Dear ISSTD Community,

It’s hard to believe that, as of July, we are over the peak and now on the downslope of 2025. In my first letter this year, I shared that I was “feeling my way into some sort of happy medium between thinking and acting, doing and sitting.” I’ve found myself pondering over the past month on how that has unfolded, and whether I’ve thus far been able to find that balance. I was not necessarily planning in January to report six months later that I’ve found myself doing an awful lot of concurrent thinking, acting, doing, and sitting this year. Aside from seeing clients, one of my primary activities has been volunteering with ISSTD.

I’ve heard that volunteering is good for one’s mental health. However, we hear things all the time that are based in opinion rather than evidence. I decided to search for the latter. I discovered an article titled, Exploring the Effects of Volunteering on the Social, Mental, and Physical Health and Well-being of Volunteers: An Umbrella Review (Nichol et al., 2024). I casually cross-referenced this article with the Member Engagement and Loyalty Study (Shy et al., 2019) published by the company that provides our membership management platform.

According to Shy et al. (2019), people who are most likely to be “extremely connected” and engaged with a membership organization (ISSTD, for example) are early- and mid-career professionals – that is, those who have been in their field for 0-to-5 years and 6-to-20 years, respectively. Separately, they found that up to 27 percent of moderately to extremely connected members volunteered with an organization in some capacity, as follows:

Volunteered at an event: 21 – 27 percent
Served on a committee: 11 – 23 percent
Served on the board: 4 – 7 percent

These days, ISSTD tends to average about 1750 members. Those percentages above would translate to a lot of volunteers! I am not sure we reach such heights in our Society, and I suspect it is in part due to the demanding nature of our work (e.g., Greene et al., 2018), whether we are in direct practice or research. However, there do indeed appear to be positives to donating one’s time. Of most relevance for volunteering with an organization like ISSTD, among the studies they reviewed, Nichol et al. (2024, p. 123) found strong support for the positive impact of volunteer engagement in the following domains:

Psychological

• Mood and affect (depression, psychological well-being, life satisfaction)
• Self-evaluations and self-concept (self-esteem, pride and empowerment, self-efficacy)

Social

• Social support
• Community/connectedness

They also highlight positive physical impacts, specifically physical activity, but for us that usually only happens at annual conferences when everyone is running around for five days. Drawing from a select sample (n=1, which would be myself), I can wholly attest to the psychological and social benefits of volunteering. According to a review published some years ago by the Corporation for National & Community Service on The Health Benefits of Volunteering (Grimm et al., 2007), the ‘sweet spot’ for the positive effects of volunteer engagement was around 100 hours per year, which comes out to roughly two hours per week.

I can say without reservation that Board service can often take one into the three-to-five hours-per-week range (on average, courtesy of working group, committee, and Board meetings). Again, that might be why we see lower percentages of members serving in that capacity, according to Shy et al. (2019).  However, ISSTD offers several opportunities for volunteering that hit that two-hours-per-week average. Some volunteer opportunities are shorter-term, while others, such as serving on a committee or in SIG or ROC leadership, can be longer-term. Currently, we are seeking volunteers interested in both shorter- and longer-term involvement. For briefer volunteer engagement, you have the opportunity to contribute to ISSTD’s work to increase access to education by reviewing applications for our Fridley and Goodwin Educational Funds. The Fridley Fund awards help cover the cost of one training activity offered through ISSTD for students who would otherwise be unable to obtain appropriate instruction in the treatment of complex trauma and dissociation. The Goodwin Fund awards help cover the cost of one training activity offered through ISSTD for professionals who would otherwise be unable to obtain appropriate instruction in the treatment of complex trauma and dissociation. Click/press the embedded links to learn more about serving as a reviewer for the Fridley Fund and Goodwin Education Fund (login required).

For longer-term engagement, I would highlight that SIGs and ROCs will soon be holding elections for moderators, secretaries, chairs, and chairs-elect. These groups provide great opportunities to get more involved, with the best part being that you will directly benefit from your own efforts! These positions are especially powerful ways of enhancing social support and community/connectedness either around a specific topic/area of practice (SIGs) or within a geographical region (ROCs). Both SIGs and ROCs will soon announce their calls for nominations to leadership positions.

Our committees are always seeking new members. Currently, the Virtual and Regional Conference Committee and the Webinar Committee are seeking fresh eyes (and ideas). Committee engagement is open ended. Most committees meet monthly, bi-monthly, or quarterly, depending on both how active they tend to be and the size of their workload. Last, but certainly not least, the nominations period for Board positions will be open September 2 – 30, 2025. To learn more about open positions and what Board service entails, you can the recording from the recent Board Interest Meeting, available under the Get Involved tab in ISSTDWorld which you can navigate to here. An announcement from ISSTD HQ about Board nominations will be coming your way soon.

If you want to become more involved, with all these volunteer opportunities cropping up there’s no better time to do it! Engaging with ISSTD on a deeper level is yet another way to connect and coalesce in service of a common cause or shared purpose.

Oh, and I almost forgot to remind you to consider, if you can, joining us in Aotearoa-New Zealand for our upcoming Wellington Regional Conference in late-October 2025. The weather ought to be glorious, and I think the climate may be a bit gentler, as well.

I’ll check back in with you in early September. I hope the intervening month treats each of you with kindness.

Thanks for reading!

Sincerely yours,
Michael