CPA Section on Clinical Psychology
Minutes of the Executive Committee

Minutes for the Winter Meeting, January 26, 2002

Present:		Michel Dugas, Chair	David Dozois, Secretary-Treasurer		

		Kerry Mothersill, Chair-Elect		Leslie Graff, Past-Chair			
Regrets:	Darcy Santor, Member at Large

Winter Meeting _ CPA Clinical section
Saturday, January 26, 2002, 9:00 a.m.
PY_253, Department of Psychology
Concordia University

1.0  Approval of Agenda
 	Michel Dugas called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m., and presented the agenda.  The agenda for the January 26, 2002 meeting was approved as written.

2.0  Approval of Minutes __ September 14, 2001 Teleconference
 	The minutes from the September teleconference were approved as written.

3.0  Report from the Chair
 	Michel notified the committee about some recent developments.  He noted, for example, that Gary Latham was interested in using the fact sheets to disseminate nationally for human resource purposes.  The committee decided that CPA should simply contact the authors of the fact sheets to determine whether they would be agreeable to the use of these fact sheets.  Michel also provided an update on the Romanow commission.  Fortunately, CPA has been involved at every step of the process.  Discussion ensued regarding the Mazankowski report and how this might potentially overshadow the Romanow report.  Michel also reported that the Jennifer Veitch would like some feedback on the new submission guidelines for the CPA conference.  Michel will forward to the committee the email from Jennifer for future discussion. 

4.0  Treasurer's Report
 	David reported that our current assets total $8,829.49.  There is presently $3,874.70 in chequing, and $1,612.67, $2,151.86, and $1,190.26, respectively, in G.I.C.’s all of which will reach their maturity dates within the next few months.  There are no debts are outstanding, although $3,000 was budgeted for the winter meeting in Montreal.  There remains some money that should be coming in from brochure orders.  David also reported on the various interest options available for the G.I.C.’s.  Discussion ensued regarding how much money should be allocated to the Section’s projects and how much will be reinvested.  Michel mentioned that we should think about how much money we would like on hand, and consider what we will actually need for various section projects.  Kerry noted that an organization should typically have about 6 months (i.e., ± $4,000) worth of assets available as a backup.  It was suggested that an ongoing guideline for the Section would be to keep approximately 50% of operating costs in investments.  Possible spending areas were discussed later in the meeting (see Other Business).  David will renew the Feb 4th and March 3rd G.I.C.’s, and we will cash the April G.I.C. to designate to special projects.  

 	The preconvention workshop last year was a slightly overbudget (by approximately $300). The committee discussed strategies for ensuring that future workshops are successful fiscally (e.g., advertising this more broadly to the local community, placing an advertisement, if necessary, in the local newspaper, using the list server to inform members about the workshops).  

5.0  Member at Large Report
 	Darcy was unable to attend the winter meeting.  Consequently, there was no report from the Member at Large.

6.0  CPA 2002 Conference

 	6.1  Submissions and review (impact of new submission guidelines)
 	Kerry mentioned that the longer submission requirement did not appear to be all that helpful and that people generally felt negatively about this.  He did mention that the longer submission may have been helpful for marginal submissions.  Kerry will check with the reviewers re: the extent to which they believed it was worthwhile and the number of submissions.  This information will be forwarded to Michel for action.    It was the process by which this decision was made that was least palatable because it was essentially conducted unilaterally.  The main source of discontentment with previous conference submission reviewers has not really been in deciding whether something should be accepted, but the fact that the feedback has not been used (e.g., suggestions for rejection have been vetoed).  It appears as though the number of submissions this year are down by about 24%.  The unconfirmed number of submissions this year was 80 versus an average of 105 over the past 6 years (see figure below).  

Figure 1.  Number of conference submissions from 1995-2002.  The locations of each conference are presented following each date –  2002 (Vancouver); 2001 (Quebec city); 2000 (Ottawa); 1999 (Halifax); 1998 (Edmonton); 1997 (Toronto); 1996 (no data because the CPA conference was subsumed under the auspices of the International Congress of Psychology (Montreal); 1995 (P.E.I.).

 	Although the response rate is somewhat dependent on the location of the conference, these figures are concerning.  Michel will look further into this.  Leslie reported that there has been discussion regarding having a panel of reviewers.  There was also discussion about possibly requiring a somewhat longer abstract rather than two separate written submissions.  A number of specific points of feedback were discussed. Michel mentioned that there will be a Chair’s orientation preconvention meeting where he could present this feedback to the Chair of the Convention committee, Jennifer Veitch.    
 	
