Update for Our Members

Dear AAS Members, 

We want to express our gratitude for your exceptional patience during this transition period, and would like to  share more progress with you here. We’ve heard your concerns, suggestions, and support, and we recognize that your engagement in this process reflects your deep reverence and respect for both the association and its guiding mission. During this time, many of you have stated that AAS is your professional home, the place where you’ve advanced your careers, met personal friends, and most importantly, taken steps to better understand and prevent suicide. This means more to us than we can express and we want to reaffirm our mission has not changed. AAS continues to support an improved understanding of suicide, along with suicide prevention and postvention, and will continue to hold space for every person affected by suicide, those researching its impact, those who help folks living with suicidal experiences, and anyone else who might benefit from the connection and expertise held by our membership. 

One of the outcomes of recent changes has been a greatly renewed interest by our members in how the association carries out its work at the leadership level. Increased member input on governance has demonstrated that AAS members care intensely about procedures previously  thought mundane, and in the pursuit of increased transparency we’d like to  explain more about what we’re currently doing to diversify and strengthen organizational leadership.

Our bylaws, which we are legally and duty-bound to follow, outline how we should move forward. We have also consulted with several experts for advice on the most sound, legally correct, bylaw-compatible best practices to apply to the mandated next steps. These steps include filling vacant board seats, voting to select an interim Executive Director, and initiating the process for a special election for President-Elect. After repopulation of the board, we will return to standard board business, including governance, financial oversight, supporting year-round suicide prevention iniatives, and organizing our dynamic annual conference. 

We have been advised that our best way forward is to fill vacancies in division chairs and the Secretary position for the remainder of terms. The current board members have nominated and selected qualified board members to fill and complete the terms of Secretary, Loss Survivor Division, Student Division, Public Health and Prevention Division, and Crisis Services Division chairs. We are proud to have highly qualified association members step forward to serve our community and we greatly appreciate the enthusiastic response we’ve received from the folks offering to serve in these roles. The full board will then review the recommendation of the Interim Selection Committee to engage an interim Executive Director (ED). The interim ED will start work as quickly as possible to support ongoing organizational operations. We expect their work will expand to membership trust and reconciliation in short order. This person will also fill a role of aligning the Board of Directors with our Central Office, while further opening communications with you, our members.

Once an interim Executive Director is selected, the board will start the process to create a special election for members to choose a President-Elect. This process, when done in an ethical and legally compliant manner, will take some time. The Chair, full board, and ED, along with Central Office, will work as quickly as possible to ensure appropriate procedures and policies are followed. Expect a Call for Nominations in the coming weeks that will outline the entire special election process. 

Concurrently with the special election, the Conference Committee will continue planning for the 2022 American Association of Suicidology Conference (AAS22) which will be held at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare in Chicago from April 22-2022.  

Finally, we’ll be kicking off the process for regular board elections. The Student and Crisis Division Chairs are on schedule as well as the regular AAS Presidential election. This process will operate as it has the last two election cycles, in an open, ethical, and secure format in coordination with a qualified and certified third-party vendor providing electronic ballots. 

We are aware that some of our members would prefer a process that differs from the bylaws and will look to revise the bylaws to be more compatible with today’s AAS soon; the reality is that we cannot legally do that until the items mentioned above are completed.

Expect no interruptions in regular programming as the Central Office staff continues to operate smoothly and efficiently, including several planned events for Suicide Prevention Month. Also, because we’ve heard your calls for increased transparency, you’ll see more regular updates as we progress. Please reach out with any questions to leadership@suicidology.org and your message will be forwarded to the appropriate person. Our all-volunteer Board of Directors comprises professionals from many different roles and positions and they will return requests as soon as they’re able to. Thank you again for your feedback and patience. You will be hearing more from us soon.

Sincerely,
AAS Board of Directors

American Association of Suicidology Welcomes New Board Members

Washington, D.C. (August 30, 2021): The American Association of Suicidology (AAS) is pleased to announce that plans to fill vacant board seats at AAS are moving forward quickly, with four new division chairs appointed today.

If you’re interested in more information about the board process and what’s next make sure you haven’t missed our message here, discussing specifics and how you can get involved.

Our first addition is Qwynn Galloway-Salazar, coming in as Student Chair. Qwynn is an Army Veteran, and most recently served as the Co-Director for SAMHSA’s Service Members, Veterans, and their Families Technical Assistance (SMVF TA) Center. She also played a significant role in designing and coordinating the Governor’s and Mayor’s Challenge to Prevent Suicide Among Service Members, Veterans, and their Families Policy and Implementation Academy’s. Qwynn holds a B.S. in Criminal Justice, an M.A. in Professional Counseling, and is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology while serving as an End-of-Life Doula for veterans and their caregivers.

We also welcome Judy Albelo as our new Loss Survivor Chair. Judy comes to us with more than five years of experience as Vice President and Treasurer of Tony’s Tribe, a non-profit geared towards breaking the stereotypes and stigmas of challenges many children and adults face today, working to support those struggling with the goal of embracing differences, breaking stigmas, working towards suicide prevention, suicide awareness, education, destigmatizing mental illness, and improving self-care and resiliency. Judy brings a wealth of non-profit 501(c)(3) familiarity to the board, having worked with a number of other groups in that space including Easter Seals and Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Greater Miami.

For our new Crisis Services Chair we have Pamela S. McKie, COO of The Children’s Home of Cincinnati, an organization providing education and therapeutic treatment for children and families facing social, behavioral, and learning challenges through more than 30 campus and community-based programs and services. Pamela has over 25 years of experience in executive leadership, including developing new programs, developing high-performance teams, and surpassing financial targets, both in the profit and non-profit sectors. She brings serious operational skills to the table, including a focus on valuable optimization and efficiency improvements, and has earned both a Masters in Social Work from the University of Cincinnati and a B.S. in Social Welfare from Ohio State University.

Joining us as Prevention/Public Health Chair is Tony Coder, Executive Director of the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation (OSPF). As ED, Tony leads the charge to support community-based efforts in Ohio to reduce the stigma of suicide, promote education and awareness about suicide prevention, provide training and development, and increase resources and programs that reduce the risk of lives lost to suicide. Prior to joining the OSPF, Tony served as the Director of Programs and Services for the Ohio Association of County Behavioral Health Authorities, where he managed Recovery-Oriented Systems of Care, the Statewide Advocacy Network and the Committee to Address Suicide for the organization. He has also served as the Director of State and Local Affairs for Smart Approaches to Marijuana and as legislative director for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. Tony holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Toledo.

AAS is dedicated to providing representation that effectively communicates the needs and goals of its membership. By continuing to include a diverse roster of individuals who can address these components, AAS, its divisions and committees, and its Board of Directors work strategically to create programs focused on ending suicide in this country and throughout the world.

For the Media: Responsible reporting on suicide, including stories of hope and resilience, can prevent more suicides. Please visit the Suicide Reporting Recommendations for more information. For additional information, please visit SuicideReportingToolkit.com.

About AAS: The American Association of Suicidology is the world’s largest membership-based suicide prevention organization. Founded in 1968 by Edwin S. Shneidman, PhD, AAS promotes the research of suicide and its prevention, public awareness programs, public education and training for professionals and volunteers. The membership of AAS includes mental health and public health professionals, researchers, suicide prevention and crisis intervention centers, school districts, crisis center professionals, survivors of suicide loss, attempt survivors, and a variety of laypersons who have in interest in suicide prevention. You can learn more about AAS at www.suicidology.org.