The privilege of serving as your 2017 President was capped off by the amazing work that your Board of Directors did at its final meeting for the year. The commitment, thoughtful deliberation, mutual respect and creativity was a pleasure to witness and be a part of. I’d like to share some examples with you and update you about some of what’s happening in your Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy (SAP). I don’t have the space to cover everything, so instead I will just highlight some initiatives.

Publications Board: Our journal Psychotherapy is doing very well. Mark Hilsenroth and his team are intent on continuing to grow the journal and have it provide content that is pertinent to both researchers and clinicians. This is a difficult task, but something that you can see routinely by just scanning the table of contents of any recent issue. Our Bulletin edited by Lynett Henderson Metzger is now provided electronically. This can enable us to expand the offerings without concern for printing and mailing costs. Please feel free to submit articles you think may be of interest to our members. Our website editor Amy Ellis is continuing to develop the site. Keep an eye on it as you will see that soon it will become easier to find content. We are also considering having forums to allow for special interest discussions that you can join if interested without receiving multiple emails about things that do not appeal to you.

Budget: Jesse Owen presented the Board with a balanced budget (which was approved). Our reserves have continued to grow and the Board decided on two major initiatives (see below) to spend the overage of the reserves cap ($500,000) recommended by the Finance Committee.

50th Anniversary Research Grant:  – In honor of our 50th anniversary (2018), the Board decided to offer a research grant of $30,000 (from our reserves surplus) to more substantially fund psychotherapy research. Keep an eye out for the call for proposals. Or, contact Susan Woodhouse for more information.

Interdisciplinary Think Tank to Help the Underserved: Susan Woodhouse who chaired my task force on bringing psychotherapy to the underserved, proposed that the Board fund a think tank to further address this issue. The Board approved the concept subject to a more detailed plan being brought before the Board in the future. If you are interested in getting involved in this project please contact Susan. The funding for this will also come from the reserves overage.

International Domain Initiatives: Keeping with the intention of expanding our reach internationally, Fred Leong has reached out to our colleagues who are organizing the 2018 International Congress of Applied Psychology. They are excited about SAP having a presence at the Congress (similar to our role at the World Congress of Psychotherapy earlier this year). Stay tuned for more information on this, or contact Fred if you are interested in being part of the planning group.

There is so much more great work being done by the other Domains as well. The Board also approved many new awards as recommended by different Domains (keep on the lookout for the calls for nominations).

But, what most pleased me was the Board working together. Many initiatives discussed incorporated thought and action plans from different domains as the Board took on the tone of a team working together, regardless of individual interests. This was such a great pleasure to be a part of.

It was also a pleasure to see the Executive Committee (EC) recently responded to a situation in which a difficult dialogue, or what is sometimes called a “courageous conversation” was needed regarding the process at APA Council. The EC acted quickly on the input from Lillian Comas-Diaz and Libby Nutt Williams (our Council Representatives) by sending a letter requesting that attention promptly be paid to avoid micro-aggressions and increase inclusiveness in Council and its process.

By the way, if anything above, or elsewhere in the Bulletin is of interest to you, and you want to be a part of it, or you just want to discuss it, please contact me and I will put you in touch with the right person. None of the above could have been done without the hard work and thoughtful deliberation of our Board and Committee Chairs and Members. Thank you all.

Some of Board is departing after many years of service. Rosie Adam-Terem, Jeff Barnett and Barry Farber will be stepping down from their positions. Armand Cerbone, will also be completing his term on the Board. As immediate Past President. Armand has been a particularly special mentor and role-model to me. Thank you all for all your contributions—too numerous to mention here. You will be missed. I hope you always think of SAP as your home.

I’d also like to welcome our newly elected 2018 officers Nancy L. Murdock (President-Elect), Rebecca M. Ametrano (Secretary), Frederick T. L. Leong (Domain Representative – International Affairs) and Lavita I. Nadkarni (Domain Representative – Public Interest and Social Justice). The Board also appointed Laurie Heatherington as the new Chair of the Publications Board. Welcome to all of you. You are joining a wonderful Board.

I am so pleased that Mike Constantino will be your President during our 50th year. I am sure the Society will be well served by Mike’s leadership, focus and caring. And, stay-tuned for his Presidential initiatives.

As my term comes to a close I am so grateful for having this year to serve as your President and for all the support I received. I am especially grateful to Tracey Martin for all her help. SAP is so well served by her contributions large and small.

Thank you all for a wonderful year, and more importantly thank you for all you do for the Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy.

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Jeffrey Zimmerman, Ph.D., ABPP

Dr. Jeff Zimmerman has been in private practice since 1981 when he started in solo practice and then co-founded what he and his partners grew into a large multi-site interdisciplinary group practice, before returning 22 years later to solo practice. He is also a co-founder of The Practice Institute and the 2017 President of The Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy, Division 29 of the American Psychological Association. Dr. Zimmerman is a co-editor (with Drs. Walfish and Barnett) of The Handbook of Private Practice: Keys to Success for Mental Health Practitioners (2017, Oxford University Press). He also has co-authored a total of 5 other books on either practice or divorce. He is Editor of Practice Innovations, the journal of Division 42, Independent Practice, American Psychological Association and was a guest editor for The Journal of Clinical Psychology: In Session.