When I arrived at my first Div. 49 board meeting last weekend, I had grand plans for my tenure as president-elect and president of Div. 49. I could list so many things I would want to accomplish that I did not know where to begin. As I listened to Martyn describe his goals and initiatives and focused on the board members’ discussion, I realized that I could best help the division by immersing myself in the work already done. Martyn and others described the incredible efforts by Nina, Josh and Sally (and my apologies to those people I am not mentioning here) who changed the landscape for all group therapists by fighting for group as a specialty. After years of hard work and devotion despite multiple rejections, group was finally recognized as a specialty. It became clear to me that one of the most important things that I could do would be to support their continued efforts so that we move forward. I can do this best by listening and learning from the leaders in our board and working with Martyn to continue to advocate for group as a specialty.
Although not as exciting as some of my original ideas (i.e. longer socials that do not get interrupted by angry hotel neighbors), building on the momentum that is developing is critical to our field. Creating guidelines for group training, advocating for required group course work in PhD and PsyD applied programs, developing continuing education unit (CE) programs that can be used for training licensed clinicians who need more group training and adding material to our website that is useful to those leading groups are all things that will benefit our members, enhance our division and increase the efficacy of our group work. Building relationships with AGPA and other organization to increase our influence is also important. I look forward to listening and learning as much as I can this year, and then I hope to build on the incredible work that has been done as well as what Martyn and my colleagues will continue to do this year.
In addition to supporting Martyn and learning as much as I can from the board, I am excited to be taking responsibility for the awards in our division. I think there are so many wonderful clinicians, faculty, researchers and students who are doing great group work, and we need to honor their efforts. I noticed in the board meeting that we do not get as many submissions for our awards, and I hope that this changes this year. We do not get many nominations for the Arthur Teicher Group Psychologist of the Year Award, student and professional diversity awards or the Excellence in Teaching Award. I believe that it is critical that we all nominate our colleagues and even ourselves for these honors each year, and I hope to reach out to members and remind them to participate in this process. Please take a look at our full list of awards, where we describe a wide variety of awards ranging from student dissertations (The Richard Moreland Dissertation of the Year Award), student posters (Student Poster Awards for Diversity and Social Justice and three poster awards at our poster session) and to senior psychologists who have made lifetime achievements in the field (Arthur Teicher Group Psychologist of the Year Award). There are also awards for anyone who has fostered innovations in the practice or teaching of group work (Excellence in Group Practice Award and Excellence in Teaching of Group Dynamics Award). Division 49 values diversity, and there are two awards: one devoted to honoring students (The Student Award for Outstanding Contribution to Diversity in Group Psychology or Group Psychotherapy) and psychologists (The Award for Outstanding Professional Contribution to Diversity in Group Psychology or Group Psychotherapy). We also offer student travel awards to help cover the costs of attending the APA convention (The Student Travel Awards for APA Convention and the APF/Div. 49 Travel Grant) and grants to help fund group research that occurs in both naturalistic and applied settings (two APF/Div. 49 grants: one for psychotherapy and one for group Psychology). The deadline for many of these awards is June 1, 2019. If you have any questions about these awards, I am more than happy to answer them via email.
Thank you again for electing me to be the president of Div. 49 and allowing me to serve you and the organization. I look forward to my year as president-elect and listening and learning as much as I can.