Web-only Feature

Web-only Feature

2018 Candidate Statements

Candidates for President-elect

Jennifer Callahan, PhD

I am honored and humbled by the nomination to serve the Division in the role of president. Before I get into my qualifications and experiences, I would like to lead with my intentions. If elected, my presidential initiative will center on resource development and dissemination. I want our members to benefit from resources that facilitate increasing psychotherapy expertise. To that end, I will foster bringing those who are in primarily research roles to work collaboratively with those in practice roles to identify, generate, and distribute needed and effective resources. While my intention is to serve our membership with this initiative, my hope is that our society will infuse resources beyond ourselves to advance psychotherapy more broadly. If this initiative is something the membership wishes to endorse, then my qualifications and experiences to lead that initiative become relevant.

I am a Professor of Psychology at the University of North Texas, where I serve as the Director of Clinical Training for an APA-accredited doctoral program. I view quality training to be a systems level intervention with lasting effects across the career lifespan. Those effects may be particularly impactful in underserved areas where few providers exist. As such, my research primarily centers on improving psychological services and client outcomes among underserved and disadvantaged populations via careful inquiry elucidating client and therapist variables, as well as the contributions of training and supervisors.

The quality of my work is implied via multiple awards for mentorship and selection for the NIH Loan Repayment Program for Individuals from Disadvantaged Backgrounds. I have also been awarded grants from the American Psychological Foundation as well as the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC) to facilitate work on assessment of competencies. I was also co-PI on a Norine Johnson Psychotherapy Research Grant for work on improving psychotherapist effectiveness. To date, I have authored more than 100 publications and am the current Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Psychotherapy Integration. I am also an Associate Editor for the journal Training and Education in Professional Psychology and a Consulting Editor for the journals Psychotherapy and Practice Innovations. I am board certified in Clinical Psychology and an APA Fellow.

My experience with resource development and dissemination includes spearheading a program (in my role as the Society’s Education and Training Domain Representative; see my publications in the Society’s Bulletin here) that identified all mental health providers in the most financially disadvantaged zip codes (according to US census data) to provide complimentary journal subscriptions to our Society’s journal, Psychotherapy. In my role as the Editor in Chief for a different journal (Journal of Psychotherapy Integration), I began having every published article translated at the level of title, abstract, and keywords into both Spanish and Chinese to expand the reach of the published scholarship. Those translations are indexed in the major database for our field (psycINFO) and, more importantly, disseminated throughout mental health systems of care in developing countries internationally via the World Health Organization’s Hinari program. I am deeply committed to infusing resources into systems of care via resource dissemination to providers of psychotherapy.

Thank you very much for considering this initiative and allowing me to serve the Society.

 

Rayna Markin, PhD

Division 29 is a home for people who love psychotherapy. These are the words that I vividly remember reciting to a room full of eager Early Career Psychologists (ECP) at Division 29’s annual “Reception with the Masters” mentoring event held at APA convention, in my novice role as ECP chair almost 10 years ago. Since that time, I have had the privilege of occupying multiple consecutive leadership roles in the Division, including: ECP Chair, ECP Domain Representative, and Education and Training Chair. In these roles, I have planned and organized various mentoring programs and events, chaired or participated in numerous committees, reviewed award proposals, contributed to the Psychotherapy Bulletin, and, most recently, planned an online video series for the Division’s website consisting of interviews with experts on how to apply psychotherapy relationship research to training and supervision. I have also been nominated to run for Council of Representatives. Moreover, I was fortunate to receive both the Charles J. Gelso Psychotherapy Research Grant and the APF/Division 29 ECP Awards. Lastly, I serve on the editorial board for the Journal Psychotherapy, for which I have served as guest editor for two special sections on the Psychotherapy Relationship and Psychotherapy for Pregnancy Loss. Across all these various leadership and service experiences that I have been privileged to occupy over these many years, the original words I first uttered at the very beginning of my Division 29 career still ring true, and, I believe, comprise the very foundation of this Division, which is truly a place for people who love psychotherapy.

As psychotherapy researchers, clinicians, and educators our common commitment to psychotherapy is presumably rooted in our identification with the values that this process encapsulates. These values often include a focus on issues and special populations that are somehow typically unacknowledged or invalidated in the larger society. Through my active program of research and clinical practice on psychotherapy for pregnancy loss, a unique kind of loss which is often both “silent” and “invisible” in Western Society, I have come to appreciate how psychotherapy can acknowledge and validate patient experiences that are typically dismissed or ignored, and, moreover, serve as a vehicle for social change through putting words to experiences typically considered too taboo to talk about. If given the honor of serving as President, I would focus on initiatives that bring to light both those issues that patients often present with that are typically minimized in Society, as well as diverse marginalized populations whose experiences are often silenced or unheard. I would seek to fulfill this initiative through working collaboratively with other board members and Divisions, focusing the call for proposals for APA convention around this topic, creating related webinars, and updating our web site to include information on various salient topics for the public and for professionals. In essence, as President, I would seek to promote initiatives that tap into the very heart of psychotherapy, the capacity to shed light on experiences that are all too often left in the dark.


