IAPA Goals & Mission
Iranian American Psychological Association
The mission of Iranian American Psychological Association (IAPA) is to advance the profession of psychology as a means of promoting health, education and enrichment of life among the diverse individuals and families of multicultural Iranian ethnic groups. This target population includes but is not limited to individuals who speak Farsi, Armenian, Azeri, and others who are in need of such services.
With a commitment to the spirit of integration, IAPA adopts a principle of inclusion by design and welcomes all mental health professionals with all due respect and value for their contribution to our field, including Psychologists, Psychiatrists, Marriage and Family Therapists, Social Workers, and Chemical Dependency Counselors. In addition, we invited other professionals who support the goal and mission of IAPA to join us, including but not limited to Attorneys, Physicians, Nurses, consumers of mental health services and other community members.
Presidential Initiative/ Task Force:
The purpose of Presidential Initiatives, in any given context, is to facilitate the implementation of an organization’s goals and mission. My presidential initiatives include the following:
- Development of a needs assessment survey to determine the scope and depth of mental health needs of Iranian communities. The outcome of this survey will facilitate appropriate planning and resource development including identifying specialty areas of service in order to meet the special needs of our ethnic community.
- Development of a task force for the prevention of violence/domestic violence as a major psychosocial problem of our time and as it relates to our ethnic community.
- Integrate health and mental health service delivery in Iranian communities. Since our body and mind are naturally well coordinated, in an interrelated system, the effect of one on the other is inevitable. Therefore, it makes a good common sense to have the professions in the two fields of health and mental health to collaborate and coordinate services through exchange of referrals and other shared strategies. Needless to say that the modeling of this collaborative effort will promote the spirit of unity and have a positive healing effect on the consumer of health and mental health services in our ethnic community.
- Establish a coalition of Iranian- American professional organizations including but not limited to those who provide health, mental health, and legal services. Evidence of success among other ethnic communities in America has been the development of alliance and coalition within ethnic groups. With this initiative, I am inviting other existing professional groups to share their wisdom, expertise and leadership in helping to develop a coalition of Iranian American professionals at large.
All of our members and the community are invited to actively participate in the implementation of these initiatives. For each initiative, Chairs were appointed to start the implementation process. Our community will be notified of the progress on a periodic basis. As much as I am committed to follow through with these initiatives, my two year presidential appointment may not be enough to complete these tasks; however, I am hopeful that others will support and provide leadership to continue these necessary efforts for our community.
What We Have Accomplished So Far:
- Merger:
In order to practice the value and principle of integration, we have made a special effort to invite other Iranian mental health organizations so that we can combine our forces to better benefit our target populations. The Iranian American Mental Health Association (IAMHA) responded with a positive attitude which resulted in a successful merger. I believe the merger of the two organizations is a historical action that demonstrates the spirit of collaboration, cohesiveness and unity, which our community and the world for that matter needs at this time. Also, I would like to present this merger as evidence of positive potential for our ethnic group and profession to practice and promote unity and integration despite the negative label that “Iranians can not work together.” - Receiving an Endorsement:
IAPA received a letter of endorsement from The Academy of Persian Physicians in November 2005. Also, it is important to note that they responded positively to our request for collaboration between our two organizations in order to promote the best interest and facilitate effective service delivery to the Iranian community. - Approval to Provide CE Credits:
We are pleased to announce that we were successful in applying to become a provider in the State of California for Continuing Education Credits for Psychologists. This creates an opportunity for us to provide professional workshops and trainings for our professional members and the professional community at large. -
Calendar of Events: Peer Support/Case Consultation Meetings
Offering these services is also part of our overarching commitment to promoting the value of integration and networking among the service providers. We are hoping to facilitate an opportunity to exchange consultation and support for our members and the professional community at large. The goal of this activity is to create an atmosphere for networking, expanding the available resources for our ethnic community in as many locations as possible, as well as providing peer support and case consultation opportunities for clinicians. These meetings are designed for both licensed and pre-licensed clinicians and are appropriately identified by asterisk (* Licensed Clinicians Only and ** Licensed and Pre-Licensed Clinicians) for each location.
These groups will be offered at the following times and locations:
- The first Monday of every month in the San Fernando Valley, Facilitator: Dr. Foojan Zeine. RSVP to 818-648-2140.
- The second Saturday of every month in San Diego, Facilitator: Dr. Hengameh Motaghed. RSVP to 619-969-6790.
- The third Wednesday of every month in Irvine, Facilitator: Dr. Nehzat Farnoody. RSVP to 949-291-1567.
- The last Monday of every month in Los Angeles, Facilitators: Dr. Dorit Miller & Dr. Farnaz Galdjie. RSVP to 310-266-6395.
We are also open to expand these services to other locations based on our members’ suggestions.
- Newsletter:
We are in the process of publishing a newsletter which will serve both our service providers and consumers. Our newsletter will identify all of our members by their expertise in the field in order to provide resources for our consumers. In addition, the newsletter will provide educational articles in relation to the latest advancements and research in the field and translation of law and ethics as it relates to the practice of mental health services and any other news or information about available upcoming events, trainings and workshops in both Farsi and English languages. - Conference:
We are in the process of planning for an annual conference for both consumers and professionals. The details will be announced later.
Membership Benefits:
We provide a package of membership benefits, including but not limited to the following:
- Free introduction to be listed as a member in our newsletter based on their category of specialty.
- Free online directory for the first two years up to 2008.
- A special discount on professional/health insurance.
- Reduced rate to participate in annual conventions and CE workshops.
- Learning and teaching opportunities/CE Workshops.
- Opportunities to publish articles in the IAPA Quarterly.
- Participating in national and international seminars and conventions.
- Monthly meet-and-greet with other professionals including physicians, attorneys, etc. and networking. This may include inviting local officials in the area of health, mental health, and law enforcement in order to share information about our professional contributions and available resources for the community at large.
IAPA Board Of Directors:
We extended our Board of Directors to include the IAMHA Board Members for the next two years. The current IAPA Executive Board Members include the following:
Dr. Tara Pir – President
Dr. Nehzat Farnoody – Vice President
Dr. Foojan Zeine – Vice President
Dr. Parvaneh Zia – Treasurer
Dr. Dorit Miller – Treasurer
Dr. Haleh Eghrari – Secretary
Dr. Farnaz Galdjie – Secretary
Dr. Behnam Partovi – Member
Siamak Afshar – Consumer Representative
Mazyar Mazarei – Attorney
On behalf of our Board of Directors, I would like to invite you to join us with your active involvement by sharing your wisdom and skills to help us in delivering meaningful services and contributing to the well-being of our ethnic community.