Dr. Jesus (Jay) Enrique Saplala is a registered clinical psychologist in Ontario, Canada. He holds a PhD in Clinical Psychology and an MA in Counselling Psychology from the Ateneo de Manila University. He completed his postdoctoral internship in Canada at the Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences and the Psychological and Counselling Services Group. Before moving to Canada, Dr. Saplala was president of the Psychological Association of the Philippines (PAP) from 2008-2010. He led the technical working group in advocating for the passage of the Psychology Bill, began certification of psychology specialists, convened the task force on the code of ethics to review and finalize the new code of ethics, and proposed the creation of the public interest committee. He was a lecturer at the De La Salle University in Manila, Philippines and an associate professor and chairperson of the Department of Psychology at Miriam College, where he organized the first batch of students from the Philippines who participated in Stanford University’s Undergraduate Psychology Conference. While pursuing his graduate degree, Dr. Saplala founded Skwelahang Sikolohiya in 1995, a pioneering volunteer organization of psychologists, educators, and other professionals who developed and taught modules in psychology as a response to address the maximum-security inmates' psychological needs. In Canada, Dr. Saplala served as an academic instructor and lecturer in 2016-2017 for the Ontario government’s bridge training program for internationally trained mental health professionals. He helped facilitate a family reunification and adaptation program for overseas Filipino workers and new Filipino immigrant families in Toronto. During the pandemic, Dr. Saplala helped organize HILOM, an online peer consultation support group for Filipino mental health professionals and co-authored published research on a COVID-19 pandemic anxiety scale. He remains an active member of the Long COVID-19 group of clinical and health psychologists and an occasional consultant to OMNI News Filipino to provide sound psychological information to Filipino immigrants. He is also a member of the Global Psychology Alliance, an organization of emerging and established leaders in global psychology.
