About NHPA

For over fifty years the New Hampshire Psychological Association has been the voice of psychology in the State of New Hampshire and a steadfast champion of the mental health community. Operating from a positive core – grounded in compassion, dedication to the field, and community-mindedness – NHPA’s mission is to advance psychology as a science, as a profession, and as a means of promoting human welfare.

Locally and nationally recognized for its achievements, NHPA is an active and thriving organization for professionals with degrees in psychology and affiliated mental health fields. Come join us!

Dear NHPA Members, 

For those that don’t know me well, I practice as a forensic psychologist, mostly evaluating those who are struggling with serious mental illness or substance use issues while contending with potentially serious criminal charges. I started with NHPA in 2020 as a member of the legislative committee, and I later became the chair of that committee. On the board, I have tried to make my fellow middle-children proud by working to find common ground and clarity of vision among board members. As chair of the legislative committee, I have coordinated with partner organizations like the New Hampshire chapter of the National Association of Social Workers and the National Alliance on Mental Illness. I have given written and oral testimony before both House and Senate committees on a variety of topics. I have also been acting as the Federal Advocacy Coordinator, working with the American Psychological Association to meet with the officers of our representatives and senators in Washington.

Looking forward to our next year, NHPA will be confronted with challenges large and small. Our membership makes up less than half of the small number of doctoral-level psychologists in a small state. With these humble resources, our organization is tasked with building and maintaining membership, providing educational opportunities, serving as ethical stewards, coordinating for our members with their licensure board, advocating for the practices of psychology, and tackling many other needs as they crop up. Not much to ask from an all-volunteer board of directors, a few committees, and a few dedicated staffers to handle! I am very proud of the colleagues who have taken time out of their busy lives and professional schedules to participate in this organization. I am keenly aware of the responsibility of honoring your commitment, your time, and your energies.

As I was preparing these remarks, my question was - what can NHPA do in the next year? What should we do? We will continue to provide our services as we adapt to the changes that are always just around the corner. In recent years, NHPA has also been looking within to ask what principles will guide our organization’s activities for the future.

NHPA gives a voice to our members, which comes directly from having the organizational body that we do. We use this voice to speak to insurance companies, to congressional members, and to the public at large. It is important that this voice speaks with clarity, intentionality, and conviction. We have to be open about our stances, we have to ask questions to learn more about others’ perspectives, and communicate clearly the priorities of our organization. I can share with you my great concern that the costs of speaking with our voice grow every year. Month by month there are more entities, some small and some large, who are motivated to shut down communication and to stifle the voices of organizations like ours. That is why it is so important that we make good decisions about what we say and how we say it. I think back to an academic advisor who told me, as some of you likely remember well, when explaining your research it should be clear enough that your grandmother can understand it. Notwithstanding the slight slander of our grandmothers, we need to speak in clear and plain language in order to cut through to our audience. Speaking clearly also allows us to differentiate our voice from those that would disguise outright nonsense with academic, philosophical, or legalistic jargon.

So that is the principle I hope will embody our organization’s work in the year to come. We will speak clearly and directly: to ourselves, to our members, to our colleagues, and to our larger audience. We will be a voice for the ethical and scientific principles that guide our profession and its practice. We will be a voice for our members and their clients, who might not otherwise have the same opportunities to be heard. We will listen to those who share our commitment to open and direct dialogue. We will stand up for the right of everyone to participate in that dialogue. For the year to come, I invite all of you to join in this good and worthy work.

Thank you,

Jim