Call for Open Plenary Session Proposals

26th Annual VA Psychology Leadership Conference
Better Together: Envisioning Our Future in VA Psychology 

Co-Sponsored by APA, the Association of VA Psychologist Leaders (AVAPL) and APA Division 18-Psychologists in Public Service

The call for proposals for Posters and Open Plenary Presentations is here!  Proposals can be submitted for consideration for a Poster, an Open Plenary Presentation or both. Both VA Psychologists and Trainees are encouraged to apply. Please see the descriptions below. To submit a proposal for a poster session or an open plenary session at the conference, right click here and save this Poster and Open Plenary Submission Form to your computer's hard drive. Proposals should be submitted to the Poster and Open Plenary Session Committee Chair, Margaret (Peggy) Schmitt, PhD at margaret.schmitt@bcm.edu and should attach a completed submission form to their submission.  The deadline for early consideration is Wednesday, February 22, 2023 and the committee will accept submissions on a rolling basis after that time.

Poster Submission

We encourage the submission of quality original research, descriptions of clinical programs, best practices, and implementation of VA programs. We also will consider other quality presentations (research presented elsewhere is welcome).  Posters can be on any topic related to VA Psychology, but special consideration will be given to posters that are consistent with this year’s theme, “Better Together: Envisioning Our Future in VA Psychology.”

Open Plenary Submission

We have an open plenary session that we will fill with brief (10-minute) presentations from our attendees.  We invite all VA psychologists and psychology trainees to consider submitting a proposal for a brief presentation on novel or innovative best practices for improving care for Veterans.  Topics may include (but are not limited to) ideas for ensuring a sustainable workforce of psychologists by focusing on wellness; using the past two-year pandemic as inspiration to move forward in specific ways to elevate Veteran mental health care; best practices for shifting the delivery of healthcare during the pandemic; using measurement based care for the purposes of enhancing the quality of care for our Veterans in the future; learning lessons, during the pandemic, for offering quality mental healthcare services to specific populations, including Veterans at high-risk for suicide, Veterans with PTSD.  We will select three to five proposals for this open session.