tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24581834696590600762024-03-19T12:49:47.927-07:00Vietnamese American Psychological Associationthomastnguyenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968746153834862647noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2458183469659060076.post-71878111611662999782011-09-28T14:34:00.000-07:002011-09-28T14:34:26.622-07:00Introduction<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-align: center;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: #ae3622;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: #ae3622; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; language: en-US; mso-ansi-language: en-US; mso-armenian-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-color-ext: 134217731; mso-color-extmod: 281018868; mso-currency-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ligatures: none;">The Founding of VAPA<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: #212120;">In October 2010, Dung Ngo, a professor then at the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse, sent out an email invitation to Vietnamese American professionals in the mental health and related fields. The intent of his invitation was to form a network of Vietnamese American mental health professionals who share a common goal to address the psychological needs of the Vietnamese American community. Quite a few individuals responded to Professor Ngo’s invitation and expressed interest in joining such a group. In the next few months, the founding members drafted the bylaws and named the group the Vietnamese American Psychological Association (VAPA). The group further received input from external reviewers during the drafting of its bylaws. Following the completion of the bylaws, VAPA invited several Vietnamese psychologists to join the Founding Board Committee to establish and oversee the voting procedures in order to select VAPA’s first Executive Board members. The Founding Board Committee members included Dr. Krystianna Kieu Thu Nguyen (Chair), Dr. Quyen Tiet (Co-Chair), and Dr. Mary Vu. <b style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-align: center;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: #ae3622; font-size: 11.0pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; language: en-US; mso-ansi-language: en-US; mso-armenian-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-color-ext: 134217731; mso-color-extmod: 281018868; mso-currency-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ligatures: none;">Mission and Goals of VAPA<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="en-US" style="color: #212120;">The core mission of VAPA is to advance Vietnamese American psychology, advocate for Vietnamese Americans and their psychological well-being, address the mental health needs of Vietnamese Americans, and provide resources for other professionals, clinicians, and agencies.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="en-US" style="color: #212120;">The Vietnamese American Psychological Association (VAPA) is an organization that comprises primarily of Vietnamese American professionals from multidiscipline and diverse training backgrounds.<span> </span>To this end, the organization welcomes memberships from educators, researchers, religious and community leaders, and clinicians from various fields such as psychology, psychiatry, sociology, social work, and health education.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="en-US" style="color: #212120;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="en-US" style="color: #212120;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="en-US" style="color: #212120;">Accordingly, VAPA adopts the following core Goals:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #212120; direction: ltr; font-family: Symbol; unicode-bidi: embed;">y</span><span style="width: 12.0pt;"> </span><span lang="en-US" style="color: #212120;">To advance and disseminate psychological research on Vietnamese Americans;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: #212120; direction: ltr; font-family: Symbol; unicode-bidi: embed;">y</span><span style="width: 12.0pt;"> </span><span lang="en-US" style="color: #212120;">To raise awareness and understanding of mental health issues of Vietnamese Americans;<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: #212120; direction: ltr; font-family: Symbol; unicode-bidi: embed;">y</span><span style="width: 12.0pt;"> </span><span lang="en-US" style="color: #212120;">To increase access to culturally appropriate mental health treatments for Vietnamese Americans;<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: #212120; direction: ltr; font-family: Symbol; unicode-bidi: embed;">y</span><span style="width: 12.0pt;"> </span><span lang="en-US" style="color: #212120;">To educate and train Vietnamese and non-Vietnamese mental health service providers; and<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: #212120; direction: ltr; font-family: Symbol; unicode-bidi: embed;">y</span><span style="width: 12pt;"> </span><span lang="en-US" style="color: #212120;">To establish professional collaborations and networks among peers across disciplines.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 9pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 9pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="en-US"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 9pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: #ae3622; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; language: en-US; mso-ansi-language: en-US; mso-armenian-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-color-ext: 134217731; mso-color-extmod: 281018868; mso-currency-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ligatures: none;">Next Steps<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 9pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="en-US">VAPA is currently pursuing the following activities as a next step:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="en-US"> </span><span style="color: #212120; direction: ltr; font-family: Symbol; unicode-bidi: embed;">Þ</span><span style="width: 9.0pt;"> </span><span lang="en-US">Recruit members through media network</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: #212120; direction: ltr; font-family: Symbol; unicode-bidi: embed;">Þ</span><span style="width: 9.0pt;"> </span><span lang="en-US">Obtain funding to organize a nation-wide Vietnamese American mental health conference<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: #212120; direction: ltr; font-family: Symbol; unicode-bidi: embed;">Þ</span><span style="width: 9pt;"> </span><span lang="en-US">Collaborate with other organizations with similar interests<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 9pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 9pt; margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span lang="en-US"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span lang="en-US"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 9pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: #ae3622; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; language: en-US; mso-ansi-language: en-US; mso-armenian-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-color-ext: 134217731; mso-color-extmod: 281018868; mso-currency-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ligatures: none;">Executive Board Members <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 9pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="en-US" style="font-style: italic;">Dung Ngo, Ph.D.</span><span lang="en-US"> – President, The University of Texas at Tyler, Department of Psychology and Counseling.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="en-US" style="font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ansi-language: en-US; mso-armenian-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-currency-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ligatures: none;">Hoa Vo, Ph.D.</span><span lang="en-US"> – Vice-President, Fogarty International Research Fellow Grant Recipient.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="en-US" style="font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ansi-language: en-US; mso-armenian-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-currency-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ligatures: none;">Hannah Nguyen, MSW</span><span lang="en-US"> – Secretary, Doctoral Student at UCLA.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="en-US" style="font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ansi-language: en-US; mso-armenian-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-currency-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ligatures: none;">Trinh Nguyen, MSW(c)</span><span lang="en-US"> – Treasurer, Graduate Student at USC.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="en-US" style="font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ansi-language: en-US; mso-armenian-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-currency-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ligatures: none;">Thomas Nguyen, MA</span><span lang="en-US"> – Webmaster, Doctoral Student at The University of Saint Thomas, MN.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div>thomastnguyenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968746153834862647noreply@blogger.com2