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BULLETIN
PsychotherapyO F F I C I A L P U B L I C A T I O N O F T H E S O C I E T YFOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF PSYCHOTHERAPYOF THE AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION
www.societyforpsychotherapy.org
In This Issue
SpecIal FocuS: SelF-care acroSS The lIFeSpan
psychotherapy practiceAn Independent Practice Does Not Need to Be an Isolated Practice:Increasing Connection as a Method of Self-Care in Private Practice
ethics in psychotherapyMore Than Bubble Baths and Wine: Finding Actual Self-Care
education and TrainingPersonal Psychotherapy for the Psychotherapist in Training
psychotherapy research, Science, and ScholarshipTherapist Attachment-Related Behaviors and
Their Effects on Psychotherapy Process and Outcome
early careerFinding and Providing Mentorship in Psychotherapy Research:
Six Suggestions for Mentors and Mentees
public Interest and Social JusticeGay in OK: Self-Care and Advocacy as
a Member of a Target Group
Student FeatureClinical Creativity and Idiographic Goals in Psychotherapy
2019 VOLUME 54, NUMBER 4
PresidentNancy Murdock, PhDUniversity of Missouri-Kansas City215 Education Building5100 Rockhill RoadKansas City, MO [email protected]: 816-235-2495 fax: 816-235-6925E-mail: [email protected]
President-electJennifer Callahan, PhDUNT Department of PsychologyTerrill Hall, Room 3761155 Union Circle #311280Denton, TX 76203-5017Ofc: 940-369-8229E-mail: [email protected]
Secretary Rebecca M. Ametrano, Ph.D., 2018-2020Office of Patient Centered CareVA Boston Healthcare System1400 VFW Parkway West Roxbury, MA 02132Ofc: 857-203-5394E-mail: [email protected]
TreasurerJesse J. Owen, PhD, 2019-2021University of DenverMorgridge College of EducationCounseling Psychology Department1999 E Evans Ave Denver CO 80208Ofc: 303-871-2482E-mail: [email protected]
Past PresidentMichael J. Constantino, PhDDeptt of Psychological & Brain Sciences612 Tobin Hall - 135 Hicks WayUniversity of MassachusettsAmherst, MA 01003-9271Ofc: 413-545-1388 E-mail: [email protected]
Domain RepresentativesPublic Interest and Social Justice Lavita Nadkarni, PhD, 2018-2020Director of Forensic StudiesUniversity of Denver-GSPP2450 South Vine StreetDenver, CO 80208Ofc: 303-871-3877E-mail: [email protected]
Psychotherapy PracticeBarbara Vivino, PhD, 2019-2021921 The Alameda #109Berkeley, CA 94707Ofc: 510-303-6650E-mail: [email protected]
Education and TrainingMarilyn Cornish, PhD, 2019-2021Auburn University2084 Haley CenterDepartment of Special Education, Rehabilitation, and CounselingAuburn University, AL 36849Ofc: 334-844-7601Email: [email protected]
MembershipJean Birbilis, PhD, 2019-2021University of St. Thomas1000 LaSalle Ave., MOH 217Minneapolis, Minnesota 55403Ofc: 651-962-4654 fax: 651-962-4651E-mail: [email protected]
Early CareerLeigh Ann Carter, PsyD, 2017-2019University of Delaware - Center for Counse-ling and Student Development261 Perkins Student CenterNewark, DE 19716Ofc: 516-641-2066E-mail: [email protected]
Science and ScholarshipSusan S. Woodhouse, PhD, 2017-2019Department of Education and Human Serv-ices Lehigh University111 Research DriveBethlehem, PA 18015Ofc: 610-758-3269 Fax: 610-758-3227E-mail: [email protected]
Domain Representatives, continuedDiversityRosemary Phelps, PhD, 2017-2019University of Georgia402 Aderhold Hall Athens, GA Ofc: (706) 542-1812E-mail: [email protected]
DiversityManijeh Badiee, PhD. 2019-2021Department of PsychologyCalifornia State University5500 University ParkwaySan Bernardino, CA 92407Ofc: 909-537-7305E-mail: [email protected]
International AffairsFrederick Leong, Ph.D. 2018-2020Michigan State UniversityDepartment of PsychologyEast Lansing, MI 48824Ofc: 517-353-9925; Fax: 517-353-1652E-mail: [email protected]
APA Council RepresentativesLillian Comas-Diaz, PhD, 2017-2019908 New Hampshire Ave NW Ste 700 Washington, DC Ofc: (202) 775-1938E-mail: [email protected]
Elizabeth Nutt Williams, PhD, 2017-2019St. Mary’s College of Maryland18952 E. Fisher Rd.St. Mary’s City, MD 20686Ofc: 240- 895-4467 Fax: 240-895-2234E-mail: [email protected].
Student RepresentativeCarly Schwartzman, 2019-2020University at Albany, SUNYSocial Sciences, Department of Psychology1400 Washington Ave.Albany, NY 12222Ofc: (551) 265-6750E-mail: [email protected]
Continuing EducationChair: Ken Critchfield, PhDEmail: [email protected]
DiversityChair: Sheeva Mostoufi, PhDE-mail:[email protected]
Early Career PsychologistsChair: Sara Danitz, PhDE-mail: [email protected]
Education & TrainingChair: Eric Sauer E-Mail: [email protected]
FellowsChair: Robert L. Hatcher, PhDE-mail: [email protected]
FinanceChair: Jeff Reese, PhDE-mail: [email protected]
International AffairsChangming Duan, PhDE-mail: [email protected]
MembershipRosemary Adam-Terem, PhDE-mail: [email protected]
Nominations and ElectionsChair: Jennifer Callahan, PhDE-mail: [email protected]
Professional AwardsChair: Michael Constantino, PhD E-mail: [email protected]
ProgramChair: James Boswell, PhDE-mail : [email protected]
Psychotherapy PracticeDaniel Gaztambide, PhDE-mail: [email protected]
Psychotherapy ResearchChair: Joshua Swift, PhDE-mail: [email protected]
Social JusticeLinda Campbell, PhDE-mail: [email protected]
Society for the advancement of psychotherapy n 2019 Governance StructureELECTED BOARD MEMBERS
STANDING COMMITTEES
pSYchoTherapY BulleTIn
Published by theSocIeTY For
The adVancemenT oF pSYchoTherapY
American Psychological Association
6557 E. RiverdaleMesa, AZ 85215
602-363-9211e-mail: [email protected]
edITorLynett Henderson Metzger, PsyD
aSSocIaTe edITorCara Jacobson, PsyD
conTrIBuTInG edITorS
diversityManijeh Badiee, PhD and
Rosemary Phelps, PhD
education and TrainingMarilyn Cornish, PhD and
Eric Sauer, PhD
ethics in psychotherapyApryl Alexander, PsyD
psychotherapy practiceBarbara Vivino, PhD andDaniel Gaztambide, PsyD
psychotherapy research, Science and Scholarship
Susan Woodhouse, PhD, andJoshua Swift, PhD
public Interest and Social JusticeLavita Nadkarni, PhD, and
Linda Campbell, PhD
Washington ScenePatrick DeLeon, PhD
early career Leigh Ann Carter, PsyD and
Sara Danitz, PhD
Student FeatureCarly Schwartzman
editorial assistantsSalwa Chowdhury
Cory [email protected]
STaFF
central office administratorTracey Martin
Websitewww.societyforpsychotherapy.org
pSYchoTherapY BulleTInOfficial Publication of the Society for the Advancement ofPsychotherapy of the American Psychological Association
2019 Volume 54, number 4
conTenTS
president’s column ......................................................2
editors’ column ............................................................3
Special Focus: Self-care across the lifespan
psychotherapy practice ..........................................5
An Independent Practice Does Not Need to
Be an Isolated Practice: Increasing Connection as
a Method of Self-Care in Private Practice
ethics in psychotherapy ......................................10
More Than Bubble Baths and Wine:
Finding Actual Self-Care
education and Training ........................................15Personal Psychotherapy for the Psychotherapist in Training
psychotherapy research, Science, & Scholarship ....22Therapist Attachment-Related Behaviors and Their Effects on Psychotherapy Process and Outcome
early career..................................................................27Finding and Providing Mentorship in Psychotherapy Research: Six Suggestions for Mentors and Mentees
public Interest and Social Justice ............................30Gay in OK: Self-Care and Advocacy as a Member of a Target Group
Student Feature ..........................................................33Clinical Creativity and Idiographic Goalsin Psychotherapy
Washington Scene ......................................................35
“You Gotta Go Where You Wanna Go”
1
n
preSIdenT’S column
Nancy L. Murdock, PhDUniversity of Missouri-Kansas City
How time flies when one is having fun! I amamazed to find myselfwriting my final presi-dential column as theweather chills and wenear the holidays. It hasbeen a great honor to
serve the Society for the Advancementof Psychotherapy over the past year andI look forward to continuing my in-volvement next year as past president,following the leadership of the excep-tional Jennifer Callahan as President.
In September, your Board of Directorshad its semiannual meeting in beautifulKansas City, Missouri. The meeting wasvery productive, ending in approval ofthe budget for the 2020 year. We en-gaged in many thoughtful discussionsabout how to best support the advance-ment of psychotherapy and created newways to acknowledge the contributionsof our membership in the form of threenew awards, the Early Career PracticeAward, the Distinguished Career Prac-tice Award, and the Social Justice andPublic Interest/Public Policy Award forEarly Career Professionals. Please do besure to review all of the SfAP awards
and grants on our website and nominatesomeone or apply yourself! Most of thedeadlines are January 31, 2020. By thetime you read this, I also hope that youhave submitted a proposal for the SfAPprogram at the 2020 APA convention. I’lllook forward to seeing you all there!
As the year ends, it is always good to re-flect on our accomplishments and to rec-ognize the many contributions of thosewho volunteer to serve your organiza-tion. I would like to offer my heartfeltthanks to the hardworking members ofyour Board of Directors and the manycommittees that keep the division run-ning. Our various editors (e.g., web, Bul-letin, Psychotherapy) deserve kudos forcontinuing SfAP’s tradition of offeringhigh quality content about psychother-apy to both members and the public. Ialso express my gratitude to three veryspecial people who have supported mein my year-long presidential journey—the other members of the presidentialtrio, Mike Constantino and JenniferCallahan, and our awesome administra-tor, Tracey Martin.
My best wishes to all for a wonderfulholiday season and grand new year.
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Goodbye, as they say, isthe price we pay forhello, and it is with pro-found thankfulness andaffection that I write this,my final column as Editor for PsychotherapyBulletin. I have beentremendously fortunateto have worked withsuch an amazing andsupportive group offolks over the past nine
years, including Dr. Lavita Nadkarni(who served as Editor during my tenureas Associate Editor), two terrific Publi-cations and Communications BoardChairs, Drs. Jeff Barnett and LaurieHeatherington, and a true embarrass-ment of riches in terms of Domain Rep-resentatives, Contributing Editors,members of SAP governance, Editorialstaff, and authors. I owe a debt of grati-tude to Tracey Martin for her tireless ef-forts on behalf of SAP, and for herpatience with me personally. Day in andday out, for as long as I have known her,she has worked to make us collectivelyand individually better. I appreciate allshe has done and continues to do on be-half of SAP and for Psychotherapy Bul-letin in particular. Similarly, I would liketo say “thank you” to outgoing InternetEditor Dr. Amy Ellis. Your unfailing pro-fessionalism and grace make you a joyto work with, and I am so grateful thatour paths crossed in this way.
Along with an assortment of features,announcements, and updates, this issuebrings our final pieces on Self-CareAcross the Lifespan, the Psychotherapy
Bulletin Special Focus for 2019. In thisissue, Drs. Barbara Thompson and Bar-bara Vivino focus on independent prac-tice, while Dr. Apryl Alexander exploresthe ethics of self-care, and doctoral stu-dents Carly Schwartzman, current SAPStudent Representative, and HeatherMuir reflect on mandated psychother-apy during training. Early Career professionals, trainees, and readers ingeneral will appreciate Dr. Simon Gold-berg’s thoughts on finding and provid-ing mentorship in research, and makesure to take a look at Drs. Eric Sauer, Jon Hook, Char Houben, and KristinRoberts’ discussion of psychotherapyprocess and outcome effects of therapistattachment-related behaviors.
As the year draws to a close and a newone begins, I would like to welcomethose taking on new roles, and ac-knowledge those whose work will con-tinue. We are delighted that KourtneySchroeder, MS, will serve as incomingInternet Editor—thank you for yourhard work and the smile you always puton my face. In addition, it is my greatpleasure to welcome Dr. Joanna Drinaneinto the role of Psychotherapy Bulletin Ed-itor, and to wish her the very best in thisnew adventure. And, although we bid afond farewell to longtime Editorial As-sistant Cory Marchi, MA, Dr. Drinanewill benefit from the ongoing efforts ofboth Editorial Assistant Salwa Chowd-hury, PsyD, and Dr. Cara Jacobson, As-sociate Editor extraordinaire. Cara, yourkeen eye, attention to detail, and “cando” attitude have made it such a pleas-ure to work with you over these past
Lynett Henderson Metzger, JD, PsyDUniversity of Denver–Graduate School of Professional Psychology
Cara Jacobson, PsyDLoyola University Maryland
edITorS’ column
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few years. I wish you well as you con-tinue in this role, and beyond. Pleasetake a moment to get to know (or be-come reacquainted with) Kourtney andJoanna through their quick introduc-tions in this issue.
Finally, thank you, our readers. There isno SAP without membership! Pleasejoin (A)Sap if you have not alreadydone so (pardon the pun)—and if youare a member, consider becoming in-volved in any of the many exciting op-portunities SAP has to offer. You arewelcome to submit a contribution toPsychotherapy Bulletin at any time, andyou can find all of the publication guide-lines and a submission link on our web-
site (http://societyforpsychotherapy.org/bulletin-about/). The deadlines for 2020are February 1, May 1, August 1, andNovember 1, and Dr. Drinane can bereached at [email protected].
Thank you,
Lynett Henderson Metzger, JD, PsyDPsychotherapy Bulletin Editoremail:[email protected]: (303) 871-4684
Cara Jacobson, PsyDPsychotherapy Bulletin Associate Editor email: [email protected]: (443) 520-2036
Want to share your exciting news with your fellow members? Four times throughout the year, the enewsletter is dispersed to members of Division 29 in order to share accomplishments and announcements with fellow professionals. This is a great chance to not only to share your own news, but learn of other opportunities that arise. Email Kourtney Schroeder, the associate website editor, ([email protected]) to share news and announcements about book releases, published articles, grants received, theses and dissertation defenses, etc.
We’d love to hear from you!
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SpecIal FocuS: SelF-care acroSS The lIFeSpan
pSYchoTherapY pracTIce
an Independent practice does not need to Be an Isolated practice: Increasing connection as a method of Self-care in private practice
Barbara J. Thompson, PhDEllicott City, MD
Barbara L. Vivino, PhDBerkeley, CA
Recently we have hearda lot about the importanceof therapist self-care.Jeffrey Barnett (2014)made a strong case thatself-care is an ethicalimperative based on theAPA Ethics Code prin-ciples of beneficenceand maleficence, as wellas the guidelines relatedto competence, manag-ing personal problemsand conflicts, and avoid-
ing harm. Self-care has both emotionaland physical health implications, andsince we are the primary instrumentused to help clients, we need to be as fitas we can be. Often, due to the nature ofthe work, therapists spend hours a dayin the presence of suffering and pain.This can adversely impact therapistwell-being. As Rick Hanson (2013) sug-gests, we are what we pay attention to:“What you pay attention to—what yourest your mind on—is the primaryshaper of your brain.” This applies toour clients but also to ourselves. Self-care becomes a way for therapists tocounteract the detrimental health effectsthat may be implicit in providing ther-apy. One important avenue for self-careis making sure we have emotional sup-port around the work.
In a recent qualitative study (Vivino etal., 2019), we found that almost all ther-apists interviewed said that they neededand valued having colleagues withwhom to talk about cases, explore ethi-cal concerns, share information aboutbusiness practices and struggles, andpromote personal and professionalgrowth. While many of the therapists inour study found ways to meet this need,a surprising number were unsure orfound it difficult to find avenues to meetthis need consistently.
In addition, our study revealed thatmany of our participants also felt iso-lated in private practice. Providing ther-apy is a wonderful way to connect withclients’ potential and to experience com-passion for another person, but it canalso mean connecting with another per-son’s pain and distress. Even the mostresilient among therapists can benefitfrom support. Whether you are startingout as a therapist, have been at it for awhile, or are even winding down yourpractice, it is useful to consider yourneeds for peer support and how youmight consistently meet this need. Al-though there are many ways that thera-pists can engage in self-care activities,creating regular opportunities to connectwith supportive colleagues is an impor-tant component of self-care. We offer the
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following considerations based on ourpersonal experience and discussionswith many therapists in private practice.
Suggestions for private practitionersIntentionally connect with an interactivecommunity. A good starting place formeeting the need for connection mightbe as informal as sharing a building orspace with other therapists in privatepractice or joining a topic-specific com-munity that provides ample opportuni-ties for interactions through meetings,listservs, etc. The important adjectivehere, though, is “interactive.” Both for-mal and informal communities will varyin this dimension, and you’re likely tobenefit most from those that directlypromote interactions and connections(as opposed to more passive interactionssuch as saying hello to a fellow suitemate or sitting in a continuing educationclass. More active interactions promotemore interpersonal learning and, we believe, more emotional benefit). Thereis evidence that satisfying relation-ships are associated with better health,greater happiness, and even a longer life(Lieberman, 2013). This is most likelytrue for therapists in private practice as well.
For example, I (BT) shared building spacein two separate locations. In the first, Irarely saw another therapist. The othersix or so clinicians using the offices weregenerally not there when I was and therewas no common area or any effort to fa-cilitate interactions among us. In contrast,in the other set of suites I shared, some ef-fort was made to encourage interactions.There was a common kitchen area wherea snack table invited us to pause a bit and the ‘landlord’ (also a psychologist)gathered interested folks together twicea year for a ‘networking’ party. Others weknow who share office space planmonthly lunches or other forms of socialget togethers.
