Welcome

The Division of Psychotherapy is an educational and scientific organization, the purposes of which shall be to foster collegial relations among members of the APA who are interested in psychotherapy, to stimulate the exchange of information about psychotherapy, to encourage the evaluation and development of the practice of psychotherapy, to educate the public regarding the service of psychologists who are psychotherapists, and to promote the general objectives of the APA.

APA - Boston | August 2008

President's Column

A Note from the President

"Exciting Times for 29"

Jeffrey E. Barnett, Psy.D., ABPP
drjbarnett1@comcast.net

It is with great pleasure that I serve as your president for 2008.  Division 29 is a vibrant, active, and important organization that is doing great work on our collective behalf to advance psychotherapy.  I am delighted to be able to participate in this great work and to work with the division’s outstanding leadership and members.  Together, I know we can do great things to continue and build on all accomplishments of preceding years.

Just to the right of this column you will note “News You Can Use” one of my initiatives.  As you will see, the goal of “News You Can Use” is to help bring important psychotherapy research findings to practicing psychotherapists quickly but providing useable information that can be readily integrated into our ongoing practices now.  Please read these and look for new ones in each issue of the division’s online newsgram Psychotherapy E-News, edited by our website editor, Bryan Kim.  If you haven’t received these please send me your e-mail address so you can be included on our distribution list. 

Another important initiative was our recent midwinter board meeting that was held jointly with APA’s Division 42, Psychologists in Independent Practice.  In addition to our separate board meetings we met and worked together on issues of mutual interest and concern.  In addition to Division 29’s own work on the implementation of our new board structure we met jointly with Division 42 to help craft a shared advocacy agenda.  It was a productive meeting and I will hope to share more information with you in my columns in the Psychotherapy Bulletin as we move forward.

Division 29 has so much to offer its members.  The title of our fine journal says it all: Psychotherapy: Theory/Research/Practice/Training.  Each of these is an important aspect of the mission of the division and the focus of our activities.  Regardless of your areas of interest in psychotherapy, Division 29 has something to offer you.  While this website offers lots of information about the division and some of our benefits of membership, an additional initiative this year is the total redesign of the division’s website.  Our Website Development Task Force has begun this important work.  Look for our new and improved, user friendly and resource laden website later this year.  To provide input to the task force contact its Chair, Laura Brown, at lsbrown@cs.com .  Other members of the task force are Jean Carter, Ray DiGuiseppe, Jeffrey Magnivita, Jon Mohr, and Libby Nutt Williams. 

In addition to our great journal which is expertly edited by Charles Gelso, members also receive our quarterly bulletin, the Psychotherapy Bulletin.  Past copies are available for review here on the website.  Craig Shealy has completed his term as editor and our new editor beginning with the spring 2008 issue is Jenny Cornish.  I know Jenny welcomes your input, ideas, and contributions.  If you have an idea for an article please contact her at jcornish@du.edu .  If you’ve ever considered writing a brief article about some aspect of psychotherapy (be it practice, research, education, training, policy, diversity, ethics, supervision, mentoring, the list goes on…) please accept this invitation.  Contact Jenny and give it a try. 

As you will see in the governance list we have many psychotherapists involved in the governance of the division.  In addition to our officers, domain representatives, and committee chairs, we have a number of dedicated colleagues working on our committees and task forces.  I hope you will consider getting involved in Division 29.  Join a committee, learn more about our division, work with a great group of colleagues, have fun, and make a contribution to advancing psychotherapy and our profession.  If you have questions about any of this and aren’t sure where you might make the best contribution please contact the relevant Domain Representative or just contact me at drjbarnett1@comcast.net .

2008 marks the 40th Anniversary of Division 29.  I am honored to serve as President this year.  I am humbled by the knowledge of the great contributions made by the many great leaders who have come before me.  Please join us at this year’s APA Convention in Boston, MA (visit the APA website at www.apa.org for registration information) to help celebrate.  We have a truly outstanding convention program put together by our Convention Chairs, Nancy Murdoch and Chris Brown.  We also will be building on last years wildly successful student and early career psychologist lunch with the masters.  Libby Nutt Williams, Annie Judge, and Michael Constantino have put together what should prove to be an even more successful event.   We will be celebrating our anniversary at our Awards Ceremony and our Social Hour both to be held on Friday, August 15, 2008.  Please join us as we celebrate 40 years of psychotherapy and 40 years of the division of psychotherapy.  To help celebrate these 40 years I have invited my past teachers, supervisors, and mentors to attend.  I’ve also invited my current students, supervisees, and protégées to attend.  I hope you will do the same and join us in the celebration.  What better way to celebrate the past, present, and future of psychotherapy and of our division? 

There’s much more happening in Division 29 this year.  Please be sure to visit this website often for updates and announcements.  More will be shared in the Psychotherapy Bulletin and in Psychotherapy E-News.  But, despite all the efforts of the division’s leadership we can only be successful at achieving our shared goals through our work together.  Every member of Division 29 is important.  I value your contributions, ideas, and suggestions.  Please contact me at any time at drjbarnett1@comcast.net .  I look forward to a productive and successful year together. 

With best wishes to all –

Jeff