Psychotherapy Bulletin
Psychotherapy Bulletin
By far the most significant and far-reaching achievement since I wrote three months ago has been the pact made between Oriental Insight (OI) and our Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy (SAP). OI is an organization of Chinese psychologists who wish to partner with us for mutual benefit. The partnership aims:
- To increase exchange between SAP and OI as organizations that promote psychotherapy in the United States and in China;
- To facilitate dissemination and enrichment of psychotherapy research across language and national boundaries in the United States and China;
- To promote collaborations in research and training among SAP members and Chinese researchers and practitioners in the field of counseling and psychotherapy in China;
- To facilitate the recruitment in China of SAP non-APA affiliate members and APA affiliates who might want to join SAP, and to enable SAP to provide them some of the member resources afforded by having translated materials.
The agreement was formally signed during the APA annual convention in Denver in August. Dr. Guangrong Jiang, founder of OI, who was accompanied by a colleague, Dr. Chin, signed for OI and I signed as President for SAP. Perhaps the significance for SAP and APA’s international agenda can best be conveyed by the list of distinguished APA dignitaries who spoke at the signing: APA Past-President Dr. Barry Anton; Dr. Jean Lau Chin, President of Division 52 (International Psychology); and Dr. Merry Bullock, Director of the APA Office for International Affairs. Former APA President Dr. Phil Zimbardo also attended. SAP Past-President Dr. Rod Goodyear moderated the ceremony. Before the signing, both Drs. Jiang and Chin addressed the attendees about the mission and work of OI and their hopes for our collaborations.
Dr. Changming Duan, Chair of our new International Committee and Past-President Goodyear spearheaded the initiative over several years, establishing relationships with our Chinese colleagues and educating our Board of Directors to the importance of this partnership to SAP. Dr. Fred Leong, our new Representative of the Domain for International Affairs, also provided critical leadership in developing the relationships (and has written in this issue’s International Affairs Column regarding the partnership agreement and upcoming plans for the Domain). We are grateful to them for bringing this to fruition.
Convention
I am pleased to tell you that our convention program was a solid success. The Society’s theme, the intersections of science, sexuality, and psychotherapy, afforded many opportunities for the scientists and practitioners among us to offer evidence-based and skill-building symposia. Other presentations spanned a range of topics including publishing, supervision, diversity, theory, and even a session on comedy as a basis for difficult dialogues. Ten of the programs carried a total of 13 CE credits. Feedback from presenters indicates our programs were well attended and positively received.
Anyone who has ever volunteered to be Program Chair understands the months of untold hours spent collaborating, reviewing, and negotiating with other divisions, the Convention Office, and with the current division president from the first call for programs to final approval of a convention program. The task is arduous and complicated in the extreme. We owe our Program Chair, Dr. Duan, and her Associate Chair, Dr. Gary Howell, our respectful and appreciative thanks. Gary will continue as the 2017 and 2018 Program Chair. President-elect Jeff Zimmerman is already busy planning the theme for next year’s program in Washington, DC.
More on the International Front
In June several of our Board members attended the 32nd annual conference of the Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration (SEPI) in Dublin, Ireland. Dr. John Norcross, one of our representatives to the APA Council of Representatives, presented on common factors in psychotherapy. For those of you unfamiliar with it, SEPI is an organization that brings psychotherapists and researchers together “to promote the development of psychotherapies that integrate theoretical orientations, clinical practices, and diverse methods of inquiry.” SAP has a longstanding relationship with SEPI; former SAP President Dr. Marvin Goldfried is one its founders. At this conference SAP sponsored the Continuing Education credit program. [Editor’s Note: Next year’s SEPI conference will be in Denver, Colorado. Please consider joining us.]
In July 2017, leading SAP researchers and Board members will attend and present at the 8th World Congress on Psychotherapy in Paris. The theme is Life and Love in the 21st Century.
In development is a conference on psychotherapy training and supervision with Oriental Insight in Wuhan, China, in or around April 2017.
