The Arkansas Psychiatric Society is a non profit organization begun in the early 1950's and is a District Branch of the American Psychiatric Association (www.psych.org) The APS is dedicated to the education and scientific values of psychiatry and has a mission to promote the highest quality care for individuals and their families with mental illness and substance abuse disorders, to improve mental health and well being, to promote psychiatric education and research in order to advance the profession of psychiatry, and to represent the profession of psychiatry and serve the professional needs of its membership.