Neuropsychologists Conference. In mid-March the decision was made to postpone the APS College of Clinical Psychology Conference until 2021. The APS poured time and resources into transitioning from in-person to virtual events and conferences, and our member groups were thus able to forge ahead with more than 370 events attended by over 15,000 people – an admirable and heartening result. Our AGM will be held virtually during our web-based annual conference in October 2020 and we look forward to this new experience and reflecting on our recent successes via this new format.

The Board has played an enormous role in leading the APS through 2020. Two new elected Directors joined us after the AGM in October – Tamara Cavenett as President-Elect, and Simon Crowe as a General Director. Robyn Batten and Mary Latham were reappointed as our independent non-executive Directors for Governance and Finance respectively, and organisational psychologist Paul Flanagan was appointed to the Board in early 2020 as an Additional Director. We extend our sincere thanks to Aaron Frost, Tim Carey, Hannah Challis and Geoff Gallas, whose terms as Directors ended at the 2019 AGM. The Board has continued to focus on lifting its skills with a requirement that all Board Directors complete the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) course, and pass the exams. The Board also put a lot of planning and thought into the future direction of the APS through the development of a new strategic plan for 2021-24, laying out a roadmap for the APS through the organisation’s strategic priorities.

I must acknowledge the APS staff, who have embraced the challenges of 2020 and in particular the virtual working environment thrust upon them this year. Always smiling and always willing to help from their new virtual office. The APS executive management group and their teams work extremely hard to ensure we are doing everything possible to provide value and the best possible service to members. All staff are passionate about psychology and the service our members provide.

Finally, I extend my sincere gratitude to the thousands of member volunteers who dedicate their time to the success of the APS through our many Branches, Colleges, Interest Groups, advisory groups and committees. I am ever in awe of the incredible dedication and contribution each and every APS member makes to our valued profession and discipline. 

The APS remains the peak body for our Profession, with over 25,000 members and it has been a pleasure to serve them over the last year.  

[1] ACP – Association of Counselling Psychologists 
ACPA – Australian Clinical Psychology Association 
AIPA – Australian Indigenous Psychologists Association 
APAC – Australian Psychology Accreditation Council 
HODSPA – Heads of Departments and Schools of Psychology Association 
ICP – Institute of Clinical Psychologists 
IPPP – Institute of Private Practising Psychologists 
PsyBA – Psychology Board of Australia