Other types of professional communitiescan also serve as your interactive com-munity although many vary a great dealin how much they promote interactionsbetween members (e.g., communities oftherapists providing a particular ap-proach such as systems work or thoseworking with problem-based issues liketrauma clients). The ones that we heardabout that seemed most effective inmeeting therapists’ need for connectionwere those that had regular meetings ei-ther in person or through conferencecalls and intentionally focused on build-ing a sense of belonging and comraderie.
Form a peer consultation or support group.Many of the therapists we have talkedto stressed how valuable it is to be partof a peer consultation group (sometimescalled peer supervision although techni-cally, unless unlicensed, it is “consulta-tion”). We define this as a structured,formal group that meets regularly andhas a fixed membership. It is importantto know that these groups can have var-ious structures. Below are some varia-tions to consider:
Frequency: Meetings can be weekly,biweekly, or monthly depending onthe needs and desires of the groupmembers and can last an hour toseveral hours. It’s important to beflexible in this area because it justmight not be reasonable to meetweekly for some individuals, whileonce a month might be more doable.
membership: This may vary fromcolleagues and friends you knowalready to acquaintances or evenother clinicians who don’t knowone another well who meet throughsome common connection such as all working in a similar space or through a larger organization(e.g., state association, professional
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group), or even word of mouth.We’ll talk more about this when wediscuss challenges, below.
Structure: Peer consultation or sup-port groups can also vary quite a bitbased on the structure of the group.We recommend not leaving this tochance but rather purposefullyidentifying what structure willwork best for your group. Thisdoesn’t have to be a rigid structureand members should be open tochanging it if it isn’t meeting every-one’s needs. Without some agreedupon structure, you run the risk ofpeople feeling their needs are notgetting met and the peer group hav-ing a lack of focus. Like any group,these types of groups run the risk ofhaving a monopolizer among themor just individuals with differentneeds clashing over what is talkedabout. The structure could be thatall members get a set amount oftime at every meeting, in whichcase one group member should beappointed as time keeper. Alterna-tively, fewer members might dis-cuss cases at each meeting but havemore time, and then other memberswill have time in the next meeting.
Some questions a beginning groupmight ask themselves are: What is ourfocus in terms of areas of discussion? Do we want to explore difficult or chal-lenging cases, discuss business relatedissues, focus on theoretical conceptual-izations or intervention, explore the person of the therapist and counter-transference issues? A peer consultationgroup is not a substitute for your owntherapy, nor a substitute for professionalconsultation either clinically (e.g., work-ing with a specialist around borderlinepersonality disordered clients) or ethi-cally (e.g., contacting your malpracticecarrier).
Some of what you can hope to achievein a peer consultation group includes:creating interpersonal connection, hav-ing a place to discuss challenging casesto gain new insights and receive sup-port, sharing ideas about building andmaintaining a practice, exploring coun-tertransference issues, sharing helpfulinterventions and resources, gainingnew perspectives on the work and howwe do it, exploring ethical or diversityissues, as well as helping to get unstuck,combat a sense of isolation, or be moreaccountable around what we do behindclosed doors.
potential BarriersWhile finding connections to fellowtherapists might seem an obvious solu-tion to the problem of isolation for thoseof us in private practice, there can bechallenges to getting this need for con-nection and professional support met.Below we list a few possible challengesthat may be encountered.
Not knowing what you don’t know. When I(BT) transitioned from a full-time insti-tutional job, where I had “team meet-ings” built into my daily schedule, into asolo private practice, I didn’t considerthis need. In building my practice I wasfocused more on getting clients in, ad-justing to being in charge of my ownschedule, and other practicalities ofbilling, note taking, etc. I knew I likedthe idea of being in a group of suiteswhere there were other therapists, but ifI were to do it again, I would intention-ally consider creating time and space inmy schedule for peer connections. Ther-apists are often not aware of what theyneed or are going to need, particularlyinterpersonal needs, until there is someevidence that their needs are not beingmet. Unfortunately, this can lead to ther-apists being ineffective or making poordecisions. Therapeutic relationships
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might suffer—or even worse, therapistscould make poor decisions that placetheir clients or themselves at risk.
Competing priorities. For therapists in pri-vate practice, time is money. We don’tget paid for involving ourselves in pro-fessional activities outside of client time.Devoting time to connecting with otherprofessionals and colleagues meanschoosing not making money and alsonot attending to the other parts of ourlives outside of our profession (e.g., re-lationships, family, relaxation, exercise).One way that made this easier for me(BT) was to form a group with col-leagues I knew and liked a great deal.Although we are pretty good about stay-ing focused on our professional strug-gles, we also really enjoy each other’scompany, so getting together has a socialfeel to it and meets personal as well asprofessional needs.
Finding the “right” people. One complaintraised about consultation groups is thatit’s difficult finding people where thereis a good connection or who are willingto expand their group to include newmembers. Although we are asked to doso repeatedly during graduate training,as we went from supervisor to supervi-sor and peer group to peer group, it isn’teasy to feel trust for and open up withjust anyone in our later professionallives. And if you have found such agroup, you may feel protective and hes-itant to add new, more unknown mem-bers. It is often difficult for therapists tobe vulnerable with one another. Therecan be a tendency for therapists to wantto appear professional and competent.Revealing insecurities or concerns aboutclinical decisions or personal anxietiescan seem risky professionally, yet this ishow a peer consultation group can bemost helpful. Sometimes the line be-tween professional persona and ac-knowledging needs can be confusing.
Therapists don’t want to risk hurtingtheir professional reputations by reveal-ing inadequacies.
Taking the InitiativeWe believe it is not a question of whetherwe as therapists need support but morewhat is the best way to get those supportneeds met? If you recognize the need butare struggling to find a way to get yourneeds met, don’t give up. Keep trying. Intoday’s world, we don’t all have to be inthe same place to be available to one an-other for support; for example, securevideo conferencing is easily availableand viable option for many people interms of scheduling and travel. If youdon’t know people with whom to createa group, think about starting a groupyourself by reaching out through list-servs or other professional associationsor reaching out to others who share yourbuilding or office space. Even meetingwith one other person regularly can cre-ate that meaningful connection. Yes,everyone is busy—but that doesn’t meanone can’t find two hours a month to getsupport. It may be one of your most im-portant forms of self-care.
Steps to starting a peer consultationgroup:
• Choose to make a supportive com-munity part of your professionallife and as part of your individual“self-care plan.”
• Reflect on what type of groupmight work best for you at your career development stage and de-pendent on what you feel you canreasonably commit to. Some exam-ples might include a support groupof others who are early career therapists or just starting a privatepractice; a group of therapists con-cerned about issues of social justice;other therapists interested in ex-
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ploring countertransference; basiccase consultation; or individualswho have similar philosophical ortheoretical backgrounds.
• Identify others through listservs,professional friends and colleagues,former graduate school peers oralumni.
• Once a group of at least two mem-bers has been identified, meet to getto know one another or reconnectand explore issues of structure, fre-quency, membership, format, orground rules.
• Periodically assess how the processis working and adjust as needed.
referencesBarnett, J. E., & Corcoran, K.
(2018). Competence, ethical practice,and going it alone. Psychotherapy Bul-letin, 53(4), 16-23.
Barnett, J. (2014, December). Distress,
burnout, self-care, and the promotionof wellness for psychotherapists andtrainees: Issues, implications, and recommendations. [Web article] Re-trieved from: http://www.society-forpsychotherapy.org/distress-therapist-burnout-self-care-promotion-well-ness-psychotherapists-trainees-issues-implications-recommendations
Hanson, R. (2013, September 24). Howto grow the good in your brain.Greater Good Magazine. Retrieved fromhttps://greatergood.berkeley.edu/ar-ticle/item/how_to_grow_the_good_in_your_brain
Lieberman, M. (2013). Social: Why ourbrains are wired to connect. New York,NY: Crown Publishers.
Vivino, B. L., Thompson, B. J., Spangler,P. T., Wolf, J., Hill, C. E., Hillman, J., &Youn, S. J. (2019). What do therapistsneed: A qualitative analysis of theneeds of psychotherapists in privatepractice. Manuscript in preparation.
Find the Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy at
www.societyforpsychotherapy.org
10
I recently attended afaculty awards cere-mony at my university.The faculty award re-cipients, along with theaudience, watchedvideos of remarks and
comments from the awardees’ studentsand colleagues. All of the remarks wereexpectedly heartwarming and lovely;however, I could not help to notice atrend in each of the videos. Nominatorsremarked on how the awardees an-swered e-mails late into the night orvery early in the morning, met with stu-dents after normal business hours to ac-commodate to student work schedules,and made jokes about how the profes-sor likely never slept. There was one re-mark about the likely personal sacrificesthe awardee made (i.e., missing familyevents/milestones) in order to do theirjob. Although I learned of all my col-leagues’ amazing work and dedicationto their students’ learning, success, andexcellence, I left feeling some sorrow inthinking about my colleague’s well-being and concerned about the mes-sages we give to students and otherrising professionals.
The role and expectations of psycholo-gists, regardless of work settings, are ris-ing. In our work, we routinely discusswork-life balance and self-care, but dowe engage in appropriate self-care tac-tics ourselves? As we approach the win-ter holiday season, we’re busy worryingabout our year-end to-do lists, upcom-ing activities for the new year, and all
that goes on in our personal lives. En-tering the new year is a perfect time tothink about engaging in a better self-care routine.
Stress Versus Burnout Providing psychotherapy often involveshearing about client’s stress, difficulties,and/or trauma. Compassion fatigueand vicarious trauma can arise throughthis work. Compassion fatigue is when in-dividuals suffer as a result of working ina helping role, while vicarious traumati-zation is when therapists are impactedby working with individuals who haveexperienced trauma (Rothschild &Rand, 2006). Vicarious traumatizationoccurs when professionals are affectedby their clients’ traumatic experiences.Repeatedly hearing about clients’ trau-mas can take its toll on some clinicians.Clinicians may experience symptomssimilar to those of their clients such asphysiological arousal, depression, andanxiety. Compassionate fatigue can re-sult in physical symptoms, such aschronic exhaustion and fatigue, insom-nia, headaches, loss of physical agitationor retardation, and frequent sickness(Mendenhall, 2006). Clinicians mustfind ways to distance themselves fromtheir clients’ stories and develop theirown coping skills to deal with the sto-ries. When I worked for a treatment pro-gram providing group therapy tochildren and adolescent sexual abusesurvivors, we made it a routine to havedebriefing meetings for 20 to 30 minutes
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SpecIal FocuS: SelF-care acroSS The lIFeSpan
eThIcS In pSYchoTherapY
more Than Bubble Baths and Wine: Finding actual Self-care
Apryl Alexander, PsyDUniversity of Denver
11
after sessions to have a process groupabout the difficult content (and suc-cesses!) that came up in sessions. It is im-portant for clinicians to monitor theirown well-being and engage in effectiveself-care—whether this is through con-tinued supervision, team consultation,or own personal therapy.
In severe cases, clinicians may experi-ence professional burnout. Burnout isthe result of job stress stemming from thenumerous emotional hazards of the pro-fession. It affects most mental healthworkers at some point in their career.Signs could include turning in items late,overbooking your schedule, calling outsick from work more often, and becom-ing irritable with colleagues and clients.Maintaining a healthy work-life balanceby developing a support network, bothpersonal and professional, is importantin reducing burnout. Therefore, it is im-portant for mental health care profes-sional to maintain self-care regimenwhile providing help to others. Contin-ued professional supervision, consulta-tion, and debriefing meetings can beused in order to deal with thoughts andfeelings associated with burnout.
“no.”The work demands of psychologistsacross different contexts are constantlygrowing. Expectations for clinical prac-tice, administrative work, supervision,research and program evaluation, train-ing/teaching, and mentoring are all be-coming the standard for practicingpsychologists. In fact, younger psychol-ogists are reporting more burnout thanolder psychologists and burnout tendsto decrease with age (Dorociak, Rupert,& Zahniser, 2017; Rupert, Miller, &Dorociak, 2015). Navigating profes-sional boundaries can be challenging forprofessionals who feel the need to keepup with these increasing demands. Inaddition to work demands, personaland familial demands compounded
with work demands can lead toburnout. According to a survey of APAgraduate students and early career psy-chologists, nearly half reported experi-encing financial stress and delayingpersonal milestones (i.e., marriage, hav-ing children, buying a home) due to ac-cumulated debt (Doran et al., 2016).
I’ve heard the phrase, “‘No’ is a com-plete sentence.” It’s direct. It’s assertive.Demographic and identity factors canalso influence how individuals setboundaries and engage in self-care.Early career professionals have diffi-culty finding balance in taking on activ-ities to push forward their careers whilenavigating the transitional challengesdescribed earlier. In my opening exam-ple, many of the awardees were women.In addition to their work lives, we knowfrom the literature that women oftenhave a “second shift” when it comes totaking care of household tasks and par-enting after working a full day; thoughmore recent research indicates a rise inmore egalitarian roles in the household.Underrepresented groups, such as Pro-fessionals of Color and LGBTQ+ profes-sionals, are often loaded with additionalwork given their identity status. For in-stance, if there is only one Latinx psy-chologist on a treatment team, there maybe additional pressure from administra-tors to take on more clients of Latinxidentity (rather than train current staffor provide additional translators) or en-gage in additional service work to createa more inclusive team. The psychologistmay feel unable to say no, leading to anincrease in role obligations. Systemsmust be challenged to address theadded burdens on these groups in orderto reduce the likelihood of burnout.
connecting to ethics Why is self-care an ethics issue? As de-scribed above, burnout and vicarious/secondary victimization can impact our
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well-being and professional compe-tence. Burnout increases one’s risk forprofessional impairment (Bamonti et al.,2014). Many scholars have describedself-care as an essential ethical concern(Barnett, Baker, Elman, & Schoener,2007; Barnett, Johnston, & Hillard, 2006;Rupert & Dorociak, 2019). Self-care isdiscussed as a benchmark for clinicaltraining of graduate students (Fouad etal., 2009). Although graduate schoolpresents many exciting opportunities,graduate education in psychology in-cludes many stressors, including finan-cial hardships, relocations, increasedroles and responsibilities, and other lifemilestones (Ayala & Almond, 2018; Zah-niser, Rupert, & Dorociak, 2017). Over70% of graduate students report experi-encing a stressor that interferes with op-timal functioning (El-Ghoroury, Galper,Sawaqdeh, & Bufka, 2012); however, in asample of 177 clinical psychology doc-toral programs, only 8.4% of programsreferenced self-care in the general de-partmental handbook and only 24.8%included a reference in their clinical psy-chology handbook (Bamonti et al., 2014).
In the American Psychological Associa-tion (APA)’s 2017 Ethical Principles ofPsychologists and Code of Conduct(Code of Ethics), self-care is not explic-itly discussed in the guidelines. Of thegeneral principles, self-care should beconsidered in Principle A: Beneficenceand Nonmaleficence, which reads,
In their professional actions, psy-chologists seek to safeguard thewelfare and rights of those withwhom they interact professionallyand other affected persons, and thewelfare of animal subjects of re-search … Because psychologists’scientific and professional judg-ments and actions may affect thelives of others, they are alert to andguard against personal, financial,
social, organizational, or politicalfactors that might lead to misuse oftheir influence. (p. 3)
In order to provide adequate care to oth-ers, we must take care of ourselves. Self-care ensures unintentional harm is notdone to our clients. Additionally, Stan-dard 2.06 (Personal Problems and Con-flicts) notes, “When psychologistsbecome aware of personal problems thatmay interfere with their performingwork-related duties adequately, theytake appropriate measures, such as ob-taining professional consultation or as-sistance, and determine whether theyshould limit, suspend, or terminate theirwork-related duties” (APA, 2017, p. 5).The standard also discusses not engag-ing in activities where there is an in-creased likelihood of personal problemsinterfering with a person performingtheir job in a competent manner. Thus,psychologists should make efforts tomaintain their own psychological healthby being cognizant of their own healthand well-being and seeking their ownmental health care, if needed.
What Is Self-care?There are dozens of pop psychology andself-help books that describe tools forself-care. Spa days, bubble baths, walks,red wine and chocolate…many are su-perficial, and some are insensitive to financial restraints. A student once ap-proached me after a holiday weekendand said, “You would be so proud ofme! I engaged in self-care. I got a haircutand watched a movie.” Both of thosethings are satisfying. Perhaps relaxing.However, I questioned whether this wasthe actual self-care the student neededat the time given their disclosure ofother personal struggles. Their concep-tualization of self-care was likely re-stricted and unhelpful in meeting theirtrue needs.
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Self-care has been described as “a multi-dimensional construct broadly definedas an ongoing commitment to a healthylifestyle comprised of multiple compo-nents that include actions to promoteone’s health, exercise, nutrition, socialsupport, stress management, and self-actualization” (Ayala, Ellis, Grudev, &Cole, 2017, p. 19). In a study examiningself-care activities of women graduatestudents, cluster analysis revealed sixdistinct type of self-care activities: phys-ical wellness (i.e., healthy cooking, exercise, regular medical checkups), re-laxation and stress management (i.e.,taking breaks or days off, gettingenough sleep), hobbies (i.e., listening tomusic, reading for fun), interpersonal re-lations (i.e., spending time with lovedones, monthly outings, maintaining con-tact with friends and family), self-com-passion (i.e., meditation, mindfulness,positive self-talk), and outdoor recre-ation (i.e., time spent outdoor, explo-ration, travel) (Ayala & Almond, 2018).These are all important domains to con-sider when developing your own per-sonal self-care plan for the new year.
conclusionI am not an expert on self-care. My col-leagues and friends could tell you and arelikely making comments about me writ-ing this article, as they read it (fortunatelyhumor is a large part of my self-care). Theaim is to challenge myself and others todo better. I hope collectively as colleaguesand friends, we can think of ways to as-sist each other in self-care activities andprioritize them as a means of protectingourselves personally and professionallyin terms of competence and ethics.
editors’ note: As a reminder, please sendyour psychotherapy research-, practice-, andtraining-related Ethics questions [email protected]. Please notethat questions may be selected by Dr. Alexan-der for inclusion in Psychotherapy Bul-
letin or on the SAP website/social mediaplatforms at her discretion, and not all ques-tions may be answered. In addition, infor-mation provided to Dr. Alexander and SAPin this context is for the purpose of furtheringpublic knowledge and discourse around eth-ical issues and will not be kept confidential.
referencesAmerican Psychological Association.
