Greetings from the Board of Directors! We are thrilled to provide this edition of the Board Briefs column in ISSTD News, which provides our members with important updates from the Board of Directors on a quarterly basis.
Member Sponsorship Program
In May, the Board of Directors approved the first round of member sponsorship matches. ISSTD received a total of 41 applications for sponsorship and all sponsees were able to be matched with a sponsor as the result of the generous pledges of members.
We will continue to accept applications from those looking for sponsorship and pledges from those interested in sponsoring a member on a rolling basis. The links to the forms to sponsor a member or have your membership sponsored are linked below.
Thank you to all those who donated and the Finance Committee for their work to complete the initial matching process and ensure that all applications could be funded.
If you would like to learn more about our Sponsorship Program, you can follow the links below.
Preparations for the 2025 Annual Conference
We are excited to announce that planning is now underway for our 2025 Annual Conference which will be held at the Hilton Boston Park Plaza in Boston, MA, USA March 13-17, 2025. Call for Proposals for this event opens July 1, 2024 and will run until July 31, 2024 at 11:59 PM US Eastern Time. We encourage all members to consider submitting a proposal for this event. More information about the guidelines for submission and the conference can be found on the Annual Conference website. We anticipate finalizing our schedule and opening registration in late October or early November for this event.
Website Updates – Member Focus Group
Based on the feedback received during the 2023 Member Benefits Survey, work is underway to streamline our Main website along with our Annual Conference, Center for Advanced Studies and Membership sites. We are currently seeking 10-12 member volunteers to participate in a focus group on July 30, 2024 from 4:00 – 5:00 PM US Eastern Time. This focus group will allow you to share your thoughts on our websites and provide suggestions for improvements. If you are interested in participating, please email membership@isst-d.org.
We hope to take this feedback and complete the updates to all sites by the end of 2024.
2024-2026 Strategic Plan
Our Board Working Groups and Committees have been hard at work over the last six months on many of the projects outlined in the Strategic Plan. To date, here are just a few of the things that have been completed by these groups:
- New membership brochures designed and printed for use at ISSTD and other industry events to promote individual membership
- New member benefit videos launched monthly to provide members with information on all of the benefits of membership and how to use them
- Establishment of a new Regional Online Community in the Midwest
- Created task force to work on increasing the number of trainings available CME credits for psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, etc
- Updated and launch our new volunteer center which lists all current volunteer openings as well as a general membership application
- Begun updates to all governance documents including the bylaws, member code of conduct, ISSTDWorld posting guidelines and committee charges and missions
- Welcomed two new organizational members, McLean Hospital and Boston University School of Social Work