 	6.2  Section program/introductions
 	Michel reported that we were successful in recruiting people for the Section-sponsored keynote addresses, workshops, symposia, and conversation sessions.  The following table highlights the executive member responsible for introducing the various speakers.  

Speaker	Topic	Introduction	
Robert Ladouceur	Anxiety	Michel	
John Liveley	Personality	Kerry	
Tom Borkovec	Anxiety	Michel	
Brian Cox	Gambling	Symposium chair	
Concordia group	Developmental psychopathology	Symposium chair	
David Dozois	Cognitive/personality vulnerability to depression	Symposium chair	
John Pearce	Child abuse/custody assessment	Kerry	
Bob Wilson	EAP, third-party payment, and private practice issues	Leslie	
Bill Koch	Internship	Conversation session chair	
Adam Radomsky	Applying for positions	Conversation session chair	

	6.3  Advertising for pre_convention workshop
 	We will wait until April to determine whether we will need to adverstise the preconvention workshop in the local newspaper.  We will also need to figure out the discount for members.  When the conference registration material comes, we will send out a list serve notice re: the workshop.  Michel will forward the notice to the listserve.  

 	Leslie asked if we could identify a few members to disseminate this information to other interested parties (e.g., the BC College of Psychologists).  Michel will email Charlotte Johnson about this.  We should also have this posted on our web page. We will hold off on an ad in the newspaper until we see what the response is for the initial registration.  We should also determine how people heard about the preconvention workshop in order to ascertain which form of advertising is more effective.

 	6.4  Allocation of conference fee 
 	Each year it has been decided on an ad hoc basis who will receive a conference fee waiver (which is usually based on the overall distance from the conference, etc.).  Michel will ask CPA to cover John Pearce’s registration fee and the Section will cover Bob Wilson’s fee.  Michel will also clarify with Kathy Lachapelle_Petrin that the registration will be paid by the section and will copy this correspondence to Leslie.  CPA and the section will cost share the level A and level B speakers.  

 	6.5  Other
 	Leslie suggested that we discuss the fees for the workshops.  The cost was quite a bit last time.  The workshop fee will be $90 for section members, $110 for section nonmembers; and $130 for CPA nonmembers.  The costs for student affiliates, student section nonmembers, and student CPA nonmembers will be $50, $55, and $60, respectively.  For the upcoming preconvention workshop, participants will also be responsible for their own lunch in order to cut costs to the overall fee.  Michel will inform Kathy Lachapelle_Petrin about these changes.  

7.0  Section Activities

 	7.1  Section elections
 	Leslie reported that the deadline for nominations is the end of March.  She suggested that we generate some possible names in the likelihood that nominations are not put forward by members of the section.  In the constitution, we have a responsibility for regional and gender balance as well as a balance between practice and academic focus areas.  The committee spent some time brainstorming names.  The strategy will be to attempt to recruit one individual from eastern Canada and another from western Canada.  The committee discussed what to do in the interim between now and when the new Member at Large commences his/her position.  The committee decided to hold off on the fact sheets and some of the other responsibilities of this position.  

 	7.2  Call for Fellows/Student Awards
 	The deadline for nominations to the status of Fellow is also at the end of March.  

 	Kerry mentioned that this year, both awards have been entitled the Kenneth Bowers award. There was discussion surrounding what to do with both awards.  Some ideas were discussed but we will pick this up again at the June meeting.

 	Kerry mentioned that he would send out an individual email to students who are presenting at the conference. David will obtain an updated list of student members and send them as an attachment to Kerry.  Kerry will also send a message to the list server for call for election nominations and nominations for the status of fellow and each students individually. 

8.0  Section Projects

 	8.1  List server update  David reported that the list server appears to be running smoothly.  At present, there are a total of 317 Clinical Section members on the list.  A statement indicating that we still need email addresses from members was included with the national reorganization letter, which helped increase the numbers somewhat since the last report. David mentioned that the list server might actually be underutilized and suggested that we could use it more to update members of the section (e.g., members could be wondering how active the section is if information is not being disseminated).  We may wish to include some highlights about some of the decisions we are making, the meetings that have taken place, etc.).  Leslie will summarize the minutes in a reader-friendly format for the list-server.  

 	8.2  Updating/posting section brochures
 	Michel reminded us that we have decided to go with the web based brochure.  We are still looking for someone to update this material for the web page.  Kerry agreed to look at the brochure and ensure that this information is correct and up to date. 

 	8.3  Fact sheet update
 	The committee discussed the need to continue focussing on the fact sheets.  

 	8.4  New member recruitment
 	Michel noted that we appear to be doing well in terms of recruiting new members.  Leslie recommended that we review the ad for Psynopsis to ensure that it continues to reflect what the section has to offer.  Leslie will submit this ad to CPA.  .  Although other ideas were discussed for recruitment (e.g., clinical section booth), the committee decided to stay with the current strategies for now because our recruitment strategies appear to be working well.  
									