(2017). Ethical principles of psycholo-gists and code of conduct. Retrievedfromhttp://www.apa.org/ethics/code/
Ayala, E. E., & Almond, A. L. (2018).Self-care of women enrolled inhealth service psychology programs:A concept mapping approach. Profes-sional Psychology: Research and Prac-tice, 49(3), 177-184. doi:10.1037/pro0000190
Ayala, E. E., Ellis, M. V., Grudev, N., &Cole, J. (2017). Women in healthservice psychology programs: Stress,self-care, and quality of life. Trainingand Education in Professional Psychol-ogy, 11(1), 18-25. doi:10.1037/tep0000141
Bamonti, P. M., Keelan, C. M., Larson,N., Mentrikoski, J. M., Randall, C. L.,Sly, S. K., … McNeil, D. W. (2014).Promoting ethical behavior by culti-vating a culture of self-care duringgraduate training: A call to action.Training and Education in ProfessionalPsychology, 8(4), 253-260. doi:10.1037/tep0000056
Barnett, J. E., Baker, E. K., Elman, N. S.,& Schoener, G. R. (2007). In pursuitof wellness: The self-care imperative.Professional Psychology: Research andPractice, 38(6), 603-612. doi:10.1037/0735-7028.38.6.603
Barnett, J. E., Johnston, L. C., & Hillard,D. (2006). Psychotherapist wellnessas an ethical imperative. In L. Vande-Creek & J. B. Allen (Eds.), Innovations
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in clinical practice: Focus on health andwellness (pp. 257-271). Sarasota, FL:Professional Resources Press.
Doran, J. M., Kraha, A., Marks, L. R.,Ameen, E. J., & El-Ghoroury, N. H.(2016). Graduate debt in psychology:A quantitative analysis. Training andEducation in Professional Psychology,10(1), 3-13. doi: 10.1037/tep0000112
Dorociak, K. E., Rupert, P. A., & Zah-niser, E. (2017). Work life, well-being,and self-care across the professionallifespan of psychologists. ProfessionalPsychology: Research and Practice,48(6), 429-437. doi:10.1037/pro0000160
El-Ghoroury, N. H., Galper, D. I.,Sawaqdeh, A., & Bufka, L. F. (2012).Stress, coping, and barriers to well-ness among psychology graduatestudents. Training and Education inProfessional Psychology, 6(2), 122-134.doi: 10.1037/a0028768
Fouad, N. A., Grus, C. L., Hatcher, R.L., Kaslow, N. J., Hutchings, P. S.,Madson, M. B., …Crossman, R. E.(2009). Competency benchmarks: Amodel for understanding and meas-uring competence in professionalpsychology across training levels.
Training and Education in ProfessionalPsychology, 3(4S), S5-S26. doi:10.1037/a0015832
Mendenhall, T. J. (2006). Trauma-re-sponse teams: Inherent challengesand practical strategies in interdisci-plinary fieldwork. Families, Systems,& Health, 24(3), 357-362.
Rothschild, B, & Rand, M. (2006). Helpfor the helper: The psychophysiology ofcompassion fatigue and vicarioustrauma. New York, NY: Norton.
Rupert, P. A., & Dorociak, K. E. (2019).Self-care, stress, and well-beingamong practicing psychologists. Pro-fessional Psychology: Research andPractice, 50(5), 343-350. doi:10.1037/pro00000251
Rupert, P. A., Miller, A. O., & Dorociak,K. E. (2015). Preventing burnout:What does the research tell us? Pro-fessional Psychology: Research andPractice, 46(3), 168-174. doi:10.1037/a0039297
Zahniser, E., Rupert, P. A., & Dorociak,K. E. (2017). Self-care in clinical psy-chology graduate training. Trainingand Education in Professional Psychol-ogy, 11(4), 283-289. doi:10.1037/tep0000172
15
SpecIal FocuS: SelF-care acroSS The lIFeSpan
educaTIon and TraInInG
personal psychotherapy for the psychotherapist in Training
Carly M. Schwartzman, MAUniversity of Albany, State University of New York
Heather J. Muir, MSUniversity of Massachusetts-Amherst
Given that mental healthprofessionals lead livesoutside the therapyroom, they are not in-vulnerable to the im-pact of psychosociallife stressors. In addi-tion, working with distressed patients is acomplex and demand-ing task that requiresthe service provider’sdevoted mental re-sources. Graduate stu-dent trainees in applied
psychology programs are arguablyprone to even greater stress as a result ofthe multiple demands of graduateschool, including academic coursework,assistantship responsibilities, research,clinical training, qualifying exams, andfinancial constraints. Further stress mayarise in relation to performance anxiety,competition among students, ongoingevaluation of competency, and lack ofexperience (Badali & Habra, 2003). Grad-uate students must also navigate hierar-chies of professional relationships withintheir training program and clinical train-ing sites, appearing both appropriatelyself-confident and deferent to authorityfigures concurrently. Thus, studentsmust strike a balance between fulfillingmultiple roles and expectations, whilealso developing and practicing the skillsnecessary to provide therapeutic serv-ices to others (Myers et al., 2012).
Despite the numerous challenges en-countered by psychology graduate stu-dents, workload, stress, and healthamong students are not well under-stood. Of the few studies conducted,one found that out of 281 clinical psy-chology trainees, 75% reported beingmoderately or very stressed as a resultof training (Cushway, 1992). A more re-cent survey conducted by the AmericanPsychological Association (APA) ofGraduate Students found that 70% ofgraduate students reported impairedfunctioning due to stress stemmingfrom finances, academics, relationships,and health (El-Ghoroury, 2011). Simi-larly, 119 graduate students in APA-ac-credited doctoral programs in clinicaland counseling psychology reportedthat either graduate school (60.0%) ortheir current financial situation (16.4%)was the most stressful aspect of theirlife. In regard to physical health symp-toms, at least half of the sample reportedexperiencing each of the following bi-weekly or more: headache, back pain,feeling easily fatigued, and irritablebowels. Additionally, 49% of studentsreported three or more symptoms ofanxiety as occurring multiple times perweek, while 39% reported five or moresymptoms of depression as occurringmultiple times per week.
In view of these significant stressors,graduate students are encouraged to
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practice self-care, defined as engage-ment in behaviors that maintain and pro-mote physical and emotional well-being(e.g., sleep, exercise, social support, emo-tion regulation strategies, and mindful-ness practice; Myers et al., 2012). Self-caremay also include personal psychother-apy. Assuming that virtually all studentsexperience stressors, it may be expectedthat clinical training programs wouldhave an interest in providing studentswith the opportunity to receive mentalhealthcare. However, there is much di-versity in the personal therapy experi-ences available in conjunction withgraduate training. There is also little con-sistency on matters of whether therapy ismandatory, recommended, or simply notdiscussed in a trainee’s program.
This article discusses the advantagesand disadvantages stated in the researchand in the opinions of the authors of re-ceiving personal psychotherapy as apsychology graduate student trainee.We also explore the barriers to receivingtreatment, the confusion in personalclinical decision-making, and possiblesuggestions and solutions for graduatetraining programs and for trainees.
advantages and disadvantages of receiving psychotherapy as a TraineeA number of advantages to receivingpsychotherapy as a trainee have been il-luminated in the literature. From thepsychoanalytic perspective, personalanalysis serves to enhance the trainee’sability to conduct therapy as a more un-biased clinical observer whose counter-transference potential has been mitigated(Nierenberg, 1972). Other rationales forpersonal therapy have emerged more re-cently, and apply to various therapeuticapproaches (Grimmer & Tribe, 2001).The first includes improved emotionaland mental functioning of the trainee,which is presumed to lead to the provi-sion of more effective therapy. Personal
therapy may also function as a social-ization experience and lend credibilityto the student’s belief in the psychother-apy process. Furthermore, receivingtherapy firsthand offers a unique modelof how (or how not) to conduct therapyand can result in one’s own mastery oftechnique. Finally, Gold and Hilsenroth(2009) state that personal therapy canlead to increased awareness of and re-spect for a patient’s needs and struggles,increased emphasis on the therapeuticrelationship, increased therapist gen-uineness and capacity for empathy, andultimately to the development of a pro-fessional sense of self. They found, forexample, that graduate clinicians whohad received personal therapy ratedagreement about the goals and tasks oftherapy with their own clients higherthan did students who had not receivedtherapy. In addition, these students feltmore confident providing therapy, felttheir patients were more committed andconfident in therapy, and delivered treat-ments that were twice as long as thera-pists who did not have personal therapy.
Research examining disadvantages of re-ceiving personal therapy while in train-ing discusses a potential limiting of thetrainees’ openness to a variety of thera-peutic models (McEwan & Duncan,1993). Students may also endure addedemotional and financial stress that couldimpact academic success. For studentsmandated to therapy, the lack of choicemay counteract its potential efficacy. Students may also continue with unsat-isfactory therapy only to comply withprogram requirements. Importantly,there is a lack of conclusive evidence thatpersonal therapy is an effective methodof training professional helpers. In con-trast, some argue that in the case of a mature, well-balanced individual, su-pervision from a competent therapist isenough to make personal therapy un-
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necessary, as it provides both satisfactoryemotional support for the trainee and so-cialization to the profession.
attitudes about and prevalence ofTrainee personal TherapyThroughout the past few decades, someresearch has been conducted on preva-lence, attitudes, and effectiveness of receiving personal therapy during grad-uate training. Wampler and Strupp(1976) conducted a study with represen-tatives from 87 clinical training pro-grams on their views of how to bestprovide students with opportunities forpersonal growth and how students intheir programs obtained therapy if de-sired. Department responses rangedfrom benign neglect (e.g., departmentassumes no responsibility for helpingstudents find therapy) to the actual re-quirement of a therapy experience. Amajority of departments (67%) activelyencouraged students to seek therapywithout actually requiring it. Availabil-ity of therapy resources varied widelydepending upon the region of the coun-try and proximity to a city. Size of theuniversity was also a factor, with largerinstitutions more likely to have a stu-dent counseling center functioning in-dependently of the training program.Clinical directors were almost unani-mously opposed to requiring students toattend therapy (the three training pro-grams that did require therapy only re-quired short-term participation). Somealso expressed concern that enthusiasticencouragement to participate in therapycould be perceived as an implicit coer-cive demand. However, a lack of en-couragement may lead a student to fearthat entering personal therapy would betaken as an admission of poor psycho-logical health or be regarded as evidenceof unfitness to conduct therapy.
In a survey of graduate students in APA-accredited programs, most (74%) had re-
ceived psychotherapy during graduateschool and reported positive experiences(Holzman, Searight, & Hughes, 1996).Respondents reported believing theirconfidentiality was protected in therapyand felt it was important for practicingas a therapist. However, attitudes aboutthe importance of personal therapy ingraduate school varied as a function oftheoretical orientation. Specifically, 90%of students with a psychodynamic ori-entation chose a rating of very importantversus only 60% of students with a cog-nitive-behavioral orientation. Reasonsfor seeking therapy included personalgrowth (70%), desire to improve as atherapist (65%), adjustment or develop-mental issue (56%), and depression(38%). The most frequently cited reasonfor not seeking therapy was having noneed for it (56%) and finances (53%).
Another survey of 959 psychology grad-uate members of APA (Dearing, Mad-dux, & Tangney, 2005) found that 47%had engaged in therapy during graduateschool. Student attitudes toward seekingpersonal therapy were generally very fa-vorable and most agreed about the ne-cessity of therapy for training. Thosewith a favorable attitude toward per-sonal therapy and endorsement of ther-apy as an important component oftraining were more likely to have re-ceived personal therapy. Students whoindicated a perceived need for therapy(but did not seek therapy) reportedgreater concerns about cost and confi-dentiality than did students who re-ported they neither needed nor enteredtherapy. Perception of a favorable facultyattitude about students in therapy wasalso related to positive student attitudestoward personal therapy and to the be-lief that therapy is integral to training.
In the most recent study found ontrainees receiving psychotherapy, uti-
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lization of psychotherapy services as acoping mechanism was endorsed byonly 19% of a sample of 119 doctoral stu-dents in APA-accredited counseling andclinical psychology programs (Rummell,2015). This prevalence rate is signifi-cantly lower than previous studies, per-haps due the use of a smaller samplesize. It is also possible that engagementin personal psychotherapy by psychol-ogy trainees is declining. Further re-search examining stress and wellness inpsychology graduate students is needed,in addition to studies investigating thecurrent prevalence and efficacy of per-sonal therapy in relieving stress, im-proving functioning, and enhancingclinical skills in therapist trainees.
Barriers to receiving personal psychotherapyEven when programs encourage stu-dents to seek treatment, there are in-evitable privacy-related, logistical, andfinancial barriers that students face. Forexample, confidentiality tends to be aconcern, especially in smaller universi-ties and communities (El-Ghoroury,Galper, Sawaqdeh, & Bufka, 2012; Rum-mell, 2015). Psychology student traineesmay feel they cannot seek services attheir campus counseling centers becausethey work there as a provider themselvesor have existing professional relation-ships with the providers. This can beproblematic if graduate student health-care policies limit these students to usinguniversity-based services and/or do notcover many community providers. Sim-ilarly, such psychology programs couldhave strong ties with outside providersin the community (e.g., externalpracticum sites, client referrals, alumni),making the anonymity limited.
Logistically, applied psychology stu-dents are often working upwards of 60hours per week, balancing roles in re-search, teaching, assessment, and ther-
apy (Willyard, 2012). Thus, studentsmay feel that both the search process foran in-network provider not affiliatedwith the school and the obligation oftraveling off campus for a weekly ther-apy appointment is too time-consuming.The financial burden of co-pays tiedwith less than ideal healthcare plansmay deter graduate students from seek-ing personal therapy as well. Ultimately,the student is left to decide whetheradding a commitment of therapy to theweek would be more or less stressfulthan not getting treatment at all.
Additionally, for trainees in programswhere personal therapy is perceived astaboo, students may feel uncomfortableseeking treatment. Some students maybelieve that seeking personal therapy issomething they should not need or thatit indicates instability and lack of fitnessto be a therapist. The existence of suchbiases within a field that is training in-dividuals to fight against stigma is up-setting and serves to prevent distressedgraduate students from reaching out forhelp. Thus, faculty and administratorsshould consider taking steps to counter-act these biases.
personal clinical decision-makingIf a graduate student has considered theadvantages and disadvantages of re-ceiving personal psychotherapy and iswilling and able to overcome barriers tocare, more decision-making lies ahead.Specifically, one must grapple withchoosing a provider. First, the questionarises of which degree type (e.g., PhD,PsyD, LCSW, MHC) a student wouldlike to see. Students hoping to experi-ence therapy as a model for personalpractice may wish to work with aprovider of the same degree type. How-ever, lower tier insurance policies maylimit accessibility to a doctoral levelprovider. The student must also con-
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sider the desired theoretical orientationand/or treatment approach. Studentsmay feel uncertain about whether itwould be more beneficial to see some-one with the same theoretical leaning orsomeone with an orientation distinctfrom one’s own.
Once a student has selected a provider,questions may arise about how to dis-cuss training and research knowledgewith the clinician. For example, a stu-dent with in-depth knowledge of psy-chotherapy research, alliance formationand outcome, routine outcome monitor-ing, and so forth may be overly obser-vant and/or critical of therapistbehaviors. Students may feel uncertainabout how to broach these topics, espe-cially with providers with less researchtraining. Constantly analyzing the ther-apist’s style and technique, even withpositive intentions of learning, may alsoharm the therapy. In addition, studentsmay question if it is appropriate and eth-ical to discuss one’s own patients withthe therapist, either for emotional sup-port or in a supervisory manner. Finally,students may wonder what types of in-terventions would be best suited forthem. For example, they likely do notneed psychoeducation or basic rationaleexplanations of a treatment model ortechnique. Thus, it seems difficult to de-termine what interventions would bemost helpful for psychology graduatestudents and what an ideal therapeuticexperience would entail.
Suggested SolutionsThe Ethical Principles of Psychologists andCode of Conduct (APA, 2017) require thatpsychologists “take appropriate meas-ures” (p. 5) when personal problems im-pede on competent work performance.Thus, it seems important for clinical fac-ulty, supervisors, and mentors to edu-cate trainees regarding appropriatepathways to seek self-care and to estab-
lish concrete and consistent messages re-garding personal therapy. Indeed, inRummell’s (2015) survey study, 44% ofstudents reported dissatisfaction withthe emphasis placed on self-care by theirprogram faculty. Students wished formore modeling of appropriate self-care,more psychoeducation about self-carestrategies, and more empathetic under-standing about the difficulty of balanc-ing the demands of being a graduatestudent. Therefore, it is important thatfaculty members highlight opportuni-ties for students to enter therapy, conveyinformation about the potential benefitsand risks of therapy, and openly en-courage students to engage in self-careand/or enter therapy if the student be-lieves it would be beneficial.
