Liaison Reports

ACCTA
Tony Cellucci
(Association of Counseling Center Training Agencies)

Tony Cellucci
 
I recently attended the ACCTA conference (Internships Directors within University Counseling Centers) in New Orleans. The theme of the meeting was “The internship Crisis and Social Justice: Implications for Selection and Training”. Although their registration fee is considerably higher, they tend to have meals together and have a number of recurring themes that create a historical culture within their organization. Included in these themes are: a pre-conference board meeting, diversity scholar presentations, passages through a director’s life, leadership breakfast (to encourage committee involvement), selected items report from an annual survey, and programming time for affinity (discussion) groups.
    The keynote this year was delivered by Dr. Nadine Kaslow (incoming APA president) and Dr. Greg Keilin who presented on the match imbalance as a social justice issue, proving an overview and dialoguing on the many issues involved including APA Council’s recent resolution to push accreditation for all programs and internships.  The diversity presenters spoke on “language mismatches in supervisory dyads” and “LBGTQ mentoring”,  while another concurrent session dealt with “creating effective remediation plans” and/or “steps in developing an internship”. 
attended the ACCTA meeting in Baltimore last month as the APTC liaison. I was stuck by the many similarities (e.g. size) and common interests between our groups. Their conference, like ours, balances internal vs. external needs. The job of training director, competencies, culture sharing, diversity, supervision, and self-care were all recurring themes. One difference is that these Training Directors are more like DCTs in that they write the self-study.

The meeting ran from Sat night through Tuesday which is long; their board meets the day before. Dr. Cindy Juntunen gave an excellent keynote on the APA HSPEC’s work on psychology as a health care profession and related competencies. They have a well- developed session for newer directors and breakout groups (passages) related to where directors place themselves developmentally and emotionally. They also have topical breakouts (affinity groups) at the conference end. Most meals were hosted at the hotel as a group, with one night of excursions. They have a mentoring program and keep a history, including pictures of their conferences.
ACCTA seems to have worked out the art of conducting smaller surveys and those data were presented at different points. For example, directors (n=76) reported that 87% of their interns had jobs by the end of the internship year. Also, the obstacles to adding slots within these internships are money, space and supervisors. They are in the process of conducting another survey related to CoA self-study experiences. ACCTA has a diversity scholar presentation program, with this year’s speakers addressing transgender needs and working with Asian males. I attended several smaller concurrent sessions on supervision and remediation plans.
My liaison report from APTC seemed to be well received. I bonded with Cathy Grus the first day who gave the APA perspective. In addition, Joyce Illfelder-Kaye led a CoA session regarding the process and first round of questions regarding changes within the G&P. This is a bit overwhelming at various levels, and she will be coming to our conference in the Spring for a similar meeting. I suspect it would be good to do some preplanning around this session and the revised questions. The conference ended with a dinner, awards and song.

 


Board of Educational Affairs
Tony Cellucci
Jennifer L. Schwartz
 
I attended the Board of Educational Affairs (BEA) meeting November 1st and 2nd as a liaison from APTC and noted the following items that might be of interest to our group.
1. Guidelines for Competency-Based Clinical Supervision in Health Service Psychology Education and Training Programs.  This document could have direct implications for the kind of work done in our clinics. It is out for comment until November 18th. See the link to view the document.  http://apaoutside.apa.org/EducCSS/Public/ProjectList.asp?t=111128
2. Maintenance of Competence and Licensure White Paper (MOCAL): The MOCAL committee was charged to revise and update the guidelines for continuing education, study the role of regulatory bodies in assuring that psychologists maintain competence, and make recommendations to those bodies on how to implement maintenance of competence in licensing procedures. A draft report was discussed.  Here is the link.
http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.asppb.net/resource/resmgr/guidelines/draft_mocal_paper_august_12_.pdf
3. Proposal for APA sponsoring a National Psychology Week
(This proposal met with mixed enthusiasm because of resources and time it might take from other public education activities and is still being considered.)
4. Proposed Changes to Section 8 of the Accreditation Operating Procedures
On the CoA website , there is expanded disclosure regarding accreditation decisions.  Changes were also made to reflect new standards for all programs training Health Services Psychologists  (Standards of Accreditation and Accreditation Operating Procedures). Next steps in revising the G& P. 

CCTC Fall 2013
(Council of Chairs of Training Councils)
Colleen Byrne

Education Directorate
APA Intern grants have been offered for two cycles with a third smaller cycle to distribute remaining funds.
The Primary Care Competencies document was approved by multiple groups and is under final review.
There is no agreement regarding a statement on master’s education at this time.
Heath Service Psychologists document is open for Yes or No regarding recommendations to approve it.
Internship Toolkit
As an action item from the 2008 Imbalance meeting, CCTC created a workgroup to develop an Internship Toolkit (available at  http://www.psychtrainingcouncils.org/documents.html).
Canadian Reference Letter Workgroup
A workgroup will be convened to look at the possibility of advocating for a standardized reference similar to the Canadian form.  The workgroup reports that a standardized letter promotes better communication and would be helpful to internships but does not fully  address competencies.
BEA Virtual Working Group: “Conscience Clause” Legislation
This work group is developing recommendations regarding the “Conscience Clause” legislation, addressing both students’ First Amendment rights and training students to become competent psychologists able to serve a diverse population.
Update on Courageous Conversation II and the Imbalance Grid
In 2008, APA and APPIC partnered to convene a meeting of the five doctoral Councils and APAGS, to identify action steps that would mitigate the internship imbalance (AKA “The Imbalance Meeting”).  In 2012, CCTC agreed to hold a follow-up meeting, which was dubbed “Courageous Conversation II” (CC2). CCTC’s guiding vision has been to identify mechanisms that would mitigate the imbalance in a manner that promotes quality in education and is responsive to workforce needs. 
APAGS requested CC2 Training Councils to go back to their constituencies to discuss policies of funding and expenses for unplaced students.  APAGS prefers use of the term “crisis” rather than “imbalance.” 
Health Service Psychology Education Collaborative (HSPEC) 
A national conference on the sequence of training was identified as one potential long-term action related to the Imbalance.  An inter-organizational workgroup was established to consider elements of importance in the education of HSPs, including initial plans for a national conference. Questions remain regarding how to use competencies and ratings of competencies.
Psychology Teachers at Community Colleges
Discussion was held on how best to foster the development of psychological services and training opportunities in community colleges where no psychological services are in place. A CCTC workgroup was convened.