Kay Nikiforova, head of clinical & research and Dr. Jessica Jackson, a board member of Violet’s clinical QA advisory, both spoke at the American Psychological Association’s 2024 convention in Seattle, Washington. Below they cover some of the major themes discussed.

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The American Psychological Association convention attracts over ten-thousand clinicians, researchers and experts in the field of psychology. This year, the resounding theme on everyone’s mind was: technology. Specifically, the most prominent feature of this year’s convention was the robust discussions on the use of technology to provide and advance mental health treatment, and how that technology can be used as a lever for building health equity. Gone are the days of small healthtech panels and side references to health disparities, both are now front and center, and we were part of discussions about both.

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Our colleague Dr. David Cooper, who serves as the Executive Director at Therapists in Tech, says, "It was great to see Violet represented at APA this year. The work they're doing to ensure a more equitable therapeutic experience for everyone is something the entire field needs to hear. Health equity was a part of so many talks, it was nice that Violet was there to help lead the conversation."

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"It was great to see Violet represented at APA this year. The work they're doing to ensure a more equitable therapeutic experience for everyone is something the entire field needs to hear. Health equity was a part of so many talks, it was nice that Violet was there to help lead the conversation."

-- David Cooper, Executive Director at Therapists in Tech

Here are our big takeaways we had attending from APA 2024:

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Psychologists are becoming more interested in how tech can enable better care.

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Between the expo hall filled with different care enablement platforms, and discussions on using technology in each of our panels, it seems that psychologists are growing more willing to engage in the idea of using technology for creating access to better care. In the tech-related panels, clinicians and provider organization owners asked about ways to vet and integrate technology into their practice. 

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While there was no shortage of tech solutions for measurement-based care, billing, and other therapy software, we found Violet to be the only one specifically focused on assessing and enhancing provider quality. By measuring provider cultural competency and inclusivity through benchmarking, Violet fills a critical gap in the market where the connection between provider cultural competence and patient health outcomes is often overlooked.

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Health equity is now part of the conversation on mental health.

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The majority of main stage & headlining events this year focused on health equity for mental health care. APA CEO Arthur C. Evans, Jr., PhD held a spotlight series conversation on better supporting the mental wellbeing of Black men and boys and the main stage featured discussions on safeguarding public health, and Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) initiatives in psychology. With the APA prioritizing population health approach, we are increasingly hearing how culturally diverse patients lack access to inclusive care, and how there is a critical need to meet this gap in care.

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There’s less fear and more curiosity about AI.

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For last year’s AI mainstage talk, there was a line out the door of clinicians wanting answers to whether AI will mean the end of the field as we know it. This year, we saw APA members much more willing to engage with the idea that AI might prove beneficial for clinical care. While there is still caution about privacy concerns and ethical decision-making on the companies’ parts, the conversation has moved onto how we can make the best use of this technology. In fact, this year’s AI mainstage talk prioritized taking a health equity approach and focused more on how this technology can be used for culturally diverse communities.

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