SCP Division Representative to APA Council Candidate Statements

Adisa Anderson, Ph.D.

What is your vision for APA Council Representative for SCP?
It is an honor to be nominated for the APA Council of Representatives (COR) for the Society of Counseling Psychology (SCP). I am a senior staff psychologist and Assistant Director of Grants and Multicultural Populations at the UC Berkeley Counseling Center, and adjunct professor at San Francisco State University. At UC Berkley, I hold leadership roles in multiple initiatives, such as the African American Mental Health Team, Chancellor’s Independent Advisory Board on Policing and Community Safety, Chancellor’s Committee for Developing an Anti-Racist campus framework, and The Black Leadership Collective. I was the CNPAAEMI Leadership Development Institute Fellow where I worked closely with the ethnic minority organizations and was immersed in a BIPOC mentoring initiative.

I currently serve as Co-Chair of the SCP Liberation Lounge (previously the Hospitality Suite) and serve on the SCP Social Justice Awards Committee. These local and national roles have prepared me to be a strong voice on the COR, advocating for CP and upholding liberation, social justice, multiculturalism, and community engagement values while challenging anti-Black racism in APA and SCP. I will advocate for student and ECP mentoring efforts and support of our BIPOC members. I also will support the implementation of the strategic plan while supporting efforts to improve operational effectiveness and foster leadership development across SCP. I will work thoughtfully and collaboratively to address the needs of SCP and APA in ways that unify various communities across shared visions and galvanize us to address ongoing critical societal challenges.

How would you address this vision and support the division’s efforts to address anti-Black racism within our structures and practices? 

As SCP Representative to the APA Council of Representatives (COR), I will lead with deep commitment to CP core values that align with many of my personal values. These values include social justice, equity, inclusion, multiculturalism, liberation, decolonization praxis, activism, and critical consciousness. I believe I am particularly equipped and prepared to support SCP’s efforts to address anti-Black racism within psychology and engage in advocacy at the APA level, as I’ve demonstrated an extensive track record of efforts to address anti-Blackness throughout my personal life and career. I would seek to address this by offering and supporting policies, procedures, and practices that address anti-Blackness at multiple levels – individual, cultural, systemic, and structural. I would address priorities that promote increased representation of Black/African Americans in positions of leadership across APA, as well as increased APA membership:

  • Address barriers and issues with access to graduate programs, internships, licensing, and entry into professional psychology careers for Black/African Americans.
  • Promote efforts to integrate more scholarship, and research of Black/African Americans in top tier psychological journals.
  • Support initiatives to increase cultural sensitivity of graduate training programs in relation to Black/African American students.
  • Support increased training to APA and SCP membership about understanding anti-Blackness.
  • Work collaboratively with SCP appointed and elected members to seek consultation and develop efforts that further address anti-Blackness and guide my work on APA council.

I would be honored to serve as SCP’s representative to APA COR and support our division and field in these efforts.

Lisa Ferdinand, Ph.D.

What is your vision for APA Council Representative for SCP?

My vision as SCP Representative to the APA Council is to elevate the field of Counseling Psychology, to strengthen SCP, and to empower individual members to be transformative change agents as we address the societal challenges we are currently facing, in ways that are meaningful to the public and to students seeking to enter the helping professions. These challenges include the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 and racism pandemics, political division, the impact of misinformation, and climate change.

At the APA level, it is imperative that COR decisions that impact the field of psychology focus on increasing access for all, reducing mental health disparities, and dismantling systems that perpetuate anti-Black racism and other systems of oppression. In the recent past, these decisions have included securing voting rights for graduate students and Ethnic Minority Psychological Associations. In the future, decisions on APA’s ongoing response to the current pandemics, masters-level accreditation, and revised ethical and clinical practice guidelines will invite ongoing consideration about how COR decisions uphold or dismantle systems of oppression, including anti-Black racism. If elected, I will strive to ensure COR decisions are centered in Counseling Psychology values. As your COR, I will continue to work with members and governance to realize SCP’s strategic goals in relevant ways. Drawing on my contributions as VP of Practice, I will continue advocating for widening the circle of member engagement, enhancing organizational effectiveness, and implementing systemic changes that address anti-Black racism and other forms of oppression that are embedded in our organization.

How would you address this vision and support the division’s efforts to address anti-Black racism within our structures and practices? 
My vision as SCP Representative to the APA Council is to elevate the field of Counseling Psychology, to strengthen SCP, and to empower individual members to be transformative change agents as we address the societal challenges we are currently facing, in ways that are meaningful to the public and to students seeking to enter the helping professions. These challenges include the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 and racism pandemics, political division, the impact of misinformation, and climate change.

At the APA level, it is imperative that COR decisions that impact the field of psychology focus on increasing access for all, reducing mental health disparities, and dismantling systems that perpetuate anti-Black racism and other systems of oppression. In the recent past, these decisions have included securing voting rights for graduate students and Ethnic Minority Psychological Associations. In the future, decisions on APA’s ongoing response to the current pandemics, masters-level accreditation, and revised ethical and clinical practice guidelines will invite ongoing consideration about how COR decisions uphold or dismantle systems of oppression, including anti-Black racism. If elected, I will strive to ensure COR decisions are centered in Counseling Psychology values. As your COR, I will continue to work with members and governance to realize SCP’s strategic goals in relevant ways. Drawing on my contributions as VP of Practice, I will continue advocating for widening the circle of member engagement, enhancing organizational effectiveness, and implementing systemic changes that address anti-Black racism and other forms of oppression that are embedded in