Logistically, it may also be helpful forprograms to establish a list of referralsthat are not affiliated with the university,which would eliminate the arduousprocess of searching for a provider. Acompilation of readily available re-sources also allows students experienc-ing distress to access providersimmediately, without having to disclosesuch matters to the faculty to requestrecommendations. As financial burdenhas been strongly endorsed as a studentbarrier to mental healthcare, training de-partments might consider potentialmeans of reducing costs. For example,schools could develop a cooperativeagreement with local counseling centerswhereby clinicians without an affiliationwith the university would offer servicesto students for a reduced fee or on a slid-ing scale arrangement.
For students, receiving therapy can bean important source of support duringthe demanding training period. Therapycan function not only to treat distressand enhance development, but also to
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provide a valuable experiential learningthat complements formal supervisionand education (Holzman et al., 1996).Therefore, Dearing et al. (2005) sug-gested that graduate students evaluatetheir own attitudes and beliefs regardingpersonal therapy in service of uncover-ing biases preventing them from seekingout support. Before applying to graduateschool, prospective students may wantto consider whether therapy is a require-ment of the program and to take into ac-count any financial considerationsrelated to personal therapy (e.g., whetherthe program has any means of offsettingthe costs of therapy). Students shouldconsider the potential personal and pro-fessional benefits to be gained from en-gaging in therapy and should be awareof the importance of self-care to mini-mize the effects of stress.
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first: A critical evaluation of “Thefamily therapist’s own family.” Inter-national Journal of Psychiatry, 10(1),34-41.
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meeT The neW edITor For PSYCHOTHERAPY BULLETIN!
Joanna M. Drinane, PhD
Hello Division 29/SAP Membership!
My name is Joanna Drinane (she/her) and I am the in-coming editor for the Psychotherapy Bulletin. Thank youvery much to Lynett for her service to the Division inthis capacity! My professional home is as an AssistantProfessor of Counseling Psychology at the Universityof Utah. The vast majority of my research focuses onpsychotherapy process and outcome with an area ofemphasis on the relational and cultural dynamics thatunfold between clients and therapists. My approach tothis work has involved contributing to frameworks fo-cused on cultural process (e.g., multicultural orienta-tion), writing about microaggressions, within therapistidentity-based disparities, and cultural concealment,and exploring how social identity conversations influ-ence the trajectories of change clients undergo while intherapy. I look forward to engaging the divisionthrough the organization and dissemination of criticaldiscourse and emerging trends in our field!
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For more than 20 years, our attachmentresearch teams at Western MichiganUniversity (FWMU) have been usingBowlby’s attachment theory to examineimportant psychotherapy process andoutcome variables. What have wefound? Generally speaking, client andtherapist attachment do matter in psy-chotherapy—often times, in many of thesame ways that John Bowlby wouldhave predicted. According to Bowlby(1988), “unless a therapist can enable his[sic] patient to feel some measure of at-tachment security, therapy cannot evenbegin” (p. 140). Similarly, Mikulincerand Shaver (2007) argued that, in thesame manner that attachment orienta-tions affect close interpersonal relation-ships, attachment orientations of bothclients and therapists may “affect thequality of the client-therapist relation-ship, determine clients’ reactions to ther-apists’ interventions and therapists’reactions to clients’ disclosures, andthereby bias the therapeutic process” (p.454). Thus, an attachment informed per-spective would argue that attachmentsecurity serves as the bedrock of thetherapeutic process.
For instance, attachment theory predictsthat client attachment orientationswould be strongly associated with ther-apy process and outcome (Mikulincer &Shaver, 2007). Indeed, researchers have
consistently reportedthat client attachmentsecurity is positivelyrelated to the workingalliance, whereas clientattachment insecurityhas been found to bedetrimental to work-ing alliance ratings(e.g., Eames & Roth,2000; Kanninen, Salo,& Punamaki, 2000;Kivlighan, Patton, &Foote, 1998; Mallinck-rodt, Gantt, & Cobble,1995; Mallinckrodt,Porter, & Kivlighan,2005; Parish & Eagle,2003; Satterfield & Ly-ddon, 1995).
Similarly, researchers have systemati-cally reviewed studies that examinedthe relationship between client attach-ment orientations and therapy outcome(Berent & Obegi, 2009; Levy, Ellison,Scott, & Bernecker, 2011). For example,Levy and colleagues (2011) conducted ameta-analysis of 19 studies (n = 1,467)examining client attachment and psychotherapy outcome. Overall, theyreported that clients with higher attach-ment anxiety scores showed the least
pSYchoTherapY reSearch, ScIence, and ScholarShIp
Therapist attachment-related Behaviors and Their effects on psychotherapy process and outcome
Eric M. Sauer, PhDJon Hook, BAChar Houben, MAKristin Roberts, MA
Western Michigan University
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improvement in symptoms, whereasmore secure clients had more favorableoutcomes. Somewhat unexpectedly,client attachment avoidance was not sig-nificantly associated with treatment out-come. Similarly, Berent and Obegi (2009)reviewed 13 attachment-outcome stud-ies and concluded that, at “the end ofpsychotherapy, secure clients tend tofunction better, and their overall symp-toms are less severe” (p. 473), althoughthey cautioned that positive outcomesmay result because secure clients entertreatment “less disturbed than their in-secure counterparts” (p. 473). They fur-ther noted that there may be differentialpatterns of treatment response acrossclient attachment orientation and thatthere was emerging evidence that fear-ful clients may take longer to benefitfrom therapy.
Although psychotherapy researchershave an increased understanding aboutclient attachment orientations and theirinfluence on the process and outcome oftherapy, relatively less is known aboutthe impact of therapist attachment. Astheoretically expected, initial findingsgenerally suggest that therapist attach-ment insecurity interferes with theprocess and outcome of psychotherapy(Slade, 2016), but there are some excep-tions. In a systematic review of 11 stud-ies, Degnan, Seymour-Hyde, Harris, andBerry (2016) reported preliminary evi-dence that therapist attachment style hasthe potential to influence the working al-liance and outcome, but some individ-ual study findings were mixed. In onestudy, Bruck, Winston, Aderholt, andMuran (2006) found a direct relationshipbetween therapist attachment securityand improved therapy outcomeswhereby higher attachment security wasmoderately correlated with improvedclient-reported interpersonal problems.In a second study, Schauenburg and col-leagues (2010) found that higher thera-
pist attachment security was associatedwith clients’ improved post-therapysymptoms. In a third study, Sauer,Lopez, and Gormley (2003) found thattherapist attachment anxiety had a posi-tive impact on client working alliancefollowing the first session. Interestingly,this process, however, reversed itselfacross time—therapist attachment anxi-ety had significant negative effects onthe working alliance across time. Sauerand colleagues posited that a workingalliance honeymoon period quicklywaned when clients were working withmore anxiously attached therapists. Incontrast, Ligiero and Gelso (2002) foundno association between therapist attach-ment and working alliance.
Despite the attraction of attachment-in-formed psychotherapy, the progress ofour understanding is slowed by meas-urement-related issues. We believe thatthe rate of attachment research is influ-enced by the difficulty of accuratelymeasuring therapist attachment orienta-tions. For example, although the AdultAttachment Interview (AAI; George,Kaplan, & Main, 1985) is widely usedand considered the gold standard foradult attachment measures, it is some-what unwieldy as it requires extensivetraining and certification. This semi-structured interview yields an individ-ual’s state of mind (or internal workingmodels) related to attachment by assess-ing general and specific childhood rec-ollections. Other attachment researchershave relied on self-report measures suchExperiences in Close Relationships(ECR; Brennan, Clark, & Shaver, 1998) totarget respondents’ perceptions of theirgeneral experiences in close or romanticrelationships. This measure yields twoprimary attachment dimensions—i.e.,attachment anxiety and attachmentavoidance. Slade (2016) notes that whileself-report instruments allow for the
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evaluation of dynamic change, they lackthe potential for more in-depth exami-nation of attachment-related processesthat are provided by interview-basedmeasures. While commonly used, thesemeasures may tell us little about howtherapist’s attachment actually showsup in relational behaviors during ther-apy sessions.
To address this measurement gap, Taliaand colleagues have recently published agroundbreaking measure of therapist at-tachment security called the Therapist At-tunement Scales (TASc; Talia, Muzi,Lingiardi, & Taubner, 2018). This method-ological innovation is used to analyzetherapists’ attunement and attachmentstatus in any given psychotherapy ses-sion. According to Talia and colleagues(2018), therapist attachment experiencesactivate caregiving responses in therapy.By coding transcribed therapy sessions inthis way, Talia has demonstrated that it ispossible to reliably determine therapist at-tachment style by measuring moment-by-moment discursive, relational behaviorwithin a single psychotherapy session.This coding system yields three therapistattachment classifications: secure, preoc-cupied, and dismissing (avoidant). En-couragingly, the attunement scales arehighly convergent with attachment scoresfrom the AAI. Finally, as the authors pre-dicted, the initial validation study foundthat therapist attachment classificationswere highly associated with distinct waysthat they attuned to their clients. Accord-ing to Talia and colleagues, attunement isdescribed as “how therapists communi-cate and reflect the patient’s internalstates” (p. 3).
Under the direct guidance of AlessandroTalia, three doctoral students at WMUare currently training to become reliablecoders of the TASc. Our students havenoted that just being part of this traininghas positively impacted their clinical
work. For example, they are now moremindful of how their own utterancesmay serve to promote or discourage attunement.
This past spring, our research teamlaunched the first study in the UnitedStates using the TASc. We recently pre-sented initial findings at Society for Psy-chotherapy Research (SPR) annualmeeting in Argentina (Sauer et al., 2019).In this study, we used a naturalistic de-sign to examine how therapist attach-ment is associated with working allianceand therapy outcomes in a psychologytraining clinic. In this study, therapy out-come was evaluated with the OutcomeQuestionnaire (OQ 45.2; Lambert et al.,1996) at intake and then before everysubsequent session. The Working Al-liance Inventory Short-Form (WAI-SF;Hatcher & Gillaspy, 2006) was used tomeasure working alliance prior to thesecond session and every subsequentsession. At this point, we have 17 ther-apy dyads coded, consisting of six ther-apist trainees and 17 clients.
Our preliminary findings revealed anumber of interesting findings. First,only one of six trainees was coded as in-secure (avoidant), whereas the five re-maining trainees were coded as secure(no trainees were coded as preoccu-pied). While this is theoretically goodnews for clients, the lack of variation intherapist attachment security made ourinitial analysis somewhat thorny. Wedecided to collapse our dyads into twoattachment groups: avoidant and se-cure. Two clients were seen by the oneavoidant therapist and 15 clients seenby five secure therapists. We next col-lapsed the mean working alliance scoresfor the avoidant therapist and the se-cure therapists across the first five ther-apy sessions. It appears that ouravoidant therapist is clearly struggling
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the TASc, could be used to not only totrack therapeutic interventions retro-spectively, but also to train therapists todeliver interventions in a more secureand effective manner.
referencesBerant, E., & Obegi, J. H. (2009). At-
tachment-informed psychotherapyresearch with adults. In J. H. Obegi &E. Berant (Eds.), Attachment theoryand research in clinical work with adults(pp. 461-489). New York, NY: Guil-ford Press.
Bowlby, J. (1988). A secure base. London,England: Routledge.
Brennan, K. A., Clark, C. L., & Shaver,P. R. (1998). Self-report measurementof adult attachment: An integrativeoverview. Attachment theory and close
relationships. (pp. 46-76) New York,NY: Guilford Press.
Bruck, E., Winston, A., Aderholt, S., &Muran, J. C. (2006). Predictive valid-ity of patient and therapist attach-ment and introject styles. AmericanJournal of Psychotherapy, 60, 393-406.
Degnan, A., Seymour-Hyde, A., Harris,A., & Berry, K. (2016). The role oftherapist attachment in alliance andoutcome: A systematic literature re-view. Clinical Psychology & Psy-chotherapy, 23, 47-65.
Eames, V., & Roth, A. (2000). Patient at-tachment orientation and the earlyworking alliance: A study of patientand therapist reports of alliancequality and ruptures. PsychotherapyResearch, 10, 421-434.
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to develop an early working alliance.That is, she has lower average workingalliance ratings than the secure thera-pists (see Figure 1). While this earlyfinding is tentative in nature, growthmodeling analysis will soon be con-ducted on the full sample. Consistentwith Talia and associates (2018), we ex-pect that these findings will reveal howtherapist attachment-related behaviors,rather than general dispositions, affectrelational and outcome aspects ofclients in psychotherapy.
Perhaps the most important implicationof the future use of this revolutionaryattachment measure points to its impli-cations on training therapists. If securetherapists are indeed more effective, itwill help us identify specific therapist responses that are associated with im-proved attachment security and attune-ment in psychotherapy. Armed withthis knowledge, the obvious next stepwould to teach therapist trainees waysto improve their levels of attunementduring psychotherapy sessions. Thus,
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Figure 1
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George, C., Kaplan, N., & Main, M.(1985). The Adult Attachment Inter-view. Unpublished manuscript, Uni-versity of California at Berkeley.
Hatcher, R. L., & J. Gillaspy. A. (2006).Development and validation of a re-vised short version of the WorkingAlliance Inventory. Psychotherapy Research, 16(1), 12-25. doi:10.1080/10503300500352500
Kanninen, K., Salo, J., & Punamaki, R.L. (2000). Attachment patterns andworking alliance in Trauma therapyfor victims of political violence. Psy-chotherapy Research, 10, 435-449.
Kivlighan, D. M., Jr., Patton, M. J., &Foote, D. (1998). Moderating effectsof client attachment on the counselorexperience-working alliance relation-ship. Journal of Counseling Psychology,45, 274-278.
Lambert, M. J., Hansen, N. B., Um-press, V., Lunnen, K., Okiishi, J., &Burlingame, G. M. (1996). Adminis-tration and scoring manual for the OQ-45.2. Stevenson, MD: AmericanProfessional Credentialing Services.
Levy, K. N., Ellison, W. D., Scott, L. N.,& Bernecker, S. L. (2011). Attachmentstyle. Journal of Clinical Psychology,67, 193-203.
Ligiero, D. P., & Gelso, C. J. (2002).Countertransference, attachment, andthe working alliance: The therapists’contributions. Psychotherapy: Theory,Research, Practice, Training, 39, 3-11.
Mallinckrodt, B., Gantt, D. L., & Coble,H. M. (1995). Attachment patterns inthe psychotherapy relationship: De-velopment of the Client Attachmentto Therapist Scale. Journal of Counsel-ing Psychology, 42, 307-317.
Mallinckrodt, B., Porter, M. J., & Kiv-lighan, D. M., Jr. (2005). Client attach-ment to therapist, depth of in-sessionexploration, and object relations in briefpsychotherapy. Psychotherapy: Theory,Research, Practice, Training, 42, 85-100.
Mikulincer, M., & Shaver, P. R. (2007).Attachment in adulthood: Structure, dy-
namics, and change. New York, NY:Guilford Press.
Parish, M., & Eagle, M. N. (2003). At-tachment to the therapist. Psychoana-lytic Psychology, 20, 271-286.
Satterfield, W. A., & Lyddon, W. J.(1995). Client attachment and per-ceptions of the working alliance withcounselor trainees. Journal of Counsel-ing Psychology, 42, 187-189.doi:10.1037/0022-0167.42.2.187
Sauer, E. M., Lopez, F. G., & Gormley,B. (2003). Respective contributions oftherapist and client adult attachmentorientations to the development ofthe early working alliance: A prelimi-nary growth modeling study. Psy-chotherapy Research, 13(3), 371-382.doi:10.1093/ ptr/kpg027
Sauer, E. M., Rice, K. G., Talia, A., Roberts,K. E., Houben-Hop, C., & Hook, J.(2019). Therapist attachment-related be-haviors and their effects on psychotherapyprocess and outcome. Paper presented atthe 50th International Meeting of theSociety of Psychotherapy Research,Buenos Aries, Argentina.
Schauenburg, H., Bucheim, A., Beckh,K., Nolte, T., Brenk, K., Leichesenring,F., Strack, M., … Dinger, U. (2010).The influence of psychodynamicallyoriented therapists’ attachment rep-resentations on outcome and alliancein inpatient psychotherapy. Psy-chotherapy Research, 20, 193-202.
Slade, A. (2016). Attachment and adultpsychotherapy: Theory, research, andpractice. In J. Cassidy & P. R. Shaver(Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory,research, and clinical applications, (pp.759-779). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Talia, A., Muzi, L., Lingiardi., & Taub-ner, S. (2018) How to be a securebase: Therapists’ attachment repre-sentations and their link to attune-ment in psychotherapy. Attachment &Human Development. doi:10.1080/14616734.2018.1534247
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Just as psychotherapy isa fundamentally human-istic enterprise (Wampold,2007), human interac-tion and social relation-ships are fundamentalto learning the craft
of psychotherapy research. Learningthrough guided apprenticeship (i.e.,mentorship) is common whether one is training to become a physician, aplumber, a scientist, or simply learningto talk (Collins, 2006). The apprentice-ship model has deep roots in the historyof psychotherapy as well—the famousmentorship between Sigmund Freudand Carl Jung is one of countless exam-ples (Humbert, 1988). At its best, men-torship is enjoyable, gratifying, andinspiring for both mentor and mentee(perhaps 1907 to 1911 for Freud andJung). At its worst, mentorship can befrustrating, time consuming, inefficient,and induce feelings of discouragementand resentment for both the mentor andmentee (perhaps 1912 onward for Freudand Jung).
As a second-year assistant professor, Ifind myself in the liminal space betweenmentee and mentor. Both roles have be-come salient parts of my professionalidentity. I am grateful for my experi-ences as a mentee. These relationshipshave been and continue to be deeplysupportive and instructive. I am only be-
ginning to develop my skills in mentor-ship, but my current mentees and earlymissteps have jumpstarted my learningprocess (with gratitude for their pa-tience as I am learning). I offer heresome reflections empirically supportedby only the evidence of my own experi-ence—primarily as mentee and more re-cently as mentor. As these are all myopinions, I have opted to not tire thereader by continuing to restate this factthroughout.