Getting to Know Your Board Members
I thought you might be interested in knowing the Editor of our lead journal, Psychotherapy, Mark Hilsenroth, PhD, ABPP, and the Editor of our quarterly newsletter, Psychotherapy Bulletin, Lynett Henderson Metzger, PsyD, JD.
As Editor, Mark is a key member of our Publications Board, chaired by former Division 29 President Jeff Barnett. Prior to assuming the editorship of Psychotherapy, Mark served on the editorial boards of Psychotherapy Research, Journal of Personality Assessment, and the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association.
Mark graduated from the University of Tennessee’s Clinical Psychology PhD program in 1996 and completed his Clinical Internship at The Cambridge Hospital/Harvard Medical School. When not editing the journal, Mark is a Professor of Psychology at the Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies at Adelphi University. There he serves as Primary Investigator of the Adelphi University Psychotherapy Project. His research interests are primarily focused on applied clinical issues, with over 150 peer-reviewed journal publications in the areas of psychological assessment & psychotherapy.
Lynett Henderson Metzger, JD, PsyD, earned her Juris Doctor from the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law in 1997 and her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from DU’s Graduate School of Professional Psychology in 2003, where she is currently a Clinical Associate Professor and Assistant Director of Forensic Studies. She draws on her background in law and mental health to teach a variety of courses in the Forensic Psychology, International Disaster Psychology, and Clinical Psychology programs. Her areas of interest include professional education and training, diversity and social justice, and victim advocacy.
Together Lynett and Mark are keeping our premier publications relevant and the scholarship in them outstanding and make them a major benefit of membership in the Society. They deserve our continuing support and thanks.
A Final Announcement
Dr. Jean Carter, one of our two Council Representatives has been elected APA treasurer. She will assume the office in January 2017.
Jean has provided strong and significant leadership in SAP. As President of our Division, she led the drive to add seats to the Board to create more opportunities for members to participate in governance. During her presidency we changed the structure of the Board from member-at-large seats to domains that expand opportunities to promote the mission of the Division. It goes without saying that we will miss her presence, though we know she will take to the APA Board of Directors the same commitment to advancing psychotherapy that so informed her years with us.
We will be welcoming back to the Board former President Libby Nutt Williams who will step into Jean’s position as Council Representative for the remainder of Dr. Carter’s term.
Finally, Dr. Stewart Cooper, current Chair of the Education & Training Committee, has been elected to the APA Board of Directors. He, too, will be leaving us to assume his new responsibilities in January.
We are fortunate to have working for us capable and dedicated professionals who give so much and so competently to SAP over the years. And we remain committed to fostering new leadership equally capable of leading us into the next decades.
Armand R. Cerbone, Ph.D., ABPP
Dr. Armand Cerbone has a long history of leadership in APA governance. In addition to more than ten years on the Council of Representatives, he is a former member of the Board of Directors of the American Psychological Association (APA), a past Chair of the APA Board for the Advancement of Psychology in the Public Interest, the APA Ethics Committee, the Policy and Planning Board, a past president of Division 29 (Psychotherapy) and Division 44 (SOGI), as well as the Illinois Psychological Association. He holds a diplomate in Clinical Psychology and is a Fellow of seven divisions of the APA. He is co-author of the APA Guidelines on psychotherapy with LGB Clients and chaired the working group that developed the APA’s Resolution on sexual orientation and marriage and Resolution on sexual orientation, parents and children. He has received many awards for his work. Among them are the APA’s Committee on LGBT Concern’s Outstanding Achievement Award and The Society for the Psychological Study of LGB Issues’ (Div 44 in APA) awards for Distinguished Professional Contribution, and Distinguished Contributions to Education. In 2003 he was inaugurated into the City of Chicago Lesbian and Gay Hall of Fame. In 2016 he received the Ray Fowler Award, APA highest award for Outstanding Member Contributions.
Cite This Article
Cerbone, A. (2016). A new international partnership. Psychotherapy Bulletin, 51(3), 2-4.
From Africa , Kenya. Thanks for your commitments assisting humans. I’m a holder of PhD in counselling psychology from Northwestern University . Willing to partner and assist Kenyan humans. I welcome you to Kenya.