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Brenda Schimenti, CPNP Executive Director

Join us for CPNP’s Forum on our Future
April 22, 2021—3:45-5 PM Central

Over the last 18 months, CPNP has been engaged in a multi-phase, virtual strategic planning process which has involved every aspect of our organization. From the beginning, this process was intentionally structured to engage our members through workgroup appointments, focus groups, and surveys. Now, we want to continue the discussion by presenting the draft plan at the CPNP 2021 open forum discussion scheduled for Thursday, April 22 from 3:45-5 PM Central Time (immediately following the Judith J Saklad Memorial Award to Dr. Cherry Jackson at 3:15 PM Central).

The strategic planning process was slowed by 9 months as the pandemic raged and impacted our members personally and professionally. CPNP as an organization grappled with transitioning the planned, in-person retreat process to a more extended, all-virtual process. Although delayed, the elongated virtual process (see figure below) presented the opportunity to be incredibly thorough and consider possibilities as the world changed around us.

This article provides a broad overview of the comprehensive process that will continue to guide CPNP as it works to implement the most aggressive strategic plan in its history.

  • Pre-Planning: Formalized strategic planning objectives, determined workgroup themes and key questions/research, reviewed current strategic plan.
  • Information Gathering: Presented results of research reports, conducted member focus groups, and distributed a membership survey.
  • Workgroup Activities: Incorporated background reading, open discussion, creativity and innovation exercises, action plan development, validation/presentation of draft plan to membership.

Pre-Planning

Several key actions dominated the pre-planning process including the selection of a 20-person Strategic Planning Committee (SPC) and a 4-person Steering Committee. The steering committee managed the entire process alongside staff and our strategic planning consultant, Jann Skelton, PharmD, FAPhA, of Silver Pennies Consulting. Members of the committee and steering committee were selected to represent a variety of generations, demographics, practice settings, specialties within psychiatric pharmacy, and geographic locations.

As an organization and a profession, we owe significant thanks to the members listed below, all of whom dedicated days working on our behalf to craft this aggressive strategic plan.

Strategic Planning Committee Members

  • Marshall E. Cates, PharmD, BCPP, FASHP, FCCP
  • Julie A. Dopheide, PharmD, BCPP, FASHP
  • Megan J. Ehret, PharmD, MS, BCPP
  • Kristen N. Gardner, PharmD, BCPP
  • Michelle L. Geier, PharmD, BCPP
  • Lisa W. Goldstone, PharmD, MS, BCPS, BCPP
  • Cindy A. Gutierrez, PharmD, MS, BCPP
  • Robert J. Haight, PharmD, BCPP
  • Jessa M. Koch, PharmD, BCPP
  • Kelly C. Lee, PharmD, BCPP, FCCP
  • Michael McGuire, PharmD, BCPP
  • Sarah T. Melton, PharmD, BCPP, BCACP, FASCP
  • Karen E. Moeller, PharmD, BCPP
  • Gregory Payne, MBA, CPNP Staff
  • Clint A. Ross, PharmD, BCPP
  • Brenda K. Schimenti, CPNP Staff
  • Richard J. Silvia, PharmD, BCPP
  • Tawny L. Smith, PharmD, BCPP
  • Christopher Thomas, PharmD, BCPP, BCPS
  • Heidi J. Wehring, PharmD, BCPP
  • Amy Werremeyer, PharmD, BCPP
  • Andrew M. Williams, PharmD, BCPP, BCGP

Bold = Member of the Steering Committee

Information Gathering

The SPC also determined the guiding purpose of the process and the key research areas to be investigated further by various workgroups.

Purpose: The purpose of the CPNP strategic planning process is to foster groundbreaking discussions that anticipate trends and proactively develop a sustainable action.

Areas of Research: The Future of Work, Expanding External Outreach, The BCPP Credential and Recertification, and Volunteerism in CPNP

Dozens of CPNP members joined our research workgroups, scouring resources for information on the future of pharmacy practice, psychiatry, health care, and professional associations. Hundreds of pages of information were reviewed and distilled down to summary reports and recommendations for consideration by the entire SPC.

Additional information and concepts were tested with focus groups involving dozens of additional CPNP volunteers willing to share their insights. All of this information and the concepts shared through discussions were further tested with a comprehensive membership survey where hundreds of additional members shared their experiences, perceptions, and vision.

Workgroup Activities

Armed with research and member insights, the workgroups entered into the final months of activity requiring the generation and prioritization of ideas around the following core questions.

  1. How can CPNP increase the awareness of, recognition/acceptance of, and demand for psychiatric pharmacists?
  2. How can CPNP engage around currently evolving practice areas and assess future practice areas for organizational growth?
  3. How can CPNP increase the number of BCPPs?
  4. How can CPNP further cultivate a strong collaborative culture that engages members and creates leaders for the psychiatric pharmacy profession?

Over the course of several meetings and discussions, the strategic planning committee tackled these questions by engaging in the following processes:

  • Brainwriting exercise to generate ideas
  • Affinity Diagrams allowed sorting and summarizing the vast number of proposed strategies
  • Interrelationship Diagraphs helped to identify relationships between and among strategies in order to arrive at priorities that influence progress in and across multiple areas

The output of these creativity and innovation exercises fed into the final activity of narrowing, prioritizing, and designing action plans to aid in future implementation.

Ultimately, CPNP’s draft strategic plan is something we should all be proud of. It represents your voice, your passion, and your hopes and dreams for the future of the profession. I hope you will join us at the Forum on our Future on Thursday, April 22 as we overview the draft plan and move toward creating our envisioned future!

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