2025 APA Annual Meeting – City of Angels

As part of PRMS’ ongoing efforts to support the behavioral healthcare community and promote the organizations that work towards this mission, we are pleased to highlight the Southern California Psychiatric Society (SCPS) and SCPS Executive Director, Mindi Thelen, as our featured guest blogger this month. Ms. Thelen reflects on the 2025 APA Annual Meeting, which took place last May in Los Angeles, CA.

Dr. Matthew Goldenberg, SCPS Past President; Dr. Galya Rees, SCPS Immediate-Past President; Ms. Mindi Thelen, SCPS Executive Director; Mr. Tim Thelen, Southern California Society of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Executive Director; and Mr. Justin Pope, JD, PRMS Associate Director of Risk Management.

Welcoming the World to Los Angeles: Highlights from the 2025 APA Annual Meeting

Los Angeles has certainly been in the news a lot this year. 

This Spring, the 2025 American Psychiatric Association (APA) Annual Meeting was held in Los Angeles, and the Southern California Psychiatric Society, which encompasses Los Angeles County, appreciates every attendee from around the country and around the world who came and showed support for our City of Angels.  It was a treat to host our colleagues in our city.  We hope that those of you who made it here enjoyed yourselves and were able to take in some of Los Angeles’ beauty and the surrounding areas’ offerings — like the beaches, the mountains, and the desert.  Right now, many Angelinos are going through disaster-fatigue — between the wildfires in January and the ongoing trauma that so many people living in southern California are experiencing on a daily basis now.  The APA Annual Meeting in our city was fortuitously timed for our morale.

SCPS Celebrates Connection and Camaraderie at Reception

For SCPS, one highlight at the annual meeting was hosting a reception, along with Professional Risk Management (PRMS), for all California APA members, at Flemmings Steakhouse.  Since Covid-19 there seems to be fewer opportunities for in-person colleague camaraderie, and the reception was a perfect setting for our needed recharge.  It was nice to not only gather with members from our own APA district branch, but also with colleagues from the other four California district branches.  SCPS is very grateful to PRMS for helping us make that happen and allowing us to host 225 California psychiatrists for good food, good drinks, and good fun.

The Importance of In-Person Gatherings for Mental Health Professionals

The meeting offered a large variety of educational opportunities for psychiatrists, but was also a great opportunity to connect.  Our automated virtual world can leave us feeling very isolated, but these meetings, the receptions, the dinners with colleagues and friends remind us that we have wonderful colleagues who experience similar triumphs and concerns.

Rebuilding Community and Supporting Wildfire Victims

A second highlight for SCPS was being able to showcase our Disaster Mental Health Committee in the aftermath of the Pacific Palisades and Altadena fires.  It was an enlightening experience for a group of APA members to tour the fire-ravaged areas of Altadena with SCPS member, Amy Woods, M.D., who grew up in Altadena and still had a family home there at the time of the fires.  We were also particularly pleased that the APA Foundation awarded a grant to the LA County Fire Department Peer Support Program, which the SCPS Disaster Mental Health Relief Committee has worked closely with through its involvement in the California Disaster Mental Health Coalition.

It was a special treat for SCPS and its members to host the APA annual meeting in our hometown.  We hope we have the opportunity to do it again soon.

PRMS was pleased to support SCPS’ community with a $3,000 donation, in addition to donations made by our reception attendees, to the California Medical Association (CMA) and Physicians for a Healthy California (PHC) Disaster Relief Fund. The CMA/PHC Disaster Relief Fund's efforts establish the delivery of medical care to areas of California affected by disasters by providing physicians who are victims of disasters with financial assistance to help restore their medical practices. Our hearts are with all the Angelenos whose lives, homes, and livelihoods have been affected by the wildfires earlier this year.

If you have any questions or are interested in receiving a quote, contact PRMS at (800) 245-3333 or TheProgram@prms.com.