Recent and ongoing activities of the Education and Training Committee

The Committee has been most active in two areas, including continuing education and Monitoring of APA Accreditation Principles and Compliance on the part of some programs in religious institutions.

In 2010, Joe Micucci accepted appointment as the first chair of the Continuing Education Subcommittee of the Education and Training Committee. Maryka Biaggio had already prepared the required application for APA sponsorship, and Joe and Maryka put the final touches on the application and submitted it to APA in late summer of 2010. Div. 44 received two-year preliminary approval as a CE sponsor in October 2010. Based on the updated application we submitted in 2012, Div. 44 was granted five-year approval as a CE sponsor in November 2012. Reports and fees are submitted to the APA CE office on an annual basis.

The CE Subcommittee developed standards for approval based on the APA requirements and made these standards available to potential presenters. A Webinar series was initiated in 2013 with three webinars offered in May and June 2013: “Working with Trans Clients” (lore m. dickey and Anneliese Singh); “Microaggressions and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community” (Kevin Nadal); and “Bullying and Violence against LGBTQ Youth in Schools: Interventions and Resources” (Kurt Choate). Additional webinars are planned for the future. The committee also approved “Beyond Trans 101: Psychological Practice and Advocacy with Transgender and Non-Confirming (TGNC) Clients” (lore m. dickey and Michael Hendricks) as a preconvention offering at the 2014 APA Convention. We hope that more members will submit ideas for future CE offerings through Div. 44.

In August 2014, Justin Martino-Harms, PsyD, will take over as chair of the CE Subcommittee. Justin completed his doctoral work at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and did his doctoral internship at the University of Michigan, Counseling and Psychological Services.  He is interested in the historical and present lack of training in doctoral psychology programs regarding sexual orientation and gender and is excited to be involved in providing support for those who are engaging in educating professionals about gender and sexual orientation.  He is also interested in gender, queer theory, and the intersection of religion and LGBTQ identities and rights.

Since Maryka Biaggio joined the committee in 2004 she has spent the bulk of her time monitoring possible discriminatory practices in some APA-accredited programs in religious institutions. With assistance from several other members of the committee, numerous public comments were drafted each time a program with possibly discriminatory policies came up for accreditation review. Maryka and her subcommittee have commented on relevant proposed changes to the accreditation guidelines and principles as well as the new proposed standards of accreditation.

Maryka Biaggio is stepping down as co-chair of the Education and Training Committee effective August 2014, and Susan Turrell will replace her. Susan is dean of the School of Social Science at SUNY Oneonta in New York.