Candidates for Treasurer

Jesse Owen, PhD

Experience: Dr. Owen is an Associate Professor and Department Chair in the Counseling Psychology Department at the University of Denver. He is an APA Fellow for the Society of the Advancement of Psychotherapy (SAP; Div 29), and he has been awarded the Early Career Awards for SAP and Division 17 (Counseling Psychology). He has been an Associate Editor for Psychotherapy since 2009, and he has been an Associate Editor for two other top-tier journals. He has also served as SAP’s Domain Chair and Representative for Education and Training, and currently serves as the Treasurer. He has published over 125 peer-review publications, books, and videos most of which are focused on psychotherapy process and outcomes. He has a small private practice in Denver which focuses on individual and couple therapy as well as psychological assessment.

Statement: I have truly enjoyed my time over the past eight years serving the members of SAP. During my time as Treasurer, we have enjoyed great success with journal revenue and membership initiatives. These efforts have made our Society financially healthy, which has resulted in our ability to increase funding for our members. For instance, over the past three years we have increased grant funding for innovative projects, including larger scale projects. Additionally, we have been able to increase funding for our student, early, mid, and senior career awards. We have been able to achieve these goals while maintaining fiscal responsibility (e.g., not significantly impacting our reserves). I am very passionate about promoting the future of SAP, and I hope you will support my reelection as your Treasurer.

Joshua Swift, PhD

I am deeply touched to be considered for the Treasurer position for SAP. SAP has played an important role in my career and in my professional identify, and I would look forward to the opportunity to serve the members of the society in this manner. My first interactions with Division 29 came early in my graduate training. I was attending the APA Convention in order to receive a division award. I was impressed by how welcoming members of the division were to me, even though I was just a student.

I am now an Assistant Professor at Idaho State University. At ISU I teach within our Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program and conduct my research focusing on client preferences and premature termination in psychotherapy. SAP has been an integral part of my growth over the past ten years. I frequently publish in the Society’s journal and newsletter, I have received grant funding from SAP, and SAP’s meetings have always been a place where I have been able to network and build collaborations with others. Over the past five years I have served in SAP’s Education and Training and Early Career committees, and as the Chair for the Psychotherapy Research Committee. This service has provided me with an invaluable opportunity to observe the good that SAP and its members have provided to the field. I feel fortunate to have been part of that. I would be truly grateful to be able to now offer my service in the Treasurer role.


Candidates for Diversity Domain Representative

Manijeh Badiee, PhD

Dear colleagues, I am humbled and honored to be nominated for the Diversity Domain Representative on the Division’s Executive Committee. I am currently an Assistant Professor of Psychology at California State University, San Bernardino. In this role, I teach undergraduate students as well as graduate students in our clinical counseling Master program. The courses I regularly teach are relevant to psychotherapy (e.g., Advanced Clinical Seminar and Counseling Theories) as well as to diversity (e.g., Psychology of Women and Cross-Cultural Counseling). Additionally, I provide therapy services in a private practice setting. I have over ten years of experience counseling clients of various backgrounds and currently specialize in women of color, LGBTQ individuals, and/or adolescents.

As I have grown in my professional identity, I have realized I must never forget my roots. Growing up as a first generation Iranian American immigrant woman in Texas shaped who I am. Diversity has always been central to my identity, and this emphasis has only strengthened as I have progressed professionally. My research is on women’s empowerment, with a focus on Iranian and Latina women. I routinely provide presentations on diversity-related topics to community members, students, and faculty. When I was a graduate student, I served as the student representative for Counseling Psychology, Division 17, International Section and facilitated networking among counseling psychology students interested in international issues. My immigrant background has also made me passionate about social justice and the delivery of multiculturally competent services to all clients, especially those from marginalized and vulnerable groups. If elected, I will strive to consider these groups in the decisions that I make. In sum, I am excited at the possibility of expanding my diversity emphasis in teaching, research, and community service to the Diversity Domain Representative position. Thank you for the consideration!

 

Astrea Greig, PsyD

I am honored to be a candidate for Diversity Domain Representative. I am It has been a great pleasure to serve as Chair of the Diversity committee for the past 3 years and I wish to continue serving the division in this capacity even further as Domain Representative. Working with underserved, socially marginalized, and diverse populations is my passion. I completed my graduate training at University of Hartford, completed my internship at Yale, and finished my post-doctoral fellowship with the VA. I am currently at a community health center that solely serves the homeless population in Boston. I strive to bring psychotherapy to this population that does not easily access health care. I understand the importance of the need to highlight how diversity and multiculturalism intersects with the research, provision, and practice of psychotherapy. I am currently also on the APA Office of Socioeconomic Status task force to develop guidelines for working with persons with low socioeconomic status. Additionally, I am co-chair of the diversity committee in Division 18, public service. My hope is to bring this passion, experience, and perspective to the Diversity Domain Representative position. Division 29, the Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy, has a wonderful history of promoting psychotherapy practice, research, and policy and I hope to continue to serve our division in this manner with the importance of diversity in mind.


