We want every APA member to believe they can influence our Association's policies -- that it is not necessary to be elected to an office or to be appointed to a component. Because the APA is a representative democracy, all members can make suggestions to their Assembly representatives with confidence that their ideas will be taken seriously and may be implemented.
Year after year I take suggestions from members to my DB Board of Directors, then to the Area, then to the Assembly and see some of them adopted as APA policy. Examples include a motion that APA develop Practice Guidelines, and a motion that the APA advocate for removing the legislative restrictions on use of buprenorphine. I'm confident you agree that it is important for APA members to believe that the APA is a bottom-up, representative democracy in which each member can have a voice. This is one of the reasons I ask for your support as President-elect.
