"Are you going to IPPA?" my colleague asked. She was referring to the Sixth World Congress on Positive Psychology held in Melbourne last July. This popular, biennial conference of the International Positive Psychology Association has, over the years, become synonymous with the organization itself. I smiled and said, in all honesty, " I go to IPPA every week.”

I am one of 2,500 members from around the globe who benefit from IPPA membership. You may know about IPPA from MAPP Director, James Pawelski, who serves as its volunteer Executive Director. But according to a recent inquiry conducted by the Penn and Melbourne MAPP Alumni Associations, IPPA's year-round offerings to support the professional development of practitioners, seem to be a well-kept secret. Let's change that.

IPPA Isn’t a One-Time Thing

As the only international organization that advances both the science of positive psychology and its application in various professional domains, IPPA has made significant strides in recent years to offer sustainable, year-round value to its practitioner members. Take, for example, IPPA's divisions, which are special interest groups that bridge research and practice and connect members interested in advancing the science and its application in specific pro- fessional domains. When I graduated MAPP, IPPA had one student division (SIPPA). Today, it has four additional professional divisions that curate best practices, introduce positive psychology to new professions, and produce awards, publications, conference sessions, and resources for their members.

Work and Organizations Division members can access simple digests of complex research concepts and recorded dialogues between a researcher and a practitioner who applies their research. They can also participate in the Positive Organizational Intervention Challenge (POIC), which helps practitioners design a research-based application for the workplace. Louis Alloro, MAPP, was a recent finalist in this year's POIC. Throughout the year, he received expert feedback and guidance to help develop his idea that drew on meta-motivation, goal-setting, and self-determination theory. He presented his design, Feedforward to Unleash Potential: a future-oriented and strengths-based approach to employee development, at the Sixth World Congress and received further support and a cash prize. The division is now helping him find an organization to work with for field-testing.

Members who work in the health, education, and clinical fields can access expert feedback and curated best practices from around the world. Elaine O'Brien, MAPP, Ph.D., and Kathi Norman, MAPP, Ph.D., recently launched a new webinar series for the Positive Health and Wellness Division, which featured research on forgiveness and stress, and helped edit the division publication, Chronicles of Advances in Positive Health and Well-being. The Positive Education Division (IPPAEd), supported by Peggy Kern and Rosalinda Ballesteros, has done a brilliant job highlighting international best practices through conference sessions and an IPPAEd Pre-Conference before the European Network on Positive Psychology's conference in Budapest. The Clinical Division launched a Case Study Competition, which recently recognized Dan Tomasulo, MAPP, Ph.D. for his intervention leveraging embodied cognition and self-compassion.

IPPA Is Online, Too

Members who are unable to attend conferences and events in person can access recordings in a new online member community, called IPPA Engage. This platform is designed to facilitate year-round learning and connection. IPPA members can share their expertise through their member profile, find colleagues through a searchable member directory, ask questions in a discussion forum, and access a growing library of content, including 20 videos of keynote sessions from the 6th World Congress. The community is gaining traction with the participation of experts, as well, including Barbara Fredrickson, who regularly shares new science and educational opportunities, and Ryan Niemiec, who recently asked to connect with members interested in the practice of spirituality and meaning.

The Positive Psychology Leader Series continues to "break news" by welcoming expert researchers and practitioners, only now with more regularity thanks to volunteers Jodi Wellman and Caroline Adams Miller who took over after Series founder, David J. Pollay, "retired" last year. Caroline shares that one of the great honors of her role is that she gets to talk to the researchers whose work was part of her MAPP assignments and see how the research has expanded and grown since she was in MAPP. One example is Shelly Gable's recent assertion that the passive constructive and destructive responses to another person's good news do more harm than active-destructive ones.

The expansion of IPPA's year-round offerings for practitioners has been made possible through the service, love, and vision of hundreds of volunteers. In particular, Leona Brandwene, who was the first practitioner representative elected to IPPA's Board of Directors (another indication of IPPA's commitment to practitioners), advocated significantly for practitioner offerings, including the creation of five new division-led awards that are open to practitioners.

You Get What You Give

Through participation in IPPA, members have published, found collaborators, started businesses, and shaped the field. But just like anything else, you will get out of IPPA what you put into it. As a member, Giselle Timmerman helped launch the Work and Organizations Division. Then as President-Elect, she led an all- volunteer team to develop program offerings that are still available today. Recently, Giselle won IPPA's Raymond Fowler Service Award in recognition for her contributions, and next month she will represent IPPA at a practitioner conference in London.

There is a significant opportunity on the horizon for practitioners at IPPA as the organization explores avenues for more professional development (e.g., credit units), chances to connect (e.g., peer consultation groups), and access to research and applications (e.g., expanded journal partnerships).

IPPA is a home for practitioners, and I invite you to join, not only for your professional development but also, to see how we might help our relatively young field reach its full potential. What challenges can we overcome? What standards can we set? As the saying goes, "a rising tide lifts all boats," so how might we, through IPPA, create a brighter future for our clients and ourselves? We are headed in the right direction. So, will I see you "at IPPA" next week?