Candidates for Education & Training Domain Representative

Marilyn Cornish, PhD

It is an honor to have been nominated to run for the Domain Representative for Education and Training position for the Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy. Serving as an educator and supervisor of future psychologists is a large part of my professional identity. I also believe that learning and growth must continue throughout one’s career as a psychologist.

I am an assistant professor and co-director of training for the APA-accredited PhD program in counseling psychology at Auburn University in Auburn, AL. In that role, I teach courses such as Counseling Supervision, Advanced Practicum, and Group Counseling. I similarly provide individual, group, and supervision of supervision to doctoral students, and I coordinate the practicum placement process for our students. In terms of related professional service, I am a member of the Division 17 (Society of Counseling Psychology) Continuing Education Committee and I have served as an Editorial Board team member for Journal of Counseling Psychology. My research lab has a central focus on psychotherapy process and outcome, with interests branching out to other types of positive relationships and effective interventions (including teaching and supervision). For example, I coordinated a year-long campus dialogue initiative in 2017 on creating culturally-inclusive university classrooms.

With this set of experiences, I feel well-positioned to serve as the Domain Representative for Education and Training. If elected, it would be a privilege to serve the education and training agenda for the Division, particularly with regard to evidence-based practice and culturally-sensitive care.

Ken Critchfield, PhD

http://www.psyc.jmu.edu/gradpsyc/people/critchfield.html
Associate Professor, Director, Combined-Integrated Clinical and School Psychology Program, James Madison University (JMU), Harrisonburg, Virginia

I am thrilled to be nominated to be Domain Representative for the Education and Training Committee. I deeply value SAP as a “trusted place” that actively supports practitioners and nurtures student and early career voices. I am a former E&T committee member who chaired the group in 2010. I think it would be a wonderful professional homecoming, a delight, to become directly involved there again.

This nomination is timely for me. In 2014, I joined the faculty of James Madison University’s Combined- Integrated Doctoral Program in Clinical and School Psychology. A cherished role there is teaching psychotherapy skills through direct supervision of our students. I am now Director of this program, as well as Chair-Elect of the Consortium of Combined-Integrated Doctoral Programs in Psychology (CCIDPIP). This context brings psychotherapy training into focus for me daily, from the needs of individual trainees to those of organizations focused broadly on training of health service psychologists.

I received my doctoral degree from the University of Utah, interned at the San Francisco VA Medical Center, and received post-doctoral training focused on personality disorders at Weill-Cornell Medical School and the University of Utah Neuropsychiatric Institute. I stayed on at Utah for over a decade and became co-director of the Interpersonal Reconstructive Therapy (IRT) clinic, which had the three-fold mission of service, research, and training for treatment of patients with comorbid psychiatric disorders, chronic suicidality, and personality disorder. I love seeing patients make profound changes in their lives, as well as researching how change may come about. I also love seeing psychotherapy trainees come into their own as they increasingly internalize principles of intervention that make lasting change possible.

Thank you for considering me as a candidate. I hope I receive your vote. I’m a fellow-traveler in any case and will be working to advance psychotherapy education and training wherever possible.


Candidates for Membership Domain Representative

Jean Birbilis, PhD

It has been a highlight of my professional life to be involved in the governance of Division 29, particularly as Membership Domain Representative, and it would be an honor to have the opportunity to continue. One of the focal points of the Board that I have appreciated is consistent, proactive efforts to diversify the membership of Division 29, with overall improvement resulting from those efforts. At the same time, there is room for improvement. For example, members were added with events like “Lunch with the Masters” that was provided for several years at APA Conventions, but conversion rates to permanent membership were low. Dr. Rosemary “Rosie” Adam-Terem, the incoming Chair of the Membership Committee, and I, as the Domain Representative for Membership, have identified strategies for not only recruiting, but also retaining and mentoring new members who will represent the vast diversity of potential members. As such, we are or plan to be implementing the following:

  • Increasing the number of students and graduates (particularly of Psy.D. programs which are now graduating more doctoral level psychologists than Ph.D. programs and yet are underrepresented in Division 29 membership) by locating and directly contacting graduate psychology student organizations
  • Creating and sharing methodology with other committees to develop succession plans for leadership in order to engage and retain more students and Early Career Psychologists while also increasing the continuity of committee activities
  • Developing strategies for enhancing the geographic diversity of members who become involved in governance of Division 29
  • Continuing to explore opportunities for Division 29 to offer continuing education via webinars and other venues to add value for members who are maintaining licenses
  • Seeking new opportunities for collaborations with other organizations that have similar missions to Division 29

I would appreciate being given the opportunity to follow through on these strategies for recruiting and retaining members for Division 29, the Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy, as the Membership Domain Representative.