Find a Shared purposeAs Hurston (1996) points out, researchrequires a purpose. Of course, every sci-entific study should have a purpose thatis clearly articulated (and if not, an at-tentive reviewer is likely to highlightthis important limitation). However, theshared purpose that forms the basis of asuccessful mentorship relationship islikely broader than that captured by asingle study. Ideally, the purpose bring-ing one to a particular research areashould be something both mentor andmentee care about sincerely. While re-search being simply “me-search” is itsown liability and can become a source ofbias that inhibits the research process,there is no substitute for actually caringabout the topic you study. A high degreeof overlap in interests can go a long wayin a mentorship relationship.
earlY career
Finding and providing mentorship in psychotherapy research: Six Suggestions for mentors and mentees
Simon B. Goldberg, PhD
Department of Counseling Psychology and the Center for Healthy MindsUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison
“Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.”
—Zora Neale Hurston (1996)
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Mentees-to-be can benefit from askingthemselves, “What aspect of psy-chotherapy truly interests me?” Is it therole of emotional expression, multicul-tural comese reasons and more, it is vitalthat mentors and mentees are able tocommunicate with each other. Commu-nication can be fraught, due to wide va-riety of factors (e.g., histories ofoppression related to social identitiesheld by the mentor and mentee). Per-haps the most notable consideration thatcan influence communication is thepower differential that often exists be-tween mentor and mentee. A graduateadvisor functioning as a mentor may beinvested in a mentee’s scientific devel-opment while simultaneously holdingthe keys to a mentee’s successful com-pletion of their doctoral training. Giventhe power dynamic, the onus to inviteand model transparent communicationis primarily on the mentor. In addition,expectations about the frequency, re-sponsiveness, and means of communi-cation should be defined early andupheld. It can be especially helpful forthe mentor to initiate conversations re-garding the more delicate parts of the re-search process early and often (e.g.,negotiating authorship order).
have FunA final suggestion is that the mentor and mentee bear in mind that trainingin psychotherapy research can (andshould) be fun. This echoes the first partof Hurston’s (1996) definition of researchas formalized curiosity. Those who findthemselves drawn to study psychother-apy are often compelled by a genuinecuriosity about the human experienceand the possibility of healing throughinterpersonal relationships (e.g., be-tween therapist and client). To inhabit amoment in history where we can ex-plore these questions professionally andscientifically is quite remarkable. Psy-chotherapy research offers a full-body
work-out for the mind and heart, en-gaging at the intersection of rich theo-retical traditions and cutting-edgequantitative and qualitative methods,set against the backdrop of a commit-ment to promoting human flourishing,reducing suffering, and working to-wards social justice and inclusivity. Ifthat is not fun, I do not know what is.
conclusionMentorship relationships are a primaryway that we learn to become psy-chotherapy researchers (and prettymuch anything else). Mentorship rela-tionships can be one of the best parts ofour work and training. Yet just like apsychotherapy relationship, smoothsailing is not guaranteed. It is importantto recognize that not all mentorship re-lationships are the aspirational well-oiled machine outlined here. Indeed,evidence suggests that almost 50% ofgraduate school mentorship relation-ships are not (at least according to thegraduate student; Evans et al., 2018). Afinal suggestion is that mentors andmentees choose each other wisely andrecognize that there may be times whenit is appropriate and most supportive togo separate ways. Not all mentorship re-lationships are a good match and it canbe helpful to recognize this early andplan accordingly.
However, my hope is that by pursuingthe factors outlined here, mentors andmentees can be better-equipped tospend their energies not on rupturingand repairing their mentorship relation-ship, but on addressing the important,timely, and fun questions we get to ex-plore as psychotherapy researchers, likewhat makes psychotherapy work anyways?
referencesCollins, A. (2006). Cognitive appren-
ticeship. In R. K. Sawyer (Ed.), The
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Cambridge handbook of the learning sci-ences (pp. 47-60). New York, NY:Cambridge University Press.
Evans, T. M., Bira, L., Gastelum, J. B.,Weiss, L. T., & Vanderford, N. L.(2018). Evidence for a mental healthcrisis in graduate education. NatureBiotechnology, 36(3), 282-284. doi:10.1038/nbt.4089.
Humbert, E. (1988). C. G. Jung. Wil-
mette, IL: Chiron Publications.Hurston, Z. N. (1996). Dust tracks on a
road: An autobiography. New York,NY: Harper Collins.
Wampold, B. E. (2007). Psychotherapy:The humanistic (and effective) treat-ment. American Psychologist, 62(8),857-873. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.62.8.857
meeT The neW InTerneT edITor!
Kourtney Schroeder, MS
I am thrilled to announce my continuation and transi-tion within the Society for the Advancement of Psychother-apy Website Team. Having worked as the AssociateEditor of Website Content for the past three years, I havebeen a part of the expansion and growth of the websiteand its team. I have had the privilege of getting to knowthe mechanisms and dynamics of the website and meet-ing many wonderful authors through my role.
Transitioning into my new role as the Internet Editor, I amtruly going to miss Amy Ellis, PhD, and her dedication tothe website. I am hopeful that I can achieve just as muchas she has over the numerous years she has devoted to thedivision and website. I am excited to continue workingwith Elizabeth Kilmer, MS, the new Associate Editor ofWebsite Content, who is brilliant and provides so muchsupport to our team. Additionally, the newest member ofthe website team is Kelly Santandrea, PsyD, the AssistantEditor of Social Media, who has already provided somuch help and an eagerness to learn with our team.
I am currently working at Community Healthlink Youthand Family Services for my predoctoral internship. Mylong-term professional goals include working with chil-dren and adolescents, as well as their families, with afocus on trauma and adverse life events. I am eager tocontinue working with the website team and Bulletinteam. I am grateful to our Board members, our readers,and our Division members. I am excited to see what thisnew role will bring!
Be a blank slate, butalso be an advocate.Wait, no, not like that.
In graduate school, weare taught to hopefullybecome ethical, effec-tive psychological
practitioners. That model pretends thatpsychology exists in a bubble and is notsubjected to the outside world’s judg-ments, prejudice, and ignorance; psy-chotherapy is often intended toempower people to cope with theworld’s stressors without internalizingthe negativity while simultaneouslygaining the self-regulation necessary tomanage personal triggers and patternsas these stressors arise. This works, solong as the therapist manages their ownreaction to their environment, hence theubiquitous term, “self-care.”
After graduating with a master’s degreein forensic psychology, I worked for anoutpatient substance abuse and domes-tic violence agency. My specialty wasworking with men and women con-victed of intimate partner abuse. Vio-lence never phased me—at least when Ihad the opportunity to work with peo-ple trying to curb hostile behaviors. Infact, I found myself most drawn toclients with histories of deviant, abusivebehavior because they often had thegreatest motivation for change.
This mentality shifted, however, when Ibegan working as an undergraduate in-structor of psychology and criminal justice in rural Oklahoma. I traded a
comfortable life of working with adultoffenders in the Boulder Valley of north-ern Colorado and moved 400 miles to atown that prides itself on being called“No Man’s Land.” I knew that workingas an openly gay, Latino faculty memberwould be a substantive change of pacefor me, but I was prepared for the chal-lenge; I told myself that this would be anopportunity to be a role model for mar-ginalized students and that I could opena small practice in this town to help peo-ple cope with the prejudice so frequentlyseen in rural areas. I never realized theimpossible task with which I had pre-sented myself.
Oklahoma Panhandle State University islocated in Goodwell, Oklahoma—atown of roughly 1,600 people when theuniversity is in session. Of those,roughly 150 are actual residents of thetown, and I can count on one hand howmany do not present themselves as cis-gender, heterosexual, White, and con-servative. I knew how to manage beingdifferent; I knew that as faculty, I held aprivileged status that protected me fromviolence and hatred that queer peoplefear in areas like this. I told myself that Iwould be safe and that I personally hadno reason to worry.
This mentality protected me for the firstthree days of this new endeavor. Shortlythereafter, though, I was informed thatnumerous students had experienced ar-rays of emotional, physical, and sexualabuse. By the end of my first month, I
puBlIc InTereST and SocIal JuSTIce
Gay in oK: Self-care and advocacy as a member of a Target Group
Tye Stephens, MAOklahoma Panhandle State University
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was explicitly in the midst of a larger epi-demic that continues to be amplified inrural communities; I found myself furi-ous at a system that discouraged sur-vivors of bias-motivated violence fromfinding their voices and advocating forchange because of fear of retaliation. Thisrural, middle-of-nowhere universitycontinued to provide protection for thosewho caused this harm while activelyturning a blind eye to those affected bythis oppressive, rejective system.
I never worked clinically with these stu-dents, and none of them were even en-rolled in my classes; they simply hadnowhere else to turn in this tiny townthat implicitly encourages discrimina-tion. They came to my office becausethey wanted an advocate; they wantedto be seen, and I wanted them to be seen.This problem isn’t unique, however. It’scongruent with a trend nationwide thatmarginalized individuals are beingpushed further toward society’s fringes.
The issue at hand is not the emotionaltoll of being surrounded by pain, vio-lence, and trauma. The issue is that stu-dents in this area have so few lifelines orsupport systems that I have been tossedinto the role of advocate because no oneelse here is ready for that challenge. Idon’t know that I am either, but I alsocannot in good conscience continue leav-ing queer students feeling dejected andoverlooked. I’ve been there; I’ve been thestudent who was told to “be less gay” inorder to escape violence. I’ve been theuntethered, unsupported outcast whowanted nothing more than someone tosay that my fight was worth fighting.
Now, as faculty, I sit in this space of dev-astation and rage. I want to be able totell these students the cliché, “it gets bet-ter,” and I want to be able to tell themthat our culture is worthy of acknowl-edgment and respect. I want to say that
the world of academia is growing andchanging—that it is embracing thosewho don’t fit neatly into traditional la-bels and that diversity is celebrated. Iwant to believe that it is safe to be dif-ferent in Oklahoma.
The devastating reality, though: It isn’t.At least not yet.
I tell myself that things will get betterhere as time goes on. Maybe I’m thevoice of change. Maybe being a high-sta-tus, queer representative in academiawill give me space to facilitate thatchange. I tell myself that maybe show-ing the people of rural Oklahoma thatqueer culture is real and valid willchange mindsets. I want to believe that Ican help Panhandle State become aplace where diversity is accepted andwhere culture can grow; but nonethe-less, I find myself wearing traditionallymasculine clothes, monitoring my bodylanguage, and making sure my voicefalls into the expected baritone timbre ofmy male colleagues.
Growth only happens when we arebrave enough to challenge the statusquo. I want to challenge these expecta-tions, but I also want to be safe. I wantmy students to be safe. Being queer inOklahoma is a risk that we take everysingle day. Coming out is a daily prac-tice, and the omnipresent fear for phys-ical and social safety is integrated intothat practice.
In urban environments, we are givenspace to find like-minded people. We aretold to engage with peers and to grow asa community. In places like Goodwell,we are told, “You can get married now,so stop complaining.” We look for theone-second-too-long eye contact thatsays “I’m a safe person.” We look for fac-ulty with rainbow flags on their office
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doors, and we pray for space where wecan be our most authentic selves, thoughthose spaces are rare.
Without a community, loving and caringfor oneself becomes a particularlydaunting task. Learning to accept your-self—and learning to find safety andcompassion—are challenges that no oneprepares you for. Being an example ofdiversity also means that I am taskedwith practicing self-care and self-for-giveness. The LGBTQ students herehave been told in unspoken messagesthat they do not have a place in acade-mia, yet I want them to know that theybelong just as much as anyone else.
The problem with this, however, is thatbeing queer-affirming in an environ-ment that still advocates for suppressionand conversion takes a toll on the well-being of all of us, even the out-and-proud advocates. Self-care for ruralqueer people does not include bubblebaths and face masks. Self-care is find-ing space to be authentic, finding affir-mation and acceptance, and findingtheir voice in a fight that seems impossi-ble. Surviving this space requires all ofus to acknowledge the unspoken mes-sages and scream until they are ad-dressed. It also requires us to supportone another when our voices are tiredand our hearts are heavy.
Being gay in rural Oklahoma means thatthe advocacy never stops. It means thatI am always going to be tired, because Iwill always be fighting for the rights of
myself and my queer family to surviveauthentically. This is an exhausting bat-tle, but it is one that I will choose everysingle day until every single student hasthe same opportunities. Unfortunately,this battle will likely continue long pastmy tenure and my lifetime. So we mustempower the next generation to take onthis battle too.
This perpetual aggravation is why self-care matters. This is why I have to con-tinue doing my own work, learning andmanaging triggers, and taking time tojust breathe. More than anything,though, I’m learning to give myselfspace to simply be mad at this injus-tice—to feel the pain and the longing forinclusion. Self-care for me is so muchmore than doing small things that feelgood; self-care is staring straight into thepain and becoming comfortable enoughwith it to act upon it and facilitatechange. If I am unwilling to sit with thatpain, then I have no right to challengethis corruption or to ask anyone else todo the same.
As a queer person with a substantiveamount of privilege, I continue to befrustrated, but I know that I am only oneperson. I challenge myself to do betterevery single day because these studentsdeserve better. My community deservesbetter.
We must all do better. Fellow academes,it isn’t enough to “do no harm,” any-more. We have to fight and protect thosewho come to us for support.
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Walking the hallway ofthe Psychotherapy andBehavior Change Labthroughout the courseof my graduate train-ing, I often glanced at apaper that my mentorhad taped to one of the
doors, which cited Paul’s (1967) iconicquestion: ‘‘What treatment, by whom, ismost effective for this individual withthat specific problem, and under whichset of circumstances?’’ As I learnedabout evidence-based psychotherapies,I thought that treatment selection was atthe core of Paul’s dilemma. Nonetheless,I soon began being exposed to clinicalwork at my initial clinical practicum, acommunity mental health clinic affili-ated with my institution. Needless tosay, none of my clients seemed to be aperfect match for any of the treatmentsthat I had learned. The reality of clinicalwork, I learned, was much more com-plex than I had anticipated. I was par-ticularly struck by the frequency ofcomorbid and co-occurring conditions,while also noticing that most of the spe-cific problems that my clients wanted toaddress in therapy were nowhere to befound in DSM-5 (American PsychiatricAssociation, 2013). Over the course ofmy graduate training, I was also in-creasingly exposed to the medicalmodel, completing several clinicalpracticums at medical centers. Althoughthat symptom-based framework helpedme communicate and collaborate withproviders from other disciplines, it didnot necessarily promote the conceptual-ization of my clients’ presenting prob-
lems. The work of therapists, I finallyunderstood, required much more cre-ativity than I could have ever imagined.As I began to devote more attention totreatment personalization, I noticed thattailoring interventions to the needs ofeach individual was a transactionalprocess. Just like a salesperson displayspaint swatches and suggests color com-binations, therapists introduce strategiesand approaches, but it is ultimatelyclients who determine which ones bestfit their needs and context. The aptlynamed working alliance successfullycaptured this transactional nature of thetherapeutic relationship that I was ex-periencing with my clients. Negotiatingthe selection and prioritization of treat-ment goals and tasks allowed me todraw connections between the underly-ing psychological processes I intendedto target with interventions and myclients’ individual goals. Trackingclients’ progress toward the achieve-ment of these idiographic goals alsoproved to serve as a much more validcompass than observing changes onsymptom-based measures. These idio-graphic measures helped me navigateand respond to the ever-changing con-text of psychotherapy, supporting myability to be flexible and responsive. Italso afforded me with the opportunityto be creative, forcing me to survey myclinical repertoire to identify and adaptclinical interventions so that they couldbe relevant to my clients’ unique goals.These experiences support my currentunderstanding of psychotherapy as a
continued on page 34
STudenT FeaTure
clinical creativity and Idiographic Goals in psychotherapy
Matteo Bugatti, MAUniversity at Albany, SUNY
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combination its two interdependent as-pects of art and science. On the onehand, the creative therapist adapts evi-dence-based interventions to the contextand needs of each client, while on theother, observing the process and out-comes produced by these creative adap-tations can inspire future researchendeavors, ultimately promoting the advancement of the field.
referencesAmerican Psychiatric Association.
(2013). Diagnostic and statistical man-ual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Wash-ington, DC: Author.
Paul, G. L. (1967). Strategy of outcomeresearch in psychotherapy. Journal ofConsulting Psychology, 31(2), 109-118.doi: 10.1037/h0024436
ANNOUNCEMENT of our next international conference program:The International Domain of Div. 29 Society for the Advancementof Psychotherapy (SAP) is organizing a conference trip to the 32nd
International Congress of Psychology in Prague, The CzechRepublic, July 19 – 24, 2020. The program committee (Drs. Rodney Goodyear, Keeyeon Bang, and Changming Duan) will helporganize symposia, round-tables, debates, or other group programs.They will be sending you invitation for joining us in this effort soonthrough Divisional listserv. Meanwhile our social co-chairs are Drs.Lauren Behrman and Maria del Pilar Grazioso, who will be planningfor a reception at the conference for all our divisional members andguests. See the flier for the conference information. The deadline forsubmitting abstract is December 1, 2019. Please visit the website formore information: https://www.icp2020.com/
Hope to see you in Prague!
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The ever-changingpractice environmentVisionary Ken Drudehas been on the cutting-edge of psychology’sincreasing awarenessof the long-term impli-cations of telehealth for
the clinician and most importantly, forpotential clients. Most recently, he hasurged our colleagues to also appreciatethe importance of their Continuing Professional Development (CPD) pro-files and especially to ensure that theyincorporate experiences addressing thenation’s ever-changing practice envi-ronment; for example, the unprece-dented advances occurring within thetechnology and communications fields,as well as the steady maturation of in-terprofessional (IPE) and integratedcare. Ken notes that CPD is the respon-sibility (often legally required) of allpracticing health professionals in orderto maintain and enhance their perform-ance with the goal of ultimately achiev-ing improved health outcomes. And,that this is fundamentally a lifelonglearning process which begins duringgraduate and postgraduate educationand continues long after obtaining li-censure. Although initially clinicianswere most likely exposed to highlystructured CPD, as their careers developthey have considerable discretion incrafting their learning processes.
