Chair: Peter Kanaris, PhD
The charge of the Public Education Campaign Committee is to implement, on a state wide basis, the APA Public Education Campaign and to facilitate integration of these activities into the overall education information dissemination activities.
APA-YMCA Partnership Helps Families Focus on Healthy Lifestyles and Positions Psychologists as Experts at Change
July 20, 2009 — The American Psychological Association, APA Division 42 (Psychologists in Independent Practice) and the National Council of the YMCAs of the USA (YMCA) are partnering to help people make healthy lifestyle choices for their mind and body.
APA's public education campaign goal of informing the public about the importance of psychology and mind/body health makes this relationship a natural fit. Both APA's Mind/Body Health and the YMCA's Activate America and Healthy Family Home public education campaigns focus on the importance of lifestyle and behavior to physical and mental health.
The APA public education campaign brings psychology to the public by having psychologists provide free workshops using the Mind/Body Health Toolkit, which includes pre-packaged presentations on stress, obesity and heart disease for use by APA members. Similarly, the YMCA is engaged in positive outreach messaging through its public education campaign.
Stress In America
In June 2008, the American Psychological Association commissioned its annual nationwide survey to examine the state of stress across the country and understand its impact. In addition, two omnibus surveys, one in April and one in September 2008, were conducted to get a point-in-time measure about sources of stress nationwide. The research measured attitudes and perceptions of stress among the general public, identifying leading sources of stress, common behaviors used to manage stress and the impact of stress on our lives. The results of the survey draw attention to the serious physical and emotional implications of stress and the inextricable link between the mind and body.