 

Jonathan Jenkins, PsyD

Since joining the Division in 2016, I have been thankful for the manner in which the Society continues to reach out to early career psychologists while also continuing to seek the sage advice of well-traveled clinical “rock stars” in the field. Through this community of clinicians of various backgrounds and experiences, we are able to both be the teachers and the students in various discussions that touch upon our unique roles as clinicians in our communities and our unique seen and unseen identities. Division 29 has the unique opportunity to continue to grow its membership through a variety of means and I hope to be a part of that change. Membership growth is crucial to the overall health of the Division because increases in the breath and scope of its members will help cultivate more nuanced discussions about the ways in which we, as therapists, can continue to grow as individuals and clinicians. Increased membership also has a financial benefit as it therefore allows for the Division to be more fiscally buoyant and capable of changing with the needs of the field and its members. As a larger and more comprehensive group, Division 29 can better galvanize our efforts towards collective advocacy on critical mental healthcare topics and lend our voice to those underserved populations in the community. Investing in membership retention and member acquisition are two essential tasks to preserve the value and strength of the Division. To take Division 29 to the next level, we need to dedicate a strong push to empowering our broad membership base to help promote the Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy and how we can help the community be emotionally healthier.


Candidates for Psychotherapy Practice Domain Representative

Angela Ferguson, PhD

I am honored to be considered for the position of Domain Representative for Psychotherapy Practice for Division 29. Although I am new as a member of Division 29, I am not new to serving in APA governance. I have served on the executive committee of the Council of Counseling Psychology Training Programs, the executive committee of Division 44 – Society for the Psychological Study of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Issues; the Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Concerns Committee (CLGBTC); and I’m currently serving on the executive committee of Division 45 – Society for the Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity, and Race. I have also served on the Editorial Board for The Counseling Psychologist (2009-2012), and currently serve on the Editorial Board for the Journal of Counseling and Development.

Throughout my career, I have been involved in various aspects of psychotherapy, either through direct service delivery, scholarship, or supervision and training. During my early career, I was a staff psychologist and thoroughly enjoyed working as a clinician and supervisor. I am currently an associate professor at Howard University in the Counseling Psychology Program. In all aspects of my work, I have focused on the multiple intersections of an individual’s identities. My research, supervision and academic work infuses a cultural perspective relative to the ways in which the sociopolitical and historical experiences of oppressed, marginalized groups influences social, emotional, and sociocultural aspects of psychological functioning and development, and personal and group identity. I use an intersectional lens in theoretical conceptualization, psychological assessment, and didactic content. Therapists need to be culturally aware and competent, and it has been my hope that my work will inform therapeutic interventions to meet the unique needs of diverse and marginalized clients, and help ensure access to effective treatment. I am excited to add to Division 29’s discourse and leadership of promoting the importance of cultural competency in psychotherapy and supervisory work.

 

Barbara Vivino, PhD

I, Barbara Vivino, am honored to be nominated for Domain Representative for the Professional Practice Committee for the Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy (Div. 29) of the American Psychological Association. As a long time APA member, I took on the role of Chair of the Professional Practice Committee of Division 29 in 2013. During the past five years, I have learned to deeply appreciate and embrace the mission of The Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy. Its goal to provide an active, diverse, and vital community has been successful with me, as it has become my home within APA.

I have been a psychologist in private practice in Berkeley, California, since 2000. I am strongly committed to the intersection of research and practice and feel passionate about representing the voice of professional practitioners. During my tenure as Chair, the Professional Practice Committee has developed and conducted a qualitative research study on the Needs of Therapists in Private Practice. Findings from this study will be presented with an international panel of psychotherapists and psychotherapy researchers at the Society for Psychotherapy Research conference in Amsterdam in June of 2018. The Professional Practice committee developed this study as a way to more fully understand and potentially meet the needs of professional practitioners. We plan to use our qualitative findings to develop and distribute a survey to a nationwide sample of therapists in private practice. I am also a regular contributor to the Psychotherapy Bulletin and have elicited a wide range of other contributors for the Bulletin as well.

I received my Ph.D. from the University of Maryland and completed a clinical postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley. I worked as an Associate Professor at The California Institute of Integral Studies from 2000 to 2007, where I also served as Director of Clinical Training.

I will be honored if you vote for me. I will work hard and thoughtfully to best support the needs of the division and of professional practitioners. I believe the Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy would be well served by the continuity, experience, and passion that I would bring to this position.

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