BushmasterOne of the unique challenges of work-ing at the Uniformed Services Univer-sity (USU) is the opportunity to explorefirst-hand how a graduate health
professions institution can effectively integrate “real life” clinical experiencesinto the academic educational process.The USU Bushmaster experience—twoweeks of didactic classes followed byfour days of field participation—ad-dresses this mission; quite impressively,I would add. “Smoke fills the night sky,voices of the ‘wounded’ call out for help,and exploding bombs and gunfire stirturmoil on a mock battlefield.” Studentsare expected to bring order out of thischaos by locating and triaging thewounded, in the midst of a simulatedmass casualty, under the watchful eye ofUSU faculty. The exercise augments les-sons learned in classrooms and serves asthe final exam for the Military and Con-tingency Medicine course taken by allfourth-year medical students, as well asstudents from psychology and nursing.
“Mental health providers play an essen-tial role in military operations. The goalis to promote psychological health encompassing wellness in body, mind,and spirit for Service Members. Aftermonths of anticipation, the USU clinicalpsychology and psychiatric mentalhealth nurse practitioner programs re-cently collaborated at Operation Bush-master, an annual exercise held at FortIndiantown Gap, Pennsylvania. A teamof nurse practitioner and psychologystudents established and maintained aCombat and Operational Stress Control(COSC) clinic in the rain-soaked fields ofAtropia, similar to what is expected dur-ing an actual operational setting. TheCOSC clinic can be used for both com-bat deployments or operations at home,
WaShInGTon Scene
“You Gotta Go Where You Wanna Go”
Pat DeLeon, PhDFormer APA President
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like natural disasters. We provided indi-vidual and group psychological first aidto casualties, including those participat-ing in a jogging marathon subject to anunanticipated hostile blast. Bushmastershowed us how to apply our unique per-spective as a clinical provider within a deployed setting. Our focus was on im-plementing preventive measures andearly recognition of stress and fatigue.Working together, we had the opportu-nity to educate other students on the im-portance of supporting our troops’ mentalhealth and morale needs downrange.
“Our other assignment was to performa real-world unit need assessment forthe deployed ‘Commander.’ We en-gaged with the behavioral health officerand each platoon during our time atBushmaster. We worked as a team to col-lect data about the health and welfare ofthe platoons we supported during themedical operations. Working with theseunits multiple times allowed us to lookfor long-term trends of how the platoonsperformed.
“Back on campus, we will brief the com-mand team after sorting through thequalitative and quantitative data collectedfrom the medical and nursing students.The command brief and its recommenda-tions are expected to help leaders makebetter-informed decisions when planningfor future operations. When the USUmotto is ‘Learning to Care for Those inHarm’s Way,’ it is only natural to havemuddy fields serve as extensions of theclassroom. The inter-professional trainingdemonstrated how the USU signaturecurriculum prepares students for combatand operational settings.
“As a military officer and future mentalhealth provider, this gave us excellent in-sight in working with interdisciplinary,inter-service professionals. The inter-pro-fessional aspect allowed us to compre-
hend better how each member is valu-able to the team and the mission. Our ed-ucation at USU has well prepared us forthe clinical environment. Bushmaster hasindeed prepared us for future clinical andleadership experience in a deployed set-ting” [Joseph Leondike, Maj, USAF, NC& Yosef Fufa, MAJ, USA, AN].
How realistic is Bushmaster? I person-ally was extraordinarily impressed bythe overwhelming student response to Shetland, a two-year old GoldenLabrador Retriever service dog. Mealswere put aside and transport vans spon-taneously stopped allowing their occu-pants to exit and interact with Shetland.Military Service Dogs are trained to mit-igate the effects of post-traumatic stress.It was quite evident that those partici-pating in this field exercise were feelingconsiderable stress. Is there anythingsimilar for students and practitioners inthe private sector? USU Medical Histo-rian Dale Smith points out that JCAH re-quires mass casualty drills in teachinghospitals and that the Homeland Secu-rity/USPHS Disaster Medicine teamsalso drill in communities, all volunteer;thus, providing special opportunities forthose interested in obtaining this uniqueexperience.
reflections From the past“When I was elected President of APA,to serve in 1996, I was only the 9th
woman to hold the office. I saw it as anopportunity to hear the voices of womenpsychologists. At the convention prior tomy Presidential year, I convened agroup of women who were leaders inAPA to brainstorm a worthwhile projectthat I could implement as President. Theresult was the Task Force on AdolescentGirls, whose charge was to present thatage group as more than just eating dis-ordered or pregnant. The products of theTask Force were a scholarly book and a
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book for parents of adolescent girls andtheir daughters.
“In another vein, we were fighting theonset of managed care at that time. Stan-ley Graham, a former APA President,suggested that I team up with his friend,Harold Eist, who was then President ofthe American Psychiatric Association, toformulate something to combat man-aged care. It occurred to me that if psy-chiatrists got in trouble with theinsurance companies, they would stillhave to be reimbursed. But if psycholo-gists got in trouble, the insurance com-panies could turn to less well-trainedmental health professionals. Dr. Eist andI convened a group of Presidents of allthe mental health professional associa-tions. The outcome of our year of workwas a document entitled Your MentalHealth Rights, which we distributed to allof the Members of Congress and theWhite House, and was incorporated intothe Clinton Administration’s Patient Billof Rights. Sadly, managed care pre-vailed, but we fought the good fight.
“There isn’t a lot that can be accom-plished in a year as President of APA,but at the time, every Past-President ro-tated onto the Board of the AmericanPsychological Foundation (APF). I came
on the Board in 1998, and have servedever since, including 15 years as Presi-dent. The length of my service there al-lowed me to lead us to profoundchanges in APF. When I began my firstterm, APF had an endowment of about$4 million dollars and was known pri-marily in APA circles for giving GoldMedals to senior psychologists in sev-eral fields. Today, the endowment hasgrown to the point that we give away $1million a year in grants and scholar-ships. We have defined our role as help-ing young psychologists, both studentsand early career psychologists, getstarted in their careers while serving theneeds of society. The image of APF haschanged to that of a serious Foundationto which psychologists should, and do,donate in order to give back to the pro-fession and to society” (Dorothy Can-tor). A teacher prior to entering the fieldof psychology, Dorothy is a colleaguewho truly appreciates the importance ofquality education; she is currently serv-ing as Vice Chair of the Board of Gover-nors of Rutgers University.
“Do what you wanna do.” [The Mamasand the Papas].
Aloha.
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Dear SAP members:
As 2019 draws to a close,so does my term asPublications Board Chairand my term on thePub board. It has beena real pleasure to work
for the division in this capacity! Specialthanks to Tracey Martin for orienting—and reorienting—me about so many as-pects of the division that were new.
To my colleagues on the PublicationsBoard—Brien Goodwin, Robert Hatcher(Incoming Chair), Sarah Knox, PaulKwon, Heather Lyons, and TerenceTracey—thank you for being suchthoughtful, creative, and reliable com-patriots. Very special appreciation tooutgoing members Brien Goodwin andHeather Lyons for their years of cheer-ful and dedicated service.
Work on the Publications Board isdwarfed by the everyday, and sometimesall-day(!) amazing efforts of our editors:Psychotherapy Editor Mark Hilsenroth,Psychotherapy Bulletin Editor Lynett Hen-derson Metzger, and Website/Inter-net/Social Media Editor Amy Ellis andtheir teams. These publications are theheart and mind of our division and theface of it—not only to SAP members butto the psychotherapy community in gen-eral. Their success is our success as mem-bers, and very successful they are! I inviteall members to join me in thanking eachof them. Amy, Lynett, and Mark: Thankyou very much!!
Both Lynett and Amy are outgoing in2019, thus I would like to pause for afew words of appreciation—both about,and from, them.
lynett henderson metzger will be ro-tating out of the editorship of the psy-chotherapy Bulletin at the end of 2019.Lynett has served the Bulletin with ded-ication, innovation, and success since2011!—first as Associate Editor from2011-2013, and then since January 2014for two terms as Editor. For her, the mostrewarding aspects of the job are “thepeople with whom I get to work! It is areal privilege to get to know the authorsthrough their words, and the entire SAPTeam exemplifies dedication to the workand to the field. I have learned so much,and have so much respect for this or-ganization.” Regarding challenges andopportunities ahead for the Bulletin—and SAP publications in general—shenotes that “our society is in the midst of aparadigm shift in terms of how informa-tion is created, exchanged, and con-sumed. In the coming months and years,SAP will have to navigate those waterslike everyone else, and it remains to seewhat the role of the Bulletin will emergeto be. And, of course, there is the ubiqui-tous challenge of continuing to producetimely, quality content on a quarterlybasis—for which I am (and every futureEditor will be) enormously grateful.” Allare invited to submit articles at any time.
On behalf of the SAP membership andreadership, the Publications and Com-munications Board is very grateful toLynett for her years of dedicated servicein keeping the SAP informed about Di-vision matters, transitions, and oppor-tunities for engagement by members.Beyond those functions, the excellentcontent of the Bulletin under her leader-ship has educated and informed ourwork in psychotherapy practice, train-
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a note From the outgoing publications and
communications Board chair
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ing and research in many engaging andinteresting articles. Thank you verymuch, Lynett!
amy ellis will be rotating out of theWeb/Internet/Social media editorshipat the end of 2019. Amy has been lead-ing the charge to improve our internet,website and social media presence sinceJanuary 2017, having served previouslyas Associate Editor from January 2014 toDecember 2016. This work involvesmyriad responsibilities including the“back” and “front” ends of our website,and indeed she deems the most reward-ing and enjoyable part of her work tohave been “Seeing the website take off.When I first started in 2015, the websitewas basically a bulletin board thatposted stagnant information. Since then,the website has taken off and is truly aninteractive and innovative platform.When we launched the website back in2014, we had 8,106 users for the year. Atour most recent report for the Publica-tions Board, we had 125,000 for the year.Over the past 5 years, we’ve had over600,000 new users. This has been so in-credibly rewarding as I’ve seen the web-site truly blossom and reach far moreindividuals. In addition, there are nowthousands of people (including somenonpsychologists/ interested laypeople)on our eNewsletter listserv, whose con-tent articles acts as a public image ofwhat psychotherapy stands for and howit can benefit people.” Truly, our web-based publications serve to “give psy-
chology away” in the best sense of thatword. Amy notes that challenges aheadinclude figuring out how we can workto foster continued interest and intrigueon the website, thinking strategicallyabout how to go beyond just articles andperhaps to create short therapy, re-search, and advocacy videos. She notesthat the team is “super open” to addedinput and help, and if anyone is inter-ested, their volunteer efforts would behugely welcomed! She has really en-joyed getting to know the people andnotes that she has built some lasting pro-fessional and personal relationships thathave really made her tenure in 29 my di-vision her “home” in APA. Thank you,Amy, for your tireless and good hu-mored attention to detail, substance andawesome metrics!
As we transition, both of these outletswill be in good hands with our new ed-itors, who begin their terms January2020. Stay tuned in upcoming Bulletinsfor introductions from KourtneySchroeder, Incoming Internet & SocialMedia Editor, and Joanna Drinane, in-coming Bulletin Editor. There will also beintroductions to our two incoming com-mittee members, and our new Commit-tee Chair, Robert Hatcher.
All the best,
Laurie Heatherington, PhDOutgoing Chair, Publications andCommunications Board
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2020 charles J. Gelso psychotherapy research Grants
Brief Statement about the Grant program
The Charles J. Gelso, Ph.D., Psychotherapy Research Grants, offered annually bythe Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy to graduate students, predoc-toral interns, postdoctoral fellows, and psychologists (including early career psy-chologists), provide three $5,000 grants toward the advancement of research onpsychotherapy process and/or psychotherapy outcome.
eligibility
All graduate students, predoctoral interns, postdoctoral fellows, and doctoral-levelresearchers with a promising or successful record of publication are eligible for thegrant. The research committee reserves the right not to award a grant if there areinsufficient submissions or submissions do not meet the criteria stated.
Submission deadline: April 1, 2020
request for proposalscharleS J. GelSo, ph.d. GranT
description
This program awards grants for research projects in the area of psychotherapyprocess and/or outcome.
program Goals
• Advance understanding of psychotherapy process and/or psychotherapy outcome through support of empirical research
• Encourage talented graduate students towards careers in psychotherapy research
• Support psychologists engaged in quality psychotherapy research
Funding Specifics
• Three (3) annual grants of $5,000 each to be paid in one lump sum to the re-searcher, to the researcher’s university grants and contracts office, or to an in-corporated company. Individuals who receive the funds could incur tax liabilities.A researcher can win only one of these grants (see Additional Information sectionbelow).
• Funds must be transferred to the researcher, university grants and contracts of-fice, or to an incorporated company by December 15 of the year in which thegrant award notification is made.
eligibility requirements
• Demonstrated or burgeoning competence in the area of proposed work
call for submissions
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• IRB approval must be received from the principal investigator’s institution be-fore funding can be awarded if human participants are involved
• The same project/lab may not receive funding two years in a row
• Applicant must be a member of the Society for the Advancement of Psy-chotherapy (Division 29 of APA). Join the Society at http://societyforpsy-chotherapy.org/
evaluation criteria
• Conformance with goals listed above under “Program Goals”
• Magnitude of incremental contribution in topic area
• Quality of proposed work
• Applicant’s competence to execute the project
• Appropriate plan for data collection and completion of the project
proposal requirements for all proposals
• Description of the proposed project to include, title, goals, relevant background,target population, methods, anticipated outcomes, and dissemination plans: notto exceed 3 single-spaced pages (1 inch margins, no smaller than 11-point font)
• CV of the principal investigator: not to exceed 2 single-spaced pages andshould focus on research activities
• A 300-word biosketch that describes why your experiences and qualificationsmake you suited for successfully carrying out this research proposal.
• Timeline for execution (priority given to projects that can be completed withintwo years)
• Full budget and justification (indirect costs not permitted), which should takeup no more than 1 additional page (the budget should clearly indicate how thegrant funds would be spent)
• Funds may be used to initiate a new project or to supplement additional fund-ing. The research may be at any stage. In any case, justification must be pro-vided for the request of the current grant funds. If the funds will supplementother funding or if the research is already in progress, please explain why theadditional funds are needed (e.g., in order to add a new component to thestudy, add additional participants, etc.)
• No additional materials are required for doctoral level psychologists who arenot postdoctoral fellows
• Graduate students, predoctoral interns, and postdoctoral fellows should referthe section immediately below for additional materials that are required.
additional proposal requirements for Graduate Students, predoctoral Interns,and postdoctoral Fellows:• Graduate students, pre-doctoral interns, and postdoctoral fellows should also
submit the CV of the mentor who will supervise the workcontinued on page 42
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• Graduate students and pre-doctoral interns must also submit 2 letters of rec-ommendation, one from the mentor who will be providing guidance duringthe completion of the project and this letter must indicate the nature of thementoring relationship
• Postdoctoral fellows must submit 1 letter of recommendation from the mentorwho will be providing guidance during the completion of the project and thisletter should indicate the nature of the mentoring relationship
additional Information
• After the project is complete, a full accounting of the project’s income and expenses must be submitted within six months of completion
• Grant funds that are not spent on the project within two years must be returned
• When the resulting research is published, the grant must be acknowledged
• All individuals who directly receive funds from the Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy will be required to complete an IRS w-9 form prior to the release of funds, and will be sent a 1099 after the end of the fiscal year (December 31)
Submission process and deadline
• All materials must be submitted electronically
• All applicants must complete the grant application form, in MSWord or othertext format
• CV(s) may be submitted in text or PDF format. If submitting more than 1 CV,then all CVs must be included in 1 electronic document/file
• Proposal and budget must be submitted in 1 file, with a cover sheet to includethe name of the principal investigator and complete contact information (ad-dress, phone, fax, email)
• Submit all required materials for proposal to: Tracey A. Martin in the Societyfor the Advancement of Psychotherapy (Division 29 of APA) Central Office,[email protected]
• You will receive an electronic confirmation of your submission within 24 hours.If you do not receive confirmation, your proposal was not received; please re-submit.
• Deadline: April 1, 2020
Questions about this program should be directed to the Society for the Advance-ment of Psychotherapy Science and Scholarship Domain Representative (Dr. Patricia T. Spangler at [email protected]), or Tracey A. Martin in theSociety for the Advancement of Psychotherapy (Division 29 of APA) Central Office, [email protected].
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Brief Statement about the Grant:
The Norine Johnson, Ph.D., Psychotherapy Research Grant, offered annually bythe Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy to Early Career Psychologists(within 10 years post earning the doctoral degree), provides $10,000 toward the ad-vancement of research on psychotherapy. All aspects of psychotherapy researchcan be supported, including the psychotherapy relationship, psychotherapyprocess, or psychotherapy outcomes.
eligibility
Early Career (within 10 years post earning the doctoral degree) Doctoral-level re-searchers with a successful record of publication are eligible for the grant.
Submission deadline: April 1, 2020
request for proposals
norIne JohnSon, ph.d., pSYchoTherapY reSearch GranT for early career psychologists
descriptionThis program awards grants to early career psychologists (ECPs) for research onpsychotherapy. All aspects of psychotherapy research can be supported, includingthe psychotherapy relationship, psychotherapy process, or psychotherapy out-comes.
program GoalsAdvance understanding of psychotherapy (psychotherapy relationship, process,and/or outcomes) through support of empirical researchEncourage early career researchers with a successful record of publication to un-dertake research in these areas
Funding Specifics
• One annual grant of $10,000 to be paid in one lump sum to the researcher, tothe researcher’s university grants and contracts office, or to an incorporatedcompany. Individuals who receive the funds could incur tax liabilities (see Ad-ditional Information section below).
