American Psychological Association Division 50
This past summer at the Annual APA Convention, I became president of the Society of Addiction Psychology. Thank you to those of you who voted. In parallel to the wider world, voting in your division, state, and national professional elections matters. In fact, on November 15th, you received the 2018 Apportionment Ballot. We are asking that you take the time to cast your vote as this annual ballot determines the composition of the APA Council of Representatives. Having addiction experts in the council is essential, particularly now as the US faces pressing addiction-focused topics including, but not limited to opioid addiction and overdoses, cannabis legalization, and criminal justice reform. Our division needs to be at the table! Please take the minute – really a minute – to allocate all 10 of your votes to Society of Addiction Psychology (aka Division 50). Our goal is for all of our members to VOTE 10 for 50.
My presidential year is now underway and my plans include carrying forward several important initiatives adopted by my predecessors as well as introducing a few of my own. In this issue of The Addiction Newsletter (TAN), you will find updates on:
The 2019 Collaborative Perspectives on Addiction conference, inspired and launched by Sara Jo Nixon (Presidential Year 2012-2013). This is SoAP’s mid-year meeting. It has become a hallmark of our division in six short years! For those of you who have not yet attended, consider this:
Read more about the 2019 CPA conference, to be held in Rhode Island, by visting the CPA website.
Updated website and social media presence, initiated and maintained by Katie Witkiewitz (Presidential Year 2016-2017). To expand our national footprint, we made dramatic changes to the layout and content of our website addictionpsychology.org. We continue to add and improve content and flow for students, clinicians, researchers, and the general public. We are encouraging all of our members to go to the website and surf around. Increasing traffic to our website will improve our website’s visibility during a Google search. Not only will you learn about the people, activities, and initiatives of the division, you will also help the messages of the division reach a broader audience!
In addition, we have robustly expanded our social media presence. Under Dr. Witkiewitz’s leadership, the Technology and Communications Committee (along with other active Division 50 members) maintained a steady stream of tweets and retweets during the Annual APA Convention in August. SoAP was one of the top 10 influencers at the convention, with over 30,000 impressions! I would like to acknowledge a few early career members who were particularly active on social media on behalf of the division: Julie Cristello, David Eddie, Tori Votaw, Elena Stein, Melissa Schick, Tessa Frohe, Jevon Rice, and Brandon Bergman.
Are you on social media? You can follow us at @apadivision50 on Twitter or visit on Facebook.
ABPP subspecialty in addiction psychology, an incredible team effort undertaken during John Kelly’s presidential year (2013-2014) and being carried to the finish line by Ray Hanbury (Presidential Year 1994-1995), Bruce Liese (Presidential Year 2017-2018), and Mark and Linda Sobell (President-Elect). A subspecialty in addiction psychology will allow psychologists to gain specific and essential expertise in working with individuals and families affected by substance use and addiction. We need this now more than ever! Read more about the progress of the application here.
Reaching out! Bruce Liese, our current Past President, created an outreach committee whose job it is to find new ways to engage our members. One way we seek to provide value to you is by developing new CE opportunities. This year, be on the lookout for more continuing education programming, like the Student/Early Career Psychologist (ECP) Podcasts and Clinical Teleconferences already available at addictionpsychology.org.
Like many of my predecessors, including Marsha Bates [2005-2006], Nancy Piotrowski [2007-2008], and John Kelly [2013-2014], I participated in the submission of a CODAPAR (Committee on Division/APA Relations) grant application. The grant entitled, “Responding to the Opioid Crisis: Perspectives from Family, Addiction and Pain Psychology” was submitted with Divisions 38 (Society for Health Psychology) and 43 (Society for Couple and Family Psychology). It focuses on the lack of psychological training in pain management, addiction, and family systems. In the application, the divisions propose a webinar series to develop assessment and intervention competencies related to intersections of these three fields of psychology. I am thrilled to announce that it was awarded preliminary funding and now goes to the APA Board of Directors for final approval. See the request for comment on this topic.
Finally, I would like to announce my primary initiative for the upcoming year:
Updating The Addiction Newsletter (TAN). Over the next few issues, you will notice changes to the TAN. First and foremost, you will notice a new TAN Editor, Dr. Dana Litt. Welcome Dana! Dana has been working to build new content and identify new contributors. Our goals are to engage our membership in new ways (we want to hear from you!) and to increase readership. During my year as president, I will focus my columns on the activities of the division leadership. Our board and committees are very active, and we want our members to know! The TAN format also will change in an effort to improve member access to TAN articles. Many divisions and professional organizations have upgraded news delivery to more seamlessly interface with the digital age. We will be following suit by providing direct links to individual articles from listserv blasts, and housing TAN both as a PDF and a searchable individual articles on the website.
It will be a busy year, but I’m ready for it!
Resources are available for those struggling with addiction and numerous effective treatments exist. Whether you are looking for help for yourself or a loved one, we encourage you to seek out help.