America’s Think Tank for Mental Health
www.ourgap.org
JUNE 2021
CIRCULAR LETTER #656
Message From the President Spring Renewal – Stay the Course
The April Spring meeting was the 148th meeting of GAP. Over one year into the COVID-19 pandemic, safety dictated our second consecutive virtual meeting – and we got through it –again! In streamlined fashion, the Finance Committee, the Board of Directors, and the Steering Committee all met and did their job. Most individual committees also met and continue to be productive. For the first (and hopefully only) time, we virtually welcomed 12 outstanding new GAP Fellows, chosen by the Fellowship Selection Committee under the leadership of new chair Lorraine Lothwell. We also welcomed new members and committee guests, and we honored our 2020-21 Dear Abby Awardee, Meiram Bendat, J.D., Ph.D., who gave a wonderful plenary talk attended by more than 100 people! So, on one level, we “took care of business,” but we did much more than that. Fighting pandemic fatigue, we are quietly “staying the course” through an unprecedented period of public health and sociocultural upheaval, accommodating when necessary but looking to the future – and good things are happening. Committees continue to meet and publish. Kenn Ashley is recruiting members for the new GAP Committee on Social Justice, with a plan to examine social justice issues as they affect the organization and the profession in general. The GAP Fellowship remains vital, attracting contributions from individual and institutional donors – and from our own members. We now have 9 of the 12 Fellowships endowed: two Dear Abby Fellows, three Cotswold-Looney Fellows, and recently added fellowships funded by PRMS, the Institute of Living, Jill and David Adler, and donations from GAP members. Adding to this is the recent news that we will receive a generous contribution from the estate of Justin McCarthy, a long-time friend of GAP. We are immensely grateful for these benefactors, whose generosity will help to ensure the future of the Fellowship program and GAP’s overall financial health. It is also a reminder for us to consider investing in GAP as part of our estate planning and lasting legacy. The elephant in the room remains the question of returning to in-person meetings. This was discussed by the Board and Steering Committee, where there was a universal desire to return to White Plains, as in-person meetings are central to the GAP experience. But there was a wide range of (dis)comfort whether people would be ready to return in November. Fortunately, Beth Haase and the Climate Committee had been preparing a survey to assess member’s experience/attitudes regarding in-person vs. virtual meetings. That electronic survey was recently sent out. If you haven’t already responded, please do so ASAP as it will give us valuable input. With increasing vaccinations, the country is starting to open up, but the time frame remains uncertain, so we plan to send out a follow-up survey during the Continued. on pg. 2
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