Editor's Corner

Angelo DiBello, PhD
SoAP Box Editor

                                                       
Victoria Votaw, MS                                                                                                   Melissa Hatch, BA
Student Editor                                                                                                              Student Editor

Hello everyone, welcome to the Spring 2022 SoAP Box (The Addictions Newsletter).

For this issue, be sure to start with Dr. Mark Sobell’s President’s Column, focused on the upcoming in person CPA conference and its great offerings. We are also excited to have several spotlights in the issue. First, Dr. Chelsie M. Young, is featured as the Early Career Psychologist (ECP) spotlight in this issue. We are also happy to have Dr. Alexandria Bauer highlighting her recent publication and important work in our Diversity Science spotlight.

In this issue, we are thrilled that former SoAP editor Dr. Dana M. Litt returns to provide useful insight via our Finding Success Through Failure column, detailing her experience in setting up a lab and what she learned. Fortunately, Dr. Dennis McCarty also offered his perspective on building a research program in his Finding Success Through Failure column, with a focus on pursuing funding and the role it played in his career. We are also excited the have a great submission for the Clinical Translations column from Drs. Samuel Peter and Rory Pfund focused on psychotherapy for gambling disorder. 

As always, we received great submissions for SoAP Box Sound Bites and Show and Tell which highlight the opinions and contributions of the members that make SoAP what it is today.  In particular, the Show and Tell columns highlight both recently formed SoAP Student Committee as well as the JEAP Initiative and their first cohort of trainees and fellows.  Please be sure to read the several important division announcements appearing in this issue. First, check out the 2022 Award Recipients announcement. Next, click on the APA announcements to see all of the upcoming activities both within and between Divisions.

Finally, on behalf of the Outreach & Dissemination Committee (Chair: Nancy Haug; Members: Kirk Bowden, Bruce Liese, Mark Schenker, and Robert Schwebel; Student Members: Katie Moskal and Mohammed Sibai), I am thrilled to announce the start of a new column for the SoAP Box called Clinician’s Corner. Dr. Robert Schwebel has authored the inaugural column focused on what he calls “The Seven Challenges”. Clinician’s Corner can include creative ideas, important lessons learned, and innovations in practice and implementation. The Clinician's Corner is also a place for clinicians to introduce themselves and talk about their work and accomplishments. Clinical practice members of the Division can inspire and learn from one another. They also can provide fresh ideas and a unique perspective to academicians that could open the door and inspire new research. The Outreach & Dissemination Committee thought this was a way that the clinical voice based on theory, practice, experience, and imagination can be given a new forum within the division.

For the next issue, I am hoping to continue soliciting new content. I am grateful to all those submissions we received for the current issue and I am hopeful that more people will feel comfortable submitting content in the coming issues. Please submit any of the content requested below to me (Angelo.DiBello@rutgers.edu) by June 1st, 2022.

-Diversity Science Spotlight. In this column, we are looking to highlight recently published work or accomplishments by members from backgrounds that are underrepresented in psychological science. We are also interested in promoting research focusing on improving health equity and social justice in historically disadvantaged groups. Send us a link and description of your current projects, awards, or media attention you have received, and any other information that you would like to share with our readers. If you are discussing research focused on improving health equity and social justice, you can also provide additional information about the implications of your research. Please limit responses to 500 words.

-SoAP Box Sound Bites. In 50 words or less, please respond to the following prompt—What fun and exciting plans will you be partaking in this summer to relax and enjoy some much needed down time?

-Show and Tell. This is the place to show off your recent accomplishments, accolades, awards and/or to and highlight the cool ways in which you promote your lab (websites, Facebook pages, Instagram accounts, etc.). Send us a link and description of your current projects, awards, or media attention you may have received, and any other information that you would like to share with our readers. Please limit responses to 200 words.

-Clinical Translation. Do you have any recently published work that you wish you would have had more room in the manuscript to discuss clinical implications and applications? We would love for you all to share recently published work in this area and give us more information about how your research findings could be useful for clinicians. Please limit responses to 1,000 words.

-Clinician’s Corner. Clinician’s Corner can include creative ideas, important lessons learned, and innovations in practice and implementation. The Clinician's Corner is also a place for clinicians to introduce themselves and talk about their work and accomplishments. Clinical practice members of the Division can inspire and learn from one another. They also can provide fresh ideas and a unique perspective to academicians that could open the door and inspire new research. The Outreach & Dissemination Committee thought this was a way that the clinical voice based on theory, practice, experience, and imagination can be given a new forum within the division.

-Finding Success in Failure. In line with the recent trend of prominent academics and clinicians sharing their “CVs of Failures”, we want to hear about a time in your career that things didn’t go your way. For this next issue, I am hoping someone will talk about a time in their career wherein they were overcommitted, working too much, and feeling as though there were unable to maintain a work life balance. We are interested in learning what the biggest challenge(s) was/were, how you approached resolving the challenge (s), and what you learned as the result of the experience. To the extent possible, we are interested in hearing about challenges that may be more generalizable to other researchers (e.g., one’s that are not institution specific). Please limit responses to 500 words.

-Ethical Issues. In this column, we are looking for articles focused on describing ethical issues you may come across in your research and/or addiction-related clinical practice. Specifically, we want to hear what the ethical issue was, how you handled it, and lessons learned. Some examples could be issues related to googling patients, how you handled it when a patient contacted you on social media, or what happens when you run into a research participant out in the real world. Please limit responses to 500 words.

If you have any suggestions for how we can make the SoAP Box more relevant and impactful for you, please don’t hesitate to let me know. Wanting to see articles on a specific topic? Send your topic ideas to me for upcoming issues. I am always open to ideas for new columns, hot topics to cover, or anything else you think would be useful for our readers.