Greetings to all! I am honored and excited to begin my presidential year in service to the Society for Advancement of Psychotherapy (SfAP). I am really looking forward to the year’s work, which began January 1, just as they all promised me it would (smile). As I write this note, I have just returned from our very productive spring Board of Directors meeting in Washington, DC, held February 8-10. More on this meeting later.

Before I get on to news, several thank yous are in order. Michael Constantino served as 2018 Society president, and we are truly fortunate that an individual of such talent and dedication devoted his time and energy to furthering the mission of SfAP. Mike now will serve as past-president, taking over for Jeff Zimmerman, who did such an admirable job in his three years in the presidential roles.

My heartfelt appreciation goes out to your board and committee members, who work all year to realize the SfAP mission. And as always, my undying gratitude to Tracey Martin, our outstanding administrator. I can say confidently that every president would attest that they couldn’t do their jobs without the able Tracey’s unwavering assistance.

Presidential Theme and APA Convention

As I have noted previously, my presidential theme is Out of the Office and Into the Streets and is intended to seek out and highlight psychotherapy interventions (I like to call them growth-producing interventions) that take our efforts to diverse, nontraditional venues which inherently have the potential to reach clients who are less than likely to show up at traditional places where psychotherapy happens. It bears repeating that if this type of activity is on your list, please let me know! As one step toward realizing the theme, I have composed a panel of outstanding individuals who will present on out of the office interventions for my presidential symposium at APA in Chicago.

Speaking of APA……one of the most exciting events of the year, of course, is our program at the APA convention in Chicago this August, which carries the sister theme to my presidential one: Psychotherapy for the future: Promoting growth through interventions designed for diverse clients and settings.  The program for the convention has been finalized, with 23 hours of excellent programming, including a many high-quality symposia and posters, our fabulous Lunch with the Luminaries for students and early career professionals, and of course, our wonderful Business Meeting and Awards Presentation and Reception. Once we get the final blessings from APA, we will post the program on the Society website. My heartfelt thanks to James Boswell, our program chair, who put this program together. Please pay close attention to the program when we are free to let the details out, closer to convention time—but you do know that we can be fairly confident that the Business/Awards/Social Hour happens on Friday afternoon, so mark your calendar now!

Other Important SfAP News

You may recall that Mike Constantino, who now serves as our distinguished past-president, described bylaws changes that were proposed to the membership by the Board of Directors. The proposals created a membership for undergraduate student affiliates, modified the composition of the Committee for Professional Awards, and made some clarifications regarding membership rights and privileges. The vote is in! I am pleased to report that these changes were supported by the vote of our membership in the fall. To see the full text of these changes, please visit our most excellent SfAP website. https://societyforpsychotherapy.org/proposed-bylaws-changes-2018/

From the Board of Directors Meeting, Feb 8-10, 2019

After an orientation session on Friday (which included some animated cha cha cha on the part of your representatives), your Board of Directors and Committee Chairs went hard to work on division business Saturday morning. One of the first business items was to establish a Presidential Task force on Communication and Membership, which carries the charge of reviewing how we communicate as a division and suggesting improvements in communication. In addition, we are interested in hearing from membership about their perceptions of the benefits of being a part of SfAP, with an eye toward increasing member benefits where possible. This means…..yes…..a survey. Please do take the time to respond when you see it hit the Society’s email lists.

Other Board meeting items of note included the signing of our renewed agreement with Oriental Insight, an organization devoted to promotion of psychotherapy practice, research, and education based in Wuhan, China. Our treasurer, Jesse Owen, assured us that SfAP is in good financial health. A particularly exciting part of our meeting was previewing concepts for a new logo for the Society. The Board chose one possibility for further development; it is not ready for prime time yet, but stay tuned. There are lots of interesting things going on in the Diversity and Social Justice Domains and committees, too. The board was also treated to a review of the qualitative study of independent practitioners spearheaded by the Professional Practice domain and committee. More information on that can be obtained from the Practice Domain Representative, Barbara Vivino.

Thank you again for allowing me the honor of serving as your President. I am excitedly anticipating the year’s work!

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Nancy L. Murdock, Ph.D.

Nancy L. Murdock, Ph.D. is Professor of Counseling Psychology at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. She teaches graduate level courses in family systems theory, advanced counseling theory, research design and analysis and supervises couples and family practicum. Dr. Murdock is active in numerous professional organizations, having served as the Vice President for Education and Training of the Society of Counseling Psychology and as president of the Council of Counseling Psychology Training Programs. Dr. Murdock's research interests include family systems theory, professional issues, and counseling process. She is the author of Theories of Counseling and Psychotherapy: A Case Approach (4 nd Ed., 2017). A licensed psychologist in Missouri, Dr. Murdock practiced as a staff psychologist for Catholic Charities of Kansas City for 10 years and currently maintains a limited independent practice which includes serving as the psychological consultant for the Kansas City Ballet. She is currently president-elect of the Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy, Division 29 of the American Psychological Association.