APF’s 2025 in Review: Moving Psychology Forward

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If I had to describe 2025 in one phrase, it would be this: a year that didn’t let us coast. (Or even sit down. Or finish our coffee while it was hot.)

The world asked a lot of us this year, personally, professionally, and collectively. We saw unprecedented losses in federal funding that disrupted both psychological research and access to care. We watched mistrust in science continue to grow louder, even as the need for evidence-based solutions became more urgent. And we were reminded again that barriers to quality mental health care hit hardest in communities already carrying the heaviest burdens. So no, 2025 wasn’t an “easy year.”

But it was a clarifying one.

At APF, moments like these sharpen our sense of purpose. When funding disappeared, we stepped in. When critical research risked stalling, we helped keep it moving. Not because we enjoy crisis response (we really don’t) but because the need for psychology doesn’t pause when the funding landscape gets unpredictable. And when psychological science needed to get out of journals and into real lives, we leaned hard into making that happen.

None of this happened in a vacuum. It happened because of you – our donors, partners, volunteers, and grantees – who chose to invest in psychology when it mattered most. Truly: thank you. You showed up, with generosity, creativity, and a level of commitment that makes even our spreadsheets feel a little more hopeful.

Our goal in 2025 (and beyond) was simple, even when the work was not: keep psychology moving forward through research and continue to search for ways we can expand our capacity to support implementation.

Access to evidence-based psychological principles is increasingly challenged, especially for communities experiencing crisis, discrimination, and chronic under-resourcing. That reality is exactly why we launched APF Direct Action in 2024: to fund innovative, psychology-informed interventions that meet people where they are and respond to real-time needs.

What we didn’t anticipate was just how quickly the need would escalate.

In 2025, Direct Action didn’t just grow, it took off like a rocket. The response from the psychological community (and far beyond it) was overwhelming in the best possible way. Support poured in. Ideas multiplied. And the gaps that emerged as funding vanished were met with creativity, speed, and resolve. The response was, in a word, humbling. In several more words: “Oh wow, okay, this is really happening.”

What that looked like in practice:

Direct Action Visionary Grants supported Dr. Kiara Alvarez, whose research continues to center community-driven approaches to mental health equity for Latine youth and families.

More exciting Direct Action Visionary Grant projects will be announced in the new year. Stay tuned!

Direct Action Crisis Funding allowed us to respond rapidly when communities needed immediate psychological support, because sometimes waiting for the next grant cycle simply isn’t an option.

Alongside this work, volunteer-led initiatives like our Jewish Community Mental Health Initiative and Group Peer Support continued to demonstrate what’s possible when psychological science is embedded directly into systems and services.

2025 showed us something important: Direct Action doesn’t have a ceiling. And we can’t wait to share what’s coming next.

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The research side of the coin has been moving just as fast. This past year, we continued funding groundbreaking research across the Visionary Priorities identified by our Board of Trustees. Here are just a few examples of the work you made possible:

Serving Marginalized Communities

• Dr. Jasmin Brooks Stephens “Voices of Strength: Reimagining Suicide Prevention Through Black Youth Perspectives”
• Dr. Juan Pablo Zapata “A single-session, solution-focused mental health intervention for HIV+ Latino/a adolescents and young adults”
• Ran Tian “Understanding family, friend, and neighbor caregiving to better support underserved immigrant families”

Ending Prejudice & Stigma

• Dr. Sarah Borowski “How parent-adolescent conversations shape moral and racial development”
• Dr. Ryan Lei, “The development of bias at the intersection of race and gender nonconformity”
• NealeyClare Wheat, “Disability-Blindfolding and the Psychosocial Outcomes of People with Visible Disabilities.”

Preventing Violence

• Dr. Andrea S. Medrano, “HAVE-HOPE: Empowerment following adult victimization in Honduras”
• Dr. Aderonke Komolafe, “Socio-cultural factors and gender-based violence among displaced women in Nigeria”
• Meagan Brem, “Daily experiences of Latina sexual assault survivors to inform culturally responsive interventions”

Addressing Mind-Body Health Connections

• Jingrun Lin, “How social proximity functions as a neurobehavioral mechanism of health”
• Giuliana Zarrella, “A randomized controlled trial examining neuroplasticity outcomes for patients with brain tumors”
• J. Kathy Xie, “Validating functional capacity in midlife adults”

This is the kind of work that doesn’t just add to the literature, but reshapes practice, policy, and lived experience. This is the part where we get to say, “Here’s what your support actually did.”

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So what happens in 2026?

Despite everything disruptive about this past year, maybe even because of it, we are deeply optimistic about the future of psychology. Not because this work is easy, but because it is essential.

Psychological science remains one of the most powerful tools we have to build a healthier, more humane world, and we’re just getting started.

In the year ahead, we’re focused on:

• Expanding psychology’s reach through Direct Action
• Funding bold, innovative research across the field
• Investing in the students, researchers, and clinicians who are doing the hard, often unglamorous work of improving lives

We will continue to be a force for progress, working toward a world where people are healthy, happy, and living with dignity.

Thank you for being part of this community, for believing in science, in people, and in the idea that progress is something we build together.

Stay with us. Stay curious. And as always – stay tuned.

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