News

2022 Award Winners

Dennis Martin Kivlighan, Jr., Ph.D. – Winner of the Society’s Distinguished Psychologist Award

Dennis M. Kivlighan, Jr. PhD, is Professor in the Department of Counseling, Higher Education and Special Education and Interim Chair in the Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology at the University of Maryland-College Park. He received his Ph.D in Counseling Psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1982. His primary areas of interest are process-outcome relationships in individual, group, couples and family therapy. He teaches Didactic Practicums in group and individual therapy and supervises trainees in the Maryland Psychotherapy Clinic and Research Lab. Kivlighan has published over 170 articles in peer reviewed journals and his work has been cited more than 13,700 times (h-index = 58; i10-index = 165 (from Google Scholar).

Professional Service (Editorial Boards, Offices)

Kivlighan is the editor of the Journal of Counseling Psychology the Co-Editor of Small Group Research and a past editor of Group Dynamics: Theory, Research and Practice, and serves on the editorial boards of the Psychotherapy Research, Psychotherapy, and Group Dynamics: Theory, Research and Practice. Kivlighan is past president of The Society of Group Psychology and Group Psychotherapy (49) of the American Psychological Association.

Honors

Kivlighan is a Fellow, Division 29 (Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy), Division 17 (Society of Counseling Psychology), and Division 49 (Society of Group Psychology and Group Psychotherapy), American Psychological Association. He was selected a Fulbright Teaching/ Research Fellowship (2015) to the University of Palermo, Italy. He was the Arthur Teicher Group Psychologist of the Year (2013), Division 49 (Society of Group Psychology and Group Psychotherapy), received the Lifetime Achievement Award (2012) from the Society of Counseling Psychology, Section for the Promotion of Psychotherapy Science, and Lifetime Mentoring Award, 2009, The Society of Counseling Psychology. Kivlighan is an Honorary Member, Taiwan Counseling Psychological Association (Member serial number: 130615016) and was an Honorary Chair Professor (2018), National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan

Sarah Knox, Ph.D.- Winner of the Society’s Award for Distinguished Contributions to Teaching and Mentoring

Dr. Sarah Knox joined the faculty of Marquette University in 1999, and is a Professor in the Department of Counselor Education and Counseling Psychology in the College of Education. She earned her PhD at the University of Maryland, and completed her predoctoral internship at The Ohio State University.

Dr. Knox’s research has been published in a number of journals, including The Counseling Psychologist, Counselling Psychology Quarterly, Journal of Counseling Psychology, Psychotherapy, Psychotherapy Research, and Training and Education in Professional Psychology. Her publications focus on the psychotherapy process and relationship, supervision and training, and qualitative research. She has presented her research both nationally and internationally, and has provided workshops on the qualitative method she uses at both US and international venues. She currently serves as Co-Editor-in-Chief of Counselling Psychology Quarterly, and is also on the Publication Board of Division 29 (Psychotherapy) of the American Psychological Association. Dr. Knox is a Fellow of Division 17 (Counseling Psychology) and Division 29 (Psychotherapy) of the American Psychological Association.

Jeffrey Nels Younggren, Ph.D. – Winner of the Society’s Distinguished Practitioner Award

A Fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA) and a Distinguished Member of the National Academies of Practice (NAP), Dr. Younggren is a clinical and forensic psychologist who practices in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He was a clinical professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Medicine and currently is a clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of New Mexico.

Dr. Younggren served as President of APA Division 42 (Psychologists in Independent Practice) and Secretary of Division 29. He has served on numerous boards and committees, including the Ethics Committees of the California Psychological Association (CPA) and the APA, the APA Committee on Accreditation, and the APA/APLS Committee that drafted the Specialty Guidelines for Forensic Psychology. Dr. Younggren consults to various licensing boards on ethics and standards of care, and qualifies as an expert in criminal, civil and administrative proceedings. He continues to serve as a Risk Management consultant to The Trust and its policyholders.

Leigh Ann Carter, Psy.D. – Winner of the Society’s Early Career Practitioner Award

Dr. Leigh Ann Carter earned her Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.) in Clinical Psychology from Loyola University Maryland. She currently maintains a private practice in Media, Pennsylvania where she specializes in treating both psychotherapists and trainees, and emerging adults. She previously worked as a staff psychologist and supervisor in university counseling centers, and has additional experience in community mental health, employee assistance, and integrated primary care settings. She is the co-author of Self-Care for Clinicians in Training: A Guide to Psychological Wellness for Graduate Students in Psychology

Héctor Fernández-Álvarez, Ph.D. & Dr. Guangrong Jiang – Winners of the Distinguished Award for the International Advancement of Psychotherapy (Co-Awardees)

Héctor Fernández-Álvarez, Ph.D. received his licenciatura degree in psychology at the University of Buenos Aires in 1967 and earned a doctoral degree from the National University of San Luis, Argentina, in 1995 and a Doctor Honoris Causa degree in 2021. Dr. Fernández-Álvarez’s career spans five decades, including multiple academic appointments throughout Argentina and visiting professorships in Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, Spain, and Uruguay.

