Dear RIAPP community,

Welcome to an exciting and energizing 2026-27 season! We have a vibrant roster of speakers this year, beginning with our event on October 7th: “Indigenous Roots of Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy (PAT) and How PAT Can Enhance Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy” with Michael Cirillo and Bertha-Elena Rojas.

Please remember that membership must be renewed each season. In order to access reduced rates, a posting on our Find a Psychotherapist List, members-only events, and more, please join for the 2026-2027 season!

We also have a new Board of Directors, three of whom are serving for the first time and new volunteers overseeing the continuing education (CE) process and managing our website.

An important update regarding CEs for doctoral-level psychologists: As a Division 39 chapter of the American Psychological Association (APA), RIAPP has historically approved its own speaker and event materials and awarded CE credits to attendees. In early August, Division 39 abruptly changed this process and added more stringent requirements, including that chapters submit all event materials to Division 39 for approval at least 90 days before an event. They also decided that CEs cannot be awarded retroactively. This change means that RIAPP no longer controls the CE approval process. As a result, given the new 90-day required lead time, RIAPP is unable to offer CEs for doctoral-level psychologists at the October lecture and November conference. It is possible this will affect the December lecture as well and we will continue to update you of these changes. Given that at least two events will not come with psychology CEs, this year we are offering reduced membership and conference rates for doctoral-level psychologists. Please know that we are doing our best to expedite applications and seek other avenues of approval and we will update you accordingly. If you have any questions at this time, please email our Division 39 Liaison, Stephen Grigelevich at sgrigelevichlicsw@gmail.com.

There is no change in our ability to offer social work CE’s and those applications are being processed currently.

The RIAPP board is committed to providing exciting, relevant programming and opportunities for members as well as making our work sustainable. We are looking at ways to increase membership and potentially meet the needs of members through member-led initiatives aside from lectures and conferences. We are also considering reducing the number of lectures and conferences for 2027-28 to keep RIAPP viable rather than allowing it to go dormant.

We welcome you to browse the website, join for the season, contact us to volunteer, or make a donation to support our work. We wish you a wonderful season and look forward to seeing you at our lectures and conferences this year!

Sincerely,

El Sher, LICSW, President
Jess Cronin, LICSW, Past President