Exciting News! American Psychological Association (APA) Division 44 is now a Committee instead of a Task Force

Hello! I am super excited to share some big news with you, my treasured community!

As previously shared, I have been proud to be a part of American Psychological Association (APA) Division 44 Task Force, which promotes awareness and inclusivity about consensual non-monogamy (CNM). And, now I am even prouder! We are now the American Psychological Association (APA) Division 44 Committee on Consensual Non-Monogamy!

Our past three years of advancing research, clinical practice, and education related to CNM within (and outside of) the field of psychology has landed us permanent committee status.

With this historic vote, the topic of CNM now has perpetual representation and the co-chairs have voting rights within Division 44, which is part of the largest national association for psychological research and practice. This puts in place an infrastructure within the APA to provide research, education, and resources about CNM to psychologists and the public. Becoming a Committee reflects the steps previously made by Division 44 to be inclusive of the lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities and signals the direction CNM is heading. Moreover, Committee status highlights the broader societal acceptance and integration of CNM into LGBTQ spaces both academic and community that we are witnessing across the globe. The reverberations of this decision will echo for years to come as it is the first time a national scientific association has committed to formally recognize and support consensual multi-partner families and relationships.

Nearly ten years ago, Committee Chairs, Amy C. Moors, Ph.D. and Heath A. Schechinger, Ph.D, met at the International Association for Relationship Research in Chicago. Amy was presenting her master’s thesis research on adult attachment and CNM. Heath was in the audience and followed up after Amy’s talk with thoughtful questions and a desire to apply his clinical lens to CNM. Clearly, they quickly became fast friends and collaborators.

In their first publication together, they critiqued common research and clinical practices that assumed monogamy was a human universal and recommended ways to be more inclusive of CNM within the field of psychology. In the discussion section of that paper, they made a bold suggestion – that the American Psychological Association should create a Task Force on CNM similar to how they had done to address LGBTQ issues. At the time, this recommendation seemed like an abstract or, at least, pipedream suggestion. They did not fully realize that a few years later that they would be the ones proposing said Task Force. Nor did they understand that they would receive interest from more than 90 incredibly talented people who all shared a vision to make the field of psychology (and beyond) more inclusive of people engaged in diverse forms of consensually non-monogamous relationships.

We could not have become a committee without our commitment to our 12 initiatives. The Task Force made great strides over the past three years. While this is not an exhaustive list, a few of your collective accomplishments include:

Open-access fact sheet on CNM (currently in peer review) that can be shared to help educate the field, media, and general public about CNM
White papers and letter that led to Psychology Today and APA Psychologist Locator to add search terms for CNM and kink on their therapist directory – Psychology Today’s new direct search link can be found here.
Drafted a new guideline addressing CNM within the APA’s guidelines for psychological practice with LGB clients
Organized several CNM interest group sessions at national conferences and brought several colleagues together for symposium related to CNM
Conducted a study and created a best practices document for assessing relationship structure on clinical demographic forms (currently under review by Div 44)
Created a brochure in collaboration with the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom about CNM for mental healthcare providers (currently under review by Div 44)
Created a pamphlet on CNM-inclusive practices for mental and medical healthcare providers (currently under review by Div 44)
Partnered with Archives for Sexual Behavior to create and edit a Special Issue dedicated exclusively to CNM scholarship that generated nearly 70 proposals
Conducted a mixed method study aimed at understanding people engaged in CNM and their intersecting marginalized identities (two academic papers in progress)
Creating a brochure addressing the intersection of LGBTQIA and CNM
Creating open-access resource hubs for current research on CNM, lesson plans, and PowerPoint slides to help professors incorporate the topic of CNM in college classrooms (e.g., counseling psychology courses, intro to psychology courses, etc.)
Generating research on CNM-intersecting identities and legal issues impacting the CNM community