• Funds must be transferred to the researcher, university grants and contracts of-fice, or to an incorporated company by December 15 of the year in which thegrant award notification is made.
eligibility requirements
• Early Career (within 10 years post earning the doctoral degree), Doctoral-levelresearchers
continued on page 44
2020 norine Johnson psychotherapy researchGrant for early career psychologists
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• Demonstrated competence in the area of proposed work
• IRB approval must be received from the principal investigator’s institution be-fore funding can be awarded if human participants are involved
• The selection committee may elect to award the grant to the same individual orresearch team up to two consecutive years
• The selection committee may choose not to award the grant in years when nosuitable nominations are received
• Researcher must be a member of the Society for the Advancement of Psy-chotherapy. Join the society at http://societyforpsychotherapy.org/
evaluation criteria
• Conformance with goals listed above under “Program Goals”
• Magnitude of incremental contribution in topic area
• Quality of proposed work
• Applicant’s competence to execute the project
• Appropriate plan for data collection and completion of the project
proposal requirements for all proposals
• Description of the proposed project to include title, goals, relevant background,target population, methods, anticipated outcomes, and dissemination plans:not to exceed 3 single-spaced pages (1 inch margins, no smaller than 11-pointfont)
• CV of the principal investigator: not to exceed 2 single-spaced pages andshould focus on research activities
• A 300-word biosketch that describes why your experiences and qualificationsmake you suited for successfully carrying out this research proposal.
• Timeline for execution (priority given to projects that can be completed within2 years)
• Full budget and justification (indirect costs not permitted), which should takeup no more than 1 additional page (the budget should clearly indicate how thegrant funds would be spent)
• Funds may be used to initiate a new project or to supplement additional fund-ing. The research may be at any stage. In any case, justification must be pro-vided for the request of the current grant funds. If the funds will supplementother funding or if the research is already in progress, please explain why theadditional funds are needed (e.g., in order to add a new component to thestudy, add additional participants, etc.)
continued on page 45
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additional Information
• After the project is completed, a full accounting of the project’s income and ex-penses must be submitted within six months of completion
• Grant funds that are not spent on the project within two years of receipt mustbe returned
• When the resulting research is published, the grant must be acknowledged byfootnote in the publication
• All individuals directly receiving funds from the Society for the Advancementof Psychotherapy will be required to complete an IRS w-9 form prior to the re-lease of funds, and will be sent a 1099 after the end of the fiscal year (December31)
Submission process and deadline
• All materials must be submitted electronically at the same time
• All applicants must complete the grant application form, in MSWord or othertext format
• CV(s) may be submitted in text or PDF format. If submitting more than 1 CV,then all CVs must be included in 1 electronic document/file
• Proposal and budget must be submitted in 1 file, with a cover sheet to includethe name of the principal investigator and complete contact information (ad-dress, phone, fax, email)
• Submit all required materials for proposal to: Tracey A. Martin in the Societyfor the Advancement of Psychotherapy (Division 29 of APA) Central Office,[email protected]
• You will receive an electronic confirmation of your submission within 24 hours.If you do not receive confirmation, your proposal was not received. Please re-submit.
• Deadline: April 1, 2020
Questions about this program should be directed to the Society for the Advance-ment of Psychotherapy Science and Scholarship Domain Representative (Dr. Patricia T. Spangler at [email protected]), or Tracey A. Martin in theSociety for the Advancement of Psychotherapy (Division 29 of APA) Central Office, [email protected].
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The Society for the advancement of psychotherapy (division 29) diversity research Grant for
early career psychologists
deadline: april 1, 2020
The Diversity Research Grant for early career psychologists was established to foster the promotion of diversity within the Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy (APA Division 29) and within the profession of psychotherapy.
The Society may award annually one $1,000 Diversity Research Grant to an earlycareer psychologist (within 10 years of graduation) who is currently conductingresearch or an applied project that promotes diversity, as outlined by the AmericanPsychological Association (APA). According to the APA, diversity is defined as individual and role differences, including those based on age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, race, ethnicity, culture, national origin, religion, disability, language, and socioeconomic status.
The Diversity Research Grant is expected to be used to support the completion ofan ECP’s psychotherapy research or psychotherapy project. The grant may be usedto fund:
• supplies used to conduct the research or project;
• training needed for completion of the research or project; and/or
• travel to present the research (such as at a professional conference).
The applicant must be a member of the Society for the Advancement of Psy-chotherapy. The recipient of the grant will be expected to present his or her re-search results in a scholarly forum (e.g., presentation at an APA Annual Convention,in the Society’s journal, Psychotherapy, or other refereed professional journal) or thePsychotherapy Bulletin.
One annual grant of $1,000 will be paid in one lump sum to the researcher, to hisor her university’s grants and contracts office, or to an incorporated company. In-dividuals who receive the funds could incur tax liabilities. All grant recipients willbe required to complete an IRS form W-9 before funds are issued.
The applIcaTIon muST Include:
• A 1-2 page cover letter describing how the applicant’s work embodies the Soci-ety’s interest in promoting diversity in the profession of psychotherapy andhow the funding will be used to support the applicant’s work;
• A 1-page document outlining a detailed budget;
• A 5-10 page research proposal
• 1 letter of recommendation from someone familiar with the applicant’s work
SelecTIonS crITerIa:
• Consistency with the Diversity Research Grant’s stated purposes;
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• Clarity of the written proposal;
• Scientific quality and feasibility of the proposed research project;
• Budgetary needs for data collection and completion and presentation of theproject;
• Potential for new and valuable contributions to the field of psychotherapy; and
• Potential for final publication or likelihood of furthering successful research intopic area.
• Awardee must be a member of the Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy(APA Division 29)
SuBmISSIon proceSS and deadlIneS:
• All materials must be submitted electronically at the same time
• All applicants must complete the grant application form, in MSWord or othertext format
• CV(s) may be submitted in text or PDF format. If submitting more than 1 CV,then all CVs must be included in 1 electronic document/file
• Proposal and budget must be submitted in 1 file, with a cover sheet to includethe name of the principal investigator and complete contact information (address, phone, fax, email)
• Submit all required materials for proposal to: Tracey A. Martin in the Societyfor the Advancement of Psychotherapy (Division 29 of APA) Central Office,[email protected]
• You will receive an electronic confirmation of your submission within 24 hours.If you do not receive confirmation, your proposal was not received; please resubmit.
• deadline: april 1, 2020. Incomplete or late application packets will not be considered.
Questions about this program should be directed to the Society for the Advance-ment of Psychotherapy Diversity Domain Representatives Manijeh Badiee, PhD([email protected]); Rosemary Phelps PhD ([email protected]); and or Com-mittee Chair Sheeva Mostoufi, PhD ([email protected])
addITIonal InFormaTIon
• After the project is complete, a full accounting of the project’s income and ex-penses must be submitted within six months of completion.
• Grant funds that are not spent on the project within two years must be returned.
• When the resulting research is published, the grant must be acknowledged.
• All individuals who directly receive funds from the division will be required tocomplete an IRS w-9 form prior to the release of funds, and will be sent a 1099after the end of the fiscal year (December 31st).
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The Society for the advancement of psychotherapy (apa division 29) diversity research Grant for
pre-doctoral candidates
deadline: april 1, 2020
The Diversity Research Grant for pre-doctoral candidates was established to fosterthe promotion of diversity within the Society for the Advancement of Psychother-apy (APA Division 29) and within the profession of psychotherapy.
The Society may award annually two $2,000 Diversity Research Grants to pre-doctoral candidates (enrolled in a clinical or counseling psychology doctoral program) who are currently conducting dissertation research that promotes diver-sity, as outlined by the American Psychological Association (APA). According tothe APA, diversity is defined as individual and role differences, including thosebased on age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, race, ethnicity, culture,national origin, religion, disability, language, and socioeconomic status.
The Diversity Research Grant is expected to be used to support the completion ofa pre-doctoral candidate’s dissertation work. The grant may be used to fund:
• supplies used to conduct the research;
• training needed for completion of the research; and/or
• travel to present the research (such as at a professional conference).
The applicant must be a member of the Society for the Advancement of Psy-chotherapy. The recipient of the grant will be expected to present his or her researchresults in a scholarly forum (e.g., presentation at an APA Annual Convention, the Society’s journal, Psychotherapy, or other refereed professional journal) or Psychotherapy Bulletin.
Two annual grants of $2,000 will be paid in one lump sum to the researcher, to hisor her university’s grants and contracts office, or to an incorporated company. In-dividuals who receive the funds could incur tax liabilities. All grant recipients willbe required to complete an IRS form W-9 before funds are issued.
The applIcaTIon muST Include:
• A 1-2 page cover letter describing how the applicant’s work embodies the Division’s interest in promoting diversity in the profession of psychotherapyand how the funding will be used to support the applicant’s dissertation work;
• A 1-page document outlining a detailed budget;
• A 5-10 page research proposal (alternatively, a Dissertation Proposal may besubmitted, regardless of length);
• 1 letter of recommendation from the applicant’s current direct supervisor or advisor; and
• 1 letter from the applicant’s dissertation advisor or director of clinical trainingcertifying that the applicant is currently in the process of completing researchfor the dissertation.
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SelecTIonS crITerIa:
• Consistency with the Diversity Research Grant’s stated purposes;
• Clarity of the written proposal;
• Scientific quality and feasibility of the proposed research project;
• Budgetary needs for data collection and completion and presentation of theproject;
• Potential for new and valuable contributions to the field of psychotherapy; and
• Potential for final publication or likelihood of furthering successful research intopic area.
• Awardee must be a member of the Society for the Advancement of Psychother-apy (APA Division 29)
SuBmISSIon proceSS and deadlIneS:
• All materials must be submitted electronically at the same time
• All applicants must complete the grant application form, in MSWord or othertext format
• CV(s) may be submitted in text or PDF format. If submitting more than 1 CV,then all CVs must be included in 1 electronic document/file
• Proposal and budget must be submitted in 1 file, with a cover sheet to includethe name of the principal investigator and complete contact information(address, phone, fax, email)
• Submit all required materials for proposal to: Tracey A. Martin in the Societyfor the Advancement of Psychotherapy (Division 29 of APA) Central Office,[email protected]
• You will receive an electronic confirmation of your submission within 24 hours.If you do not receive confirmation, your proposal was not received; please resubmit.
• deadline: april 1, 2020. Incomplete or late application packets will not be considered.
Questions about this program should be directed to the Society for the Advance-ment of Psychotherapy Diversity Domain Representatives Manijeh Badiee, PhD([email protected]); Rosemary Phelps PhD ([email protected]); and or Committee Chair Sheeva Mostoufi, PhD ([email protected])
addITIonal InFormaTIon
• After the project is complete, a full accounting of the project’s income and ex-penses must be submitted within six months of completion.
• Grant funds that are not spent on the project within two years must be returned.
• When the resulting research is published, the grant must be acknowledged.
All individuals who directly receive funds from the division will be required tocomplete an IRS w-9 form prior to the release of funds, and will be sent a 1099 afterthe end of the fiscal year (December 31st).
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Society for the advancement of psychotherapy(Division 29 of the American Psychological Association)
call for nominations Distinguished Psychologist Award
The APA Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy (APA Division 29) invitesnominations for its 2020 Distinguished Psychologist Award, which recognizes lifetimecontributions to psychotherapy, psychology, and the Society. The awardee will re-ceive a cash honorarium of $500 and up to $500 reimbursement for qualified ex-penses to attend the Society’s Awards Ceremony to be held at the APA Conventionin Washington, D.C. August 2020.
deadline is January 31, 2020. all items must be sent electronically in one pdFdocument. Letters of nomination outlining the nominee’s credentials and contri-butions (along with the nominee’s CV) should be emailed to the Chair of the Professional Awards Committee, Dr. Jeffrey Younggren, at [email protected]
Society for the advancement of psychotherapy(Division 29 of the American Psychological Association)
call for nominationsAward for Distinguished Contributions to
Teaching and Mentoring
The Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy (APA Division 29) invites nominations for its 2020 Award for Distinguished Contributions to Teaching and Mentoring, which honors a member of the Society who has contributed to the fieldof psychotherapy through the education and training of the next generation ofpsychotherapists.
Both self-nominations and nominations of others will be considered. The nomina-tion packet should include:
1. A letter of nomination describing the individual’s impact, role, and activitiesas a mentor;
2. A curriculum vitae of the nominee; and,
3. Three letters of reference for the mentor, written by students, former students,and/or colleagues who are early career psychologists. Letters of reference forthe award should describe the nature of the mentoring relationship (when,where, level of training), and an explanation of the role played by the mentor infacilitating the student or colleague’s development as a psychotherapist. Lettersof reference may include, but are not limited to, discussion of the following be-
call for aWarD submissions
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haviors that characterize successful mentoring: providing feedback and support;providing assistance with awards, grants, and other funding; helping establisha professional network; serving as a role model in the areas of teaching, research,and/or public service; giving advice for professional development (includinggraduate school postdoctoral study, faculty, and clinical positions); and treatingstudents/colleagues with respect.
The awardee will receive a cash honorarium of $500 and up to $500 reimbursementfor qualified expenses to attend the Society’s Awards Ceremony held at the APAConvention in Washington, D.C, August 2020
deadline is January 31, 2020. all items must be sent electronically in one pdFdocument. The letter of nomination must be emailed to the Chair of the Profes-sional Awards Committee, Dr. Jeffrey Younggren, at [email protected]
Society for the advancement of psychotherapy(Division 29 of the American Psychological Association)
call for nominations Mid-Career Award for Distinguished Contributions to
the Advancement of Psychotherapy Scholarship
The APA Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy (APA Division 29) in-vites nominations for its 2020 Mid-Career Award for Distinguished Contributions tothe Advancement of Psychotherapy Scholarship, which recognizes a Society mem-ber’s contributions made through one’s mid-career to the advancement of psy-chotherapy theory and research, as well as to the Society. Nominees should be noless than 10 years and no more than 20 years post-doctoral degree.
The awardee for will receive a cash honorarium of $500 and up to $500 reim-bursement for qualified expenses to attend the Society’s Awards Ceremony at theAPA Convention in Washington, D.C., August 2020.
Nomination Requirements:
1. A nomination letter written by a colleague (self-nominations not acceptable)that outlines the nominee’s relevant contributions through mid-career. Itshould be clear how the nominees’ contributions built on their early achieve-ments to make a significant impact during the mid-career period of 10-20years post-doctorate.
2. A curriculum vitae of the nominee.
Nomination materials must be sent electronically in one pdF document by theJanuary 31, 2020 deadline. The document should be emailed to the Chair of theProfessional Awards Committee, Dr. Jeffrey Younggren, at [email protected]
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Society for the advancement of psychotherapy(division 29 of the american psychological association)
call for nominationsDistinguished Award for the International
Advancement of Psychotherapy
descriptionConcurrent with the formation of the International Domain and the InternationalAffairs Committee within the Society, this award was established in 2017 in recog-nition of individuals who have made distinguished contributions to the interna-tional advancement of psychotherapy. Award recipients receive an honorarium of$500 and up to $500 reimbursement for qualified expenses to attend the Society’sAwards Ceremony at the APA Convention in Washington D.C, August 2020.
eligibilityThe criteria for receipt of this award are broadly defined as significant and sus-tained contributions to the international advancement of psychotherapy which isconsistent with the international dimension of the Society’s mission, i.e., the Soci-ety is an international community of practitioners, scholars, researchers, teachers,health care specialists, and students who are interested in and devoted to the ad-vancement of the practice and science of psychotherapy. Given below are the spe-cific requirements in order to receive the award:
1. Membership in Division 29 (including non-APA Affiliate Members who are notmembers of APA).
2. Sustained and significant contributions to the international advancement ofpsychotherapy in practice, research and/or training in psychotherapy.
3. These contributions must be in the international arena and a significant part ofthe contribution must be within the division OR the contributions should rep-resent a significant collaboration with individuals from the international com-munity and promotes the ideas and practices of that community.
how to applyApplication materials should include:1. A nomination letter outlining the nominee’s contributions to the international
advancement of psychotherapy (self-nominations are welcomed).
2. Two or more supporting letters
3. A current Curriculum Vitae.
Nomination materials must be sent electronically in one PDF document by theJanuary 31, 2020 deadline. The document should be emailed to the Chair of the
Professional Awards Committee, Dr. Jeffrey Younggren, at [email protected]
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Society for the advancement of psychotherapy(division 29 of the american psychological association)
call for nominationsEarly Career Practitioner Award
DESCRIPTIONThe APA Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy (APA Division 29) invitesnominations for its Early Career Awards for Distinguished Contributions to theAdvancement of Psychotherapy, which recognize contributions made throughone’s early career to the advancement of psychotherapy practice as well as to theSociety.
FUNDING SPECIFICSThe awardee will receive a cash honorarium of $500
ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTSNominees should be 10 years or less post-doctoral degree. Nominees must be primarily engaged in psychotherapy at least 75% of their time. This can include;
1. Solo practice2. Group practice3. Community mental health centers4. VA5. Counseling Centers6. Other settings where nominee’s primary role is in providing psychotherapy
services
CRITERIAAs the nominee begins his or her career, nominees demonstrate excellence in the artand practice of psychotherapy through their work and commitment to growth asa therapist, this may be demonstrated in at least two of the following areas, thetherapist:
1. Demonstrates a consistent, strong foundation of therapeutic skillfulness (e.g.,in building, maintaining and repairing a working alliance across differences)
2. Shows leadership in delivering services to the underserved, historically marginalized, and oppressed populations.
3. Demonstrates the ability to effectively implement innovative, creative ornovel approaches to treatment (e.g., providing in-home intervention, use ofcreative modalities to meet special needs, creative interventions, flexibility inadapting interventions).
4. Is consistently recognized for good work by their local referral networks.5. Helps others become more effective therapists through supervision and
consultation. 6. Contributes to the field via publications and scholarship relevant to the
practice of psychotherapy.7. Contributes to the field of psychotherapy via workshops, activism, and
engagement in state, local and national psychological association.
