Carrying it Forward: Engagement and Momentum into 2026

There was significant work underway in 2025. The year was marked not only by progress, but also by purposeful engagement around how that progress unfolded. Many of you participated in one or more of six virtual Town Halls. Four focused on developments related to the Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology (EPPP), and two addressed the process surrounding the development and voting of our revised Bylaws. These conversations reflected progress on key initiatives and also a deliberate approach to how that progress unfolds.

New Draft Bylaws were circulated in June, followed by a July Town Hall to discuss the work of the Bylaws Review Task Force. September’s Town Hall focused on a review of the Standing Rules prior to the Annual Meeting. Because Bylaws revisions are not routine, these conversations were designed to ensure jurisdictions were well-informed about both the substance and process, with multiple opportunities to ask questions and offer input.

Last year also saw the participation of nearly 3,000 psychologists in the Job Task Analysis. This standardized process, conducted every seven to ten years, determines the blueprint for the EPPP. The 2025 Job Task Analysis reflected input across jurisdictions, demographics, and practice areas, and resulted in the integrated blueprint now available to the public on ASPPB’s website.

The EPPP Collaborative Implementation Task Force worked throughout the year, bringing focused attention to jurisdiction considerations related to the EPPP and encouraging thinking more broadly and flexibly about how engagement happens and information is communicated.

What distinguished 2025 was not simply the volume of work. There is always substantial work being done behind the scenes by members within this association: Our committees, task forces, and workgroups function both as work engines and as representative bodies, bringing forward ideas shaped by a broad range of experiences, roles, and contexts. As can be expected, each of the aforementioned efforts reflected the hard work of groups of your peers.

What was different last year was how engagement occurred. These efforts reflected our commitment to present information about ideas in development and to ensure that the how, and not just the what, was represented. It reflected our commitment to broader dialogue in our larger communities, knowing that this results in a more complete awareness and reflection on ideas.

What you should expect from ASPPB in 2026 is to see the continued application of the principles reflected last year: timely communication as developments unfold, clarity about process as well as outcome, sustained opportunities for volunteer engagement, and thoughtful outreach to jurisdictions and stakeholder groups along the way. Plans already include practical tools for jurisdictions, including a Midyear Meeting with opportunities to hear about and discuss the current and future presence of AI in the regulatory community, a Member Policy and Procedure Manual, a toolkit to think through EPPP implementation processes, and continued information about EPPP as it is established, including the administration time, cost, and number of items.

The work ahead will continue to evolve, as it should. It is a shared effort to shape how our association listens, adapts, and leads in a changing professional landscape. In doing so, we remain anchored in our central mission: supporting our member jurisdictions in fulfilling their responsibility of public protection. That mission continues to guide both the substance of our work and the way in which it unfolds.

Jennifer C. Laforce, Ph.D., C.Psych.

ASPPB President