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Welcome to the 2018-2019 School Year!!!! I am very excited as we kick off this new school year with 43 student chapters. The continued growth in trainees striving to become the next generation of psychiatric pharmacists is certainly impressive.

In addition to growing in numbers, CPNP student chapters have been very active in the last year with many of those activities featured in this edition of CPNP Perspectives. They have been holding career nights, fundraisers, suicide prevention trainings, mental health first aid trainings, walks, and health screenings. As an organization, we are proud of their efforts to grow our profession and help service a much-needed population of patients.

CPNP and the CPNP Foundation have also been working together to continue the growth of the student chapters and student involvement through:

  • Increasing student networking by providing information and opportunities for dialogue via social media
  • Student grant opportunities to CPNP 2019
  • Research grants through the CPNP Foundation Defining the Future Grant program
  • Dedicated student specific programming at CPNP 2019

Not only are we welcoming so many new students, we boast a membership of 137 residents. With the ever-changing health care field, it is an exciting time to be training in psychiatric pharmacy and impact the way we practice as a profession. I am eagerly awaiting to see all the innovative things our trainees do and invite each of you to personally get involved in the organization.  

As an organization, CPNP has been busy continuing our efforts to gain visibility as the mental health experts within the pharmacy profession. We participated as planning committee members for the August Joint Commission of Pharmacy Practitioners (JCPP) meeting: Pharmacists Making a Meaningful Difference for Patients in Pain Management and Substance Use Disorders. Our Substance Use Disorder Steering Committee has shepherded the development of several toolkits with more in the works for launch this year and in early 2019. We also have authored and distributed an issue brief for policy makers and legislators on the role of pharmacists in the treatment of substance use disorders: Addressing Gaps in the Treatment of Opioid and Substance Use Disorders.  

In November, the Board will gather for our Fall Board meeting and participate in Hill Visits with key members of Congress. We will continue to educate legislators and staffers about what a psychiatric pharmacist can do and the role pharmacists can play in addressing the opioid use disorder crisis.

I want to close this President’s Letter thanking you for all that you do for our trainees. They are the future of our profession and without the expert guidance from each and every one of our pharmacist members taking time from your very busy schedules to teach, mentor, train, or advocate for our students, we would not continue to grow as a profession or organization. Your efforts advance our reach and the practice of psychiatric pharmacy as well as build the voice of our specialty. 

Megan Ehret, PharmD, MS, BCPP

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