 	8.5  Continuing education credits   
  	There is a bit of controversy over whether the continuing education credits that we allocate for preconvention workshops need to be approved by CPA.  There is already a review process for the preconvention workshops which provided many of the specific details required in the application.  This issue needs to be raised again with CPA in conjunction with the Chair of the Education and Training (E&T) Committee and the CPA Convention Coordinator.  Michel will respond to the Chair of E&T (with a copy to Kathy Lachapelle_Petrin) indicating that the Section’s understanding is that, because our preconvention workshops are Section-sponsored and already reviewed by CPA, we will be able to proceed without completing an application and without a fee.  
						
 	8.6  Travelling workshop
 	The committee has decided to go with the master clinician series as one of the services provided to members rather than to pursue the idea of a travelling workshop.

9.0  Other Business

 	9.1  Newsletter distribution
 	Based on an earlier suggestion about the possibility of putting the newsletter on the web in a PDF format, the committee discussed the need to increase involvement with the list serve.  It might be possible to prepare people for this transition by mentioning that this change will be an important venue for disseminating the newsletter information, etc. 

 	David will write up a draft for the newsletter mentioning that many of our members are on the list server and that we would like to eventually move to a web based newsletter.  

 	9.2  Web_site administration
 	Leslie reported that David Hart will eventually resign as web coordinator, and that we should be thinking of other individuals who might serve as web-master for the Section.  We also need to think about the development of the web site because this will ultimately become the main vehicle for providing information to the Section’s members.  The committee decided that we could allocate some monies for an assistant with the web site.  The committee was encouraged to think about the new plan for the web page.  The committee will readdress this issue at the next meeting.  Leslie has agreed to update David Hart about this direction and seek his input.

 	9.3  Student on Clinical Executive
 	The committee discussed the idea of having a student on the clinical section executive and what role this person would play on this committee.  The committee decided to aim to have a student on the executive as a representative on a one-year term to provide input and feedback.  The committee also decided to pursue this gradually (i.e., by having the student present his/her views at the September teleconference and, if possible, at annual conference meeting) to better determine the cost-benefit ratio.  Michel will look into recruiting a clinical student representative (through the Section on Students in Psychology).  

 	9.4  Update on national reorganization of psychology in Canada
 	Leslie updated the committee on the national reorganization conference.  A draft was disseminated re: what happened at this conference.  Leslie stated that, to move forward on this, we need to reply back to the steering committee.  Leslie mentioned that the committee will be looking at this issue at their meeting in February.  Leslie will comment to this committee on the positive feedback received thus far.  She will also draft an initial response to the address some of the 13 questions proposed by this committee, and will solicit our feedback before sending this to the committee.  

 	Leslie also presented on the ‘Charter of rights’ for psychologists.  As a principle, the CPA board seems to be in favor of adopting this policy, albeit with some reworking.

 	9.5 Romanow commission 
 	There is a possibility of the Section presenting a brief to the Romanow commission.  Given that this will be an extremely time-consuming process, coupled with the recent developments highlighted previously, the executive wondered the extent to which the benefits outweigh the costs.  It is also possible that the Section’s response in addition to CPA’s response might appear inconsistent or dissenting.
 	
 	9.6 Strategic planning
 	There was discussion about providing services to members as part of our strategic planning.  Leslie mentioned that we need to brainstorm and consider what our strategic plan should be.  Many ideas were generated.  Initially we discussed the notion that we might want to reinvest the Section’s assets until we have a specific project in mind, yet Kerry mentioned our interest rates are not that great and we might as well have it ready for projects.  

 	One strategy is to have one of our keynote speakers provide a workshop that is free for section members.  Therefore in our thinking of keynote speakers for next year we will want to consider their possible ability and availability to do a workshop or master clinician series.  This master clinician series would be free for members and we would charge for nonmembers.  The committee agreed on the idea of a master clinician series.  We will discuss some of these options at the June meeting.  We will also discuss other options for strategic planning (e.g., focussing on the conference versus other services for Section members).  Another idea was to write a position paper to disseminate knowledge about how psychological treatment works.  

 	In summary, the committee decided to emphasize two main areas: (1) the conference and master clinician series and (2) lobbying and providing other services to the Section membership.  We need to figure out which of the Section members actually attend the conference.  

10.0  Spring Teleconference
 	The Spring teleconference will take place in early April.  Michel will correspond with the committee by email to determine a specific date. 

The meeting adjourned at 6:15 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

David J. A. Dozois, Ph.D., C.Psych.