Moving ABCT Into the Future: A Conversation with CHANGE Leaders

In 2023, ABCT launched the CHANGE (Challenging How ABCT Now Governs and Evolves) Leaders program, a two-year, co-governance style leadership initiative intended to assist the organization in taking active steps to broaden and improve the diversity, equity, inclusion, access, and justice focus of its work. In the inaugural iteration of this program, 10 diverse early career professionals were selected as CHANGE Leaders. For the past two years, these individuals have worked closely with organizational leadership to learn about the history and inner workings of ABCT, institutional strengths and growth points, and how to leverage their unique perspectives to promote systems-level change that is responsive to need areas identified by the ABCT Task Force for Equity, Inclusion and Access and the BARE Mental Health and Wellness Report (https://www.abct.org/about/abct-deiaj/). The purpose of this panel is to hear from CHANGE leaders about their experiences in and “lessons-learned” from this program. Panel members will specifically discuss insights into a) how ABCT can be more responsive to the evolving needs of its global community; b) unique challenges and opportunities that have emerged in developing co-sponsored, systems-level projects; and c) strategies for effectively integrating diverse perspectives into organizational practices and decision-making processes.