Dear colleagues,

I hope you all had a good start into the new year. The turn of the year is often associated with the hope that, miraculously, the unresolved issues will suddenly be resolved. 

But for almost a year now, the Corona crisis has had us firmly in its grip. And it continues to have us in its grip. If people are already talking about the time after Corona, then that is probably quite optimistic. After all, many of us are personally confronted with the disease, many work with those who are ill and counsel people who are grieving or traumatized. In addition to discussing the effects of mutations, the issue is how to help people who have Long-COVID-Syndrome. 

 For individuals, but also for families, groups, institutions communities and our societies as a whole, it is important to develop resilience and to address other risks and challenges just as seriously.

We must not lose sight of the United Nations development goals. We cannot simply accept climate catastrophes and violations of human rights, even in the light of the current pandemic. Psychology is committed to human dignity, to a life in freedom and self-determination. Psychological competencies help to assume responsibility as responsible citizens. Psychological competencies promote democracy and non-violent conflict resolution. And at the same time, psychology depends on social and democratic coexistence.

We all have a responsibility to make psychology useful. Not only for individuals, but also for society as a whole. This requires new ways of communication and decision-making. Meanwhile, virtual working is part of our everyday life. We should see it as an achievement to be able to work together quickly and efficiently within and outside the association. With this learning from the pandemic, our lives will be richer and our work more effective. In this spirit, I send warm virtual virus-free greetings and all good wishes!

Christoph Steinebach, EFPA President.

Prof. Dr. Christoph Steinebach, President European Federation of Psychologists' Associations (EFPA), Prof. Dr. Philip Gorwood, President European Psychiatric Association (EPA).

Working Group "Psychology as a regulated profession"

The additional President Council meeting held on June 26, 2020 and focusing on the regulation of the profession had been greatly appreciated by the Member Associations representatives. The goal of the working group is to establish a model of legal regulation considering the differences in levels of regulation that exist in the 38 countries that EFPA Member Associations represent.

Context needs to be taken into consideration. In doing so, the hope is to facilitate mobility, to clarify the scope of the profession itself, and to define the context of the profession matching the role and the content. All these need to be studied in light of the European Commission’s goals and directives relating to free movement.

The steps to complete the project were presented, during the 27 November, 2020 President Council meeting, including the survey, drafting proposal and mechanism for receiving feedback from Member Associations.

Save the date!

EFPA General Assembly meeting will be a virtual meeting and held on Tuesday, June 29, 2021! More information will be sent by the end of this month.

EFPA AWARDS 2021 postponed to European Congress of Psychology July 2022 

As a result of the postponing of the ECP 2021 to July 2022 the call for nominations for the EFPA awards 2021 has been rescheduled to end of 2021 and the awards will be presented at the European congress in July 2022 in Ljubljana. 

More information on the EFPA website 

Convenors meeting

On December 10, 2020 a virtual Convenors meeting was held.

During the meeting the EFPA convenors were invited to present the progress made on their workplans and meeting reports. Furthermore, a discussion took place on guidelines for future statements, position papers and press releases. The next virtual convenors meeting will take place on February 11, 2021.

Convenors meeting - Click on images for enlarged view:

UPDATE - ECP Ljubljana 2021 postponed to July 5-8, 2022
 
ECP 2022 - Important dates:

• Abstract submission opens: January 4, 2021
• Deadline for abstracts submission: November 10, 2021
• Notification of abstract acceptance: February 10, 2022
• Early Registration & Active participants deadline:  
  March 10, 2022  

Important: EFPA awards 2021

As the ECP 2021 has moved to 2022 there will be no call for nominations for EFPA awards 2021.The call for nominations for EFPA awards 2022 will be launched mid 2021.