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NOMINATION REQUIREMENTS
1. A nomination letter written by a colleague or themselves that (a) indicates theaward category to which the nomination applies, and (b) outlines the nominee’srelevant contributions through early career. It should be clear how the nomi-nees’ contributions made a significant impact during the early career period ofup to 10 years post-doctorate.
2. A curriculum vitae (CV) of the nominee.
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTSMaterials submitted should evidence the nominee’s commitment to growth as atherapist (e.g. learning from mistakes, modifying their approach, use of self-care).Nominees can demonstrate the above criteria in at least two or more of the fol-lowing ways:
1. Recommendations letters and nominations may come from Graduate stu-dents, peers/colleagues/collaborators (e.g. psychiatrists)
2. A de-identified case example that illustrates their case conceptualization, for-mulation, intervention, and outcome.
3. A summary of how their practice, how they think, and what knowledge basethey use has evolved over time. e.g. How keeping abreast of current trends inresearch and practice has changed how they work.
4. If available, de-identified outcome data on their clinical work using estab-lished outcome measures, along with a brief description of how this data in-forms or enhances their practice.
5. A reflection paper on how they plan and/or wish their career would unfoldover the next 20 years.
SUBMISSION PROCESS & DEADLINEIncomplete or late application packets will not be considered. Materials should besent in one PDF document. The document should be emailed to the Chair of the Professional Awards Committee, Dr. Jeffrey Younggren, [email protected]
Submission Deadline: January 31, 2020
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Society for the advancement of psychotherapy(division 29 of the american psychological association)
call for nominationsMid-Career Practitioner Award
DESCRIPTIONThe APA Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy (APA Division 29) invitesnominations for its Mid-Career Awards for Distinguished Contributions to the Ad-vancement of Psychotherapy, which recognize contributions made through one’smid-career to the advancement of psychotherapy practice, training, research andtheory, as well as to the Society.
FUNDING SPECIFICSThe awardee will receive a cash honorarium of $500
ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTSNominees should be no less than 10 years and no more than 20 years post-doc-toral degree. Nominees must be primarily engaged in psychotherapy at least 75%of their time. This can include;
1. Solo practice2. Group practice3. Community mental health centers4. VA5. Counseling Centers6. Other settings where nominee’s primary role is in providing psychotherapy
services
CRITERIAIn this middle stage of their career, nominees demonstrate excellence in the art andpractice of psychotherapy through their work and commitment to growth as a ther-apist, this may be demonstrated in at least two of the following areas, the therapist:
1. Demonstrates a consistent, strong foundation of therapeutic skillfulness (e.g.,in building, maintaining and repairing a working alliance across differences)
2. Shows leadership in delivering services to the underserved, historically marginalized, and oppressed populations.
3. Demonstrates the ability to effectively implement innovative, creative ornovel approaches to treatment (e.g., providing in-home intervention, use ofcreative modalities to meet special needs, creative interventions, flexibility in adapting interventions).
4. Is consistently recognized for good work by their local referral networks.5. Helps others become more effective therapists through supervision and
consultation. 6. Contributes to the field via publications and scholarship relevant to the
practice of psychotherapy.7. Contributes to the field of psychotherapy via workshops, activism, and
engagement in state, local and national psychological association.
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56
NOMINATION REQUIREMENTS1. A nomination letter written by a colleague or themselves that (a) indicates the
award category to which the nomination applies, and (b) outlines the nomi-nee’s relevant contributions through early career. It should be clear how thenominees’ contributions made a significant impact during the early career period of up to 10 years post-doctorate.
2. A curriculum vitae (CV) of the nominee.
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTSMaterials submitted should evidence the nominee’s commitment to growth as atherapist (e.g. learning from mistakes, modifying their approach, use of self-care).Nominees can demonstrate the above criteria in at least two or more of the fol-lowing ways:
1. Recommendations letters and nominations may come from Graduate stu-dents, peers/colleagues/collaborators (e.g. psychiatrists)
2. A de-identified case example that illustrates their case conceptualization, for-mulation, intervention, and outcome.
3. A summary of how their practice, how they think, and what knowledge basethey use has evolved over time. e.g. How keeping abreast of current trends inresearch and practice has changed how they work.
4. If available, de-identified outcome data on their clinical work using estab-lished outcome measures, along with a brief description of how this data in-forms or enhances their practice.
5. A reflection paper on how they hope to enhance and grow their professionalpractice in the next 10 years.
SUBMISSION PROCESS & DEADLINEIncomplete or late application packets will not be considered. Materials should be sent in one PDF document. The document should be emailed to the Chair ofthe Professional Awards Committee, Dr. Jeffrey Younggren, [email protected]
Submission Deadline: January 31, 2020
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Society for the advancement of psychotherapy(division 29 of the american psychological association)
call for nominationsDistinguished Career Practitioner Award
DESCRIPTIONThe APA Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy (APA Division 29) invitesnominations for its Distinguished Career Awards for Contributions to the Ad-vancement of Psychotherapy, which recognize contributions made through one’scareer to the advancement of psychotherapy practice, training, research and theory,as well as to the Society.
FUNDING SPECIFICSThe awardee will receive a cash honorarium of $500
ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTSNominees should be more than 20 years post-doctoral degree. Nominees must beprimarily engaged in psychotherapy at least 75% of their time. This can include;
1. Solo practice2. Group practice3. Community mental health centers4. VA5. Counseling Centers6. Other settings where nominee’s primary role is in providing psychotherapy
services
CRITERIAAfter twenty or more years of practice, nominees demonstrate excellence in the artand practice of psychotherapy through their work and commitment to growth asa therapist, this may be demonstrated in at least two of the following areas, thetherapist:
1. Demonstrates a consistent, strong foundation of therapeutic skillfulness (e.g.,in building, maintaining and repairing a working alliance across differences)
2. Shows leadership in delivering services to the underserved, historically marginalized, and oppressed populations.
3. Demonstrates the ability to effectively implement innovative, creative ornovel approaches to treatment (e.g., providing in-home intervention, use ofcreative modalities to meet special needs, creative interventions, flexibility inadapting interventions).
4. Is consistently recognized for good work by their local referral networks.5. Helps others become more effective therapists through supervision and
consultation. 6. Contributes to the field via publications and scholarship relevant to the
practice of psychotherapy.7. Contributes to the field of psychotherapy via workshops, activism, and
engagement in state, local and national psychological association.
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NOMINATION REQUIREMENTS1. A nomination letter written by a colleague or by themselves that (a) indicates
the award category to which the nomination applies, and (b) outlines the nom-inee’s relevant contributions through early career. It should be clear how thenominees’ contributions made a significant impact during the early career period of up to 10 years post-doctorate.
2. A curriculum vitae (CV) of the nominee.
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTSMaterials submitted should evidence the nominee’s commitment to growth as atherapist (e.g. learning from mistakes, modifying their approach, use of self-care).Nominees can demonstrate the above criteria in at least two or more of the following ways:
1. Recommendations letters and nominations may come from Graduate students, peers/colleagues/collaborators (e.g. psychiatrists)
2. A de-identified case example that illustrates their case conceptualization,formulation, intervention, and outcome.
3. A summary of how their practice, how they think, and what knowledge basethey use has evolved over time. e.g. How keeping abreast of current trends in research and practice has changed how they work.
4. If available, de-identified outcome data on their clinical work using estab-lished outcome measures, along with a brief description of how this data informs or enhances their practice.
5. A reflection paper on her/his career and how it has changed over time.
SUBMISSION PROCESS & DEADLINEIncomplete or late application packets will not be considered. Materials should besent in one PDF document. The document should be emailed to the Chair of theProfessional Awards Committee, Dr. Jeffrey Younggren, [email protected]
Submission Deadline: January 31, 2020
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Society for the advancement of psychotherapy(division 29 of the american psychological association)
call for nominationsSocial Justice and Public Interest/Public Policy Award for
Early Career Professionals
The Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy (APA Division 29) invites nom-inations for its 2019 Social Justice and Public Interest/ Public Policy Award, which hon-ors an Early Career Psychologist member of the Society who has made a significantcontribution to social justice through psychotherapy research; or development andimplementation of an applied psychotherapy community project that promotes so-cial justice and/or public interest/policy. ECPs who have been instrumental inhelping to increase awareness or assisting in the passage of legislative and institu-tional changes that may impact the profession are also eligible for consideration.
Nominees must demonstrate a sustained commitment to psychotherapy practice orresearch, community involvement and diversity, as well as evidence of achievingchange that supports the disenfranchised, disempowered, less privileged or oppressed groups.
Both self-nominations and nominations of others will be considered. The nomina-tion packet should include:
1) A letter of nomination (written by either the nominee or the nominator) de-scribing the individual’s impact, role, and activities as a change agent in socialjustice/public policy/public interest through psychotherapy research or com-munity projects or legislative and institutional changes;
2) A curriculum vitae of the nominee; and,
3) Three letters of reference for the nominee, written by colleagues, communitymembers/stakeholders connected to the social justice work of the individualbeing nominated, and/or students/former students. Letters of reference for theaward should describe the ways in which the nominee meets the criteria for theSocial Justice & Public Interest/Public Policy Award criteria. Letters of referencemay include, but are not limited to, discussion of the following behaviors: lead-ership in implementing new pathways for delivering services to the under-served, historically marginalized, and oppressed populations; contributions tothe field via publications and scholarship relevant to social justice and publicpolicy; contributions to the field of social justice and public policy via work-shops, activism, and engagement in state, local and national psychological as-sociations; evidence that the nominee’s commitment to social justice provides alarger impact on psychotherapy practice, research and scholarship in the field.
The awardee will receive a cash honorarium of $500 and up to $500 reimbursementfor qualified expenses to attend the Society’s Awards Ceremony held at the APAConvention in Washington, DC, August 2020.
deadline is January 31, 2020. all items must be sent electronically in one pdFdocument. The letter of nomination must be emailed to the Chair of the Profes-sional Awards Committee, Dr. Jeffrey Younggren at [email protected].
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apF/divion 29 early career award
$1,500 to recognize promising contributions to psychotherapy, psychology and Div.29 (Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy) by a division member with 10or fewer years of postdoctoral experience.
This early career award was established as The Jack D. Krasner Memorial Awardand first bestowed in 1981. In 2007, the Division raised $50,000 in donations, whichendowed this award for administration by the American Psychological Foundation(APF). This award is now named the APF/Division 29 Early Career Award and isadministered by APF.
award Specifics
• Award recipients receive an honorarium of $1,500 from APF.
• The division also provides an award plaque to the recipient at its AwardsCeremony at the APA Annual Convention.
eligibility criteria
• Membership in Div. 29.
• Be within 10 years of receipt of the doctorate.
• Demonstrated accomplishment and achievement related to psychotherapytheory, practice, research or training.
• Conformance with stated program goals and qualifications.
nomination requirementsApplication materials include:• A nomination letter written by a colleague outlining the nominee’s career
contributions (no self-nominations are allowed).
• A current curriculum vitae.
See our website for more information: https://www.apa.org/apf/funding/div-29?tab=1
Click here to apply for this grant:https://www.grantinterface.com/Home/Logon?urlkey=apa&
For more information about Division 29: https://societyforpsychotherapy.org/
The deadline for applications is January 31, 2020. Please free to distribute this callas you see fit. APF welcomes applicants with diverse backgrounds with respect toage, race, color, religion, creed, nationality, disability, sexual orientation, gender,and geography.
Name ___________________________________________ Degree ____________________Address ___________________________________________________________________City _______________________________________ State ________ ZIP________________Phone _________________________________ FAX ________________________________Email _______________________________________________Member Type: q Regular q Fellow q Associate q Non-APA Psychologist Affiliate q Student ($29)q Check q Visa q MasterCardCard # __________________________________________________ Exp Date _____/_____Signature ___________________________________________
Please return the completed application along with payment of $40 by credit card or check to:
The Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy’s Central Office,6557 E. Riverdale St., Mesa, AZ 85215
You can also join the Division online at: www.societyforpsychotherapy.org
FREE SUBSCRIPTIONS TO:PsychotherapyThis quarterly journal features up-to-date articles on psychotherapy. Contributors include researchers, practitioners, and educators with diverse approaches.Psychotherapy BulletinQuarterly newsletter contains the latest newsabout Society activities, helpful articles on training, research, and practice. Available tomembers only.
EARN CE CREDITSJournal LearningYou can earn Continuing Education (CE) credit from the comfort of your home or office—at your own pace—when it’s convenientfor you. Members earn CE credit by reading specific articles published in Psychotherapyand completing quizzes.
DIVISION 29 PROGRAMSWe offer exceptional programs at the APAconvention featuring leaders in the field of psychotherapy. Learn from the experts in personal settings and earn CE credits at reduced rates.
SOCIETY INITIATIVESProfit from the Society initiatives such as
the APA Psychotherapy Videotape Series, History of Psychotherapy book, and Psychotherapy Relationships that Work.
NETWORKING & REFERRAL SOURCESConnect with other psychotherapists so
that you may network, make or receive referrals, and hear the latest important information that affects the profession.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR LEADERSHIPExpand your influence and contributions.
Join us in helping to shape the direction of ourchosen field. There are many opportunities toserve on a wide range of Society committees and task forces.
DIVISION 29 LISTSERVAs a member, you have access to our
Society listserv, where you can exchange information with other professionals.
VISIT OUR WEBSITEwww.societyforpsychotherapy.org
MEMBERSHIP REQUIREMENTS: Doctorate in psychology • Payment of dues • Interest in advancing psychotherapy
If APA member, please provide membership #
SOC IETY FOR TH E ADVANCEMENT OF PSY CHOT HER APYTHE ONLY APA DIVISION SOLELY DEDICATED TO ADVANCING PSYCHOTHERAPY
M E M B E R S H I P A P P L I C A T I O NThe Society meets the unique needs of psychologists interested in psychotherapy.
By joining the Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy, you become part of a family of practitioners, scholars, and students who exchange ideas in order to advance psychotherapy.The Society is comprised of psychologists and students who are interested in psychotherapy.
Although the Society is a division of the American Psychological Association (APA), APA membership is not required for membership in the Society.
JOIN THE SOCIETY AND GET THESE BENEFITS!
Society for the advancement of psychotherapy (29)Central Office, 6557 E. Riverdale Street, Mesa, AZ 85215
Ofc: (602) 363-9211 • Fax: (480) 854-8966 • E-mail: [email protected]
www.societyforpsychotherapy.org
pSYchoTherapY BulleTInPsychotherapy Bulletin is the official newsletter of the Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy of the American Psychological Association. Published online four times each year(spring, summer, fall, winter), Psychotherapy Bulletin is designed to: 1) inform the membership of Division 29 about relevant events, awards, and professional opportunities; 2) provide articles and commentary regarding the range of issues that are of interest to psychotherapy theorists, researchers, practitioners, and trainers; 3) establish a forum for students and new members to offer their contributions; and, 4) facilitate opportunities for dialogue and collaboration among the diverse members of our association.
Psychotherapy Bulletin welcomes articles, interviews, commentaries, letters to the editor, book re-views, and SAP-related announcements. Please ensure that articles conform to APA style; graphics,tables, or photos submitted with articles must be of print quality and in high resolution. CompleteSubmission Guidelines and the online submission portal can be found at http://society forpsy-chotherapy.org/bulletin-about/ (for questions or additional information, please email [email protected] with the subject header line Psychotherapy Bulletin). Deadlines forsubmission are as follows: February 1 (#1); May 1 (#2); August 1 (#3); November 1 (#4). Past is-sues of Psychotherapy Bulletin may be viewed at our website: www.societyforpsycho -therapy.org.Other inquiries regarding Psychotherapy Bulletin (e.g., advertising) or the Society should be di-rected to Tracey Martin at the the Society’s Central Office ([email protected] or 602-363-9211).
PUBLICATIONS BOARDChair: Laurie Heatherington, PhD, 2018Dept of Psychology / Williams CollegeWilliamstown, MA 01267Ofc: 413-597-2442 | Fax: 413-597-2085E-mail: [email protected]
Terrence Tracey, PhD 2018-2023College of Integrative Science & Arts / Arizona State University446 Payne Hall, mc-870811Tempe, AZ 85287-0811Office: 480-965-6159Email: [email protected]
Robert Hatcher, PhD, 2015-2020Wellness Center / Graduate CenterCity University of New York365 Fifth AvenueNew York, NY 10016Ofc: 212-817-7029E-mail: [email protected]
Heather Lyons, PhD, 2014-2019Department of Psychology – Loyola University Maryland4501 N. Charles St.Baltimore, MD 21210Ofc: 410-617-2309E-mail: [email protected]
Sarah Knox, PhD, 2019-2024Department of Counselor Education and Counseling PsychologyCollege of Education, Schroeder Complex 168 HMarquette UniversityMilwaukee, WI 53201-1881Ofc: 414288-5942E-mail: [email protected]
Paul Kwon, PhD, 2019-2024Department of PsychologyJohnson Tower 214Washington State UniversityP.O. Box 644820Pullman, WA 99164Ofc: 509-335-4633E-mail: [email protected]
Brien Goodwin, 2019-2020 – Student Representative
\EDITORSPsychotherapy Journal EditorMark J. Hilsenroth, PhD, 2011-2020Derner Institute of Advanced Psych Studies220 Weinberg Bldg.158 Cambridge Ave.Adelphi UniversityGarden City, NY 11530Ofc: (516) 877-4748 Fax (516) 877-4805E-mail: [email protected]
Psychotherapy Bulletin Editor, 2014-2019Lynett Henderson Metzger, JD, PsyDUniversity of Denver-GSPP2460 South Vine StreetDenver, CO 80208Ofc: 303-871-4684E-mail: [email protected]
Internet EditorAmy Ellis, PhDAlbizu University2173 NW 99 AvenueMiami, Florida 33172-2209Ofc: 305-593-1223 x3233E-mail: [email protected]
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