In 1977 Dr. Fernández-Álvarez together with other mental health professionals founded the Aiglé Foundation, a non-governmental organization. They sought to build bridges through systematic, close contact and collaboration with psychologists overseas to bring to Argentina the latest developments in psychotherapy taking place outside of Argentina. Since that time, Aiglé has continued to grow and presently has centers throughout Argentina as well as in Guatemala and Spain. He is currently Honorary President of the organization.

Among the significant contributions by Dr. Fernández-Álvarez, his Cognitive- integrative model of psychotherapy figures most prominently. He has inspired colleagues in the region to explore and advance psychotherapy integration and has joined forces with these colleagues to found associations that support integrative treatment approaches in Argentina and Latin America. Another significant contribution by Dr. Fernández-Álvarez and Aiglé concerns the training of mental health professionals. Aiglé has become the destination for research-based, leading-edge psychotherapy training in Latin America. The multiple educational and training opportunities available through Aiglé have been provided through agreements with Argentine universities. In terms of education, Fernández-Alvarez received the recognition of Emeritus Professor after 40 years of teaching service at the Universidad de Belgrano, Argentina. He has written 18 books and numerous articles.

Dr. Fernández-Álvarez in Aiglé developed a mental health care program and has organized multiple community-based activities. One of these programs focuses on providing care treatment to people experiencing food and housing insecurities.

Dr. Fernández-Álvarez’s was President of the Interamerican Society of Psychology, President of the Latin American chapter of the Society for Psychotherapy Research (SPR), and Coordinator of the Education and Training Committee of the Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration (SEPI). He was recipient of the American Psychological Association’s 2016 Award for Distinguished Contributions to the International Advancement of Psychology. Dr. Fernández-Álvarez received the Interamerican Psychologist award from the Interamerican Society of Psychology in 1999 and the Sigmund Freud Award from the city of Vienna in 2002. Moreover, he received the Senior Career Award from the Society for Psychotherapy Research in 2013. In 2021 he was one of 200 graduates from Universidad de Buenos to receive a Special Acknowledgment in the Bicentenary of the university.

ase doctoral training in integrative behavioral healthcare, substance use prevention and treatment, and telepsychology. As part of this grant, he serves as the codirector of the Telepsychology Training Clinic (TPTC) housed in the College of Education at the University of Iowa. The TPTC is a community-based training clinic that provides free and accessible mental health services to underserved and underinsured rural Iowans.

In addition to his role in the counseling psychology program, Dr. Kivlighan is a visiting associate professor in Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology, Oncology, and Blood & Marrow Transplantation at the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics. Within this role he conducts process and outcome research on integrated behavioral health services and group therapy for the Behavioral Oncology Program at the Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center (HCCC). He also provides clinical services to cancer patients and caregivers within the HCCC Behavioral Oncology Clinic, including group therapy and integrated behavioral health consultation services.

Dr. Guangrong Jiang is an emeritus professor at Central China Normal University and the founder of Hubei Oriental Insight Mental Health Institution, an NGO that focuses on mental health promotion and psychotherapy advancement through research, training and service. Dr. Jiang has been one of the prominent pioneering leaders in the field of counseling and psychotherapy and mental health in China and a well-known scholar in psychotherapy research and psychological science in the past 30+ years. His current scholarly interest areas include public mental health literacy and psychological help-seeking behavior, process-outcome research in counseling and psychotherapy, psychological autopsy research for suicide among college students, self-injury behaviors of adolescents, and models of school guidance in middle schools. In each of the above areas, he has produced significant original research results, authored or co-authored over 100 journal articles, and edited or co-edited over 20 books in total. Dr. Jiang has been a leader in promoting localization of psychotherapy in the Chinese cultural contexts. He has developed theories and empirical research in connecting western psychotherapy theories/practice with Chinese culture, and promoting culturally fit population mental health education in China. Through running Oriental Insight, Dr. Jiang actively pursues international collaboration with overseas scholars/practitioners and organizations (Oriental Insight has had active collaborative relationship with Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy) to enhance culturally relevant and scientifically sound training, research and service for Chinese, and allow the world to enjoy the humanistic spirit of oriental culture and recognize the influence of indigenous Chinese psychology.

Xu Li, Ph.D. – Winner of the APF/Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy Early Career Award

Xu Li, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in Counseling Psychology at the Department of Educational Psychology in University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He earned his B.S. in Mathematical Sciences and his M.Ed. in Clinical and Counseling Psychology at Beijing Normal University in China. He then moved to the U.S. and obtained his Ph.D. degree in Counseling Psychology at the University of Maryland, College Park. He completed his doctoral internship at the University of Maryland Counseling Center, and is now a licensed psychologist in the state of Wisconsin. Dr. Li’s research focuses on the process and outcome of individual and group psychotherapy and the training and development of beginning therapist trainees. With a mathematical background, he is keenly interested in applying advanced quantitative methods to facilitate psychotherapy research. He is also dedicated to explore the cross-cultural and multicultural factors in psychotherapy process, and has worked with colleagues worldwide to conduct psychotherapy process and training research in the international context.