President Column: Driving the Future of Psychiatric Pharmacy

Michelle Geier, PharmD, BCPP

As I write my first presidential column for AAPP, I am preparing for an international trip to London. I am the trip planner in our household. My goal is to develop an itinerary that is safe, allows us to do all that we want to do and see, involves fun and good food, yet allows for flexibility to zig-zag to an alternate plan when opportunities or roadblocks arise.

I liken it to the work of the AAPP Board. We have to further our vision for the organization in conjunction with the membership, make a plan, ensure adequate resources, delegate or complete the planning, and execute on decisions that will guide our volunteers and staff in getting us where we want to go through initiatives, advocacy, education, and much more.

It’s an important, never-ending cycle of exploration, especially given the rapidly changing health care and pharmacy environment we operate within. AAPP is especially focused on the future as we enter a strategic planning cycle in 2025 which is to be jump-started at a Board retreat in November of this year.

Earlier this year, we invited our committee chairs to join us a day early at AAPP 2024 to conduct an environmental scan to consider not only the here and now, but the next 5 years in psychiatric pharmacy. Many topics were identified with the top 10 inevitable listed below.

We know you are living and breathing some of these shifts as we speak and we urge you to plan for how you and your organization can best position psychiatric pharmacy. As AAPP enters this strategic planning cycle and begins to consider future directions and actions, we will be working to define the role of psychiatric pharmacists in these areas so that others don't do so on our behalf. As we traverse this journey together, be prepared to share your thoughts and opinions with Board members via surveys and/or focus groups that may be scheduled.

While we plan for the future, our plates are plenty full with current initiatives. A few highlights of items you might have missed.

• New Board Members: A special congratulations to Suzie Harris, Kelly Gable, and Danielle Stutzman who were elected by you, the membership, to join the Board in July of 2025 as President-Elect and members-at-large respectively.
• Organizational Papers: Papers authored through AAPP Task Forces and Committees continue to expand with the goal of showcasing the valuable integration of psychiatric pharmacists in patient care and the health care system. Recent additions are around the role of pharmacist in harm reduction and recommended standardized reporting of psychiatric pharmacist interventions.
• Employer Resource Center (ERC): The ERC Task Force has released some powerful tools intended to develop new employment opportunities for psychiatric pharmacists. Make sure you use these newest additions on topics such as billing models, a return on investment calculator, and the unique differences between psychiatric pharmacists and other members of the psychiatric workforce team and where they can best contribute.
• Advocating with Policymakers: With substance use, mental health, and suicide still at crisis stage, policymakers are actively listening and considering ways to impact patient outcomes and save lives. AAPP has been active in Hill visits as well as in endorsing proposed legislation and signing on to coalition comment letters as a means to extend our voice.
• Volunteer: More than ever, we need all hands-on deck to tackle the many initiatives and goals of AAPP. Please consider volunteering on one of our many committees and task forces as we start our 2025-2026 recruitment cycle.

Just a few months into my tenure, I want to thank you for entrusting me, your other elected leaders, and staff in leading this organization. It is a privilege for each and every one of us to work alongside you toward our goal of advancing and growing the psychiatric pharmacy specialty.