President's Column

Colleagues,

What an eventful several months!  There’s been a tremendous amount going on in the world of Addiction Psychology, but the biggest highlight, by far, was the incredible success of Collaborative Perspectives on Addiction (CPA) 2023 conference in Albuquerque!  This year we had a record number of attendees, with tremendous representation from all sectors: students, established members, our fellows, and even over 100 non-members who chose to join us in New Mexico.  

Our Chair and Co-Chair for CPA 2023, Drs. Erin Deneke and Jordan Davis respectively, deserve absolutely massive thank-yous for their service – I’m in awe of what they were able to accomplish on a shortened timetable.  Another special thanks to Dr. Andrew (Hyounsoo) Kim, our sponsorship chair for CPA, who helped gather a record number of partners to support the success of CPA, our student travel awards, and the future of Division 50.

And even if you weren’t able to make it, our Division 50 Social Media Team worked overtime to highlight so many of our members’ research on our Twitter feed – please drop by (and follow!) our Division 50 account (@apadivision50) to get a great feel for the vibe and contributions of the conference.

Other Division 50 high notes include:

• After a tremendous amount of effort spanning over multiple years, Addiction Psychology is now officially a specialty under the American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP)! I personally am a huge believer in the value of board-certification; having previously completed the process for Counseling Psychology, I’m looking forward to joining the Board of Addiction Psychology in the future. I hope you’ll consider it as well – to learn more please visit the ABAP website.

• I’m incredibly proud that over twenty Division 50 members answered the call and contributed to the Division response to the recent RFI on the term “Pre-Addiction.”  Our Member-At-Large for Public Interest, Dr. Karen Osilla, then deftly wove our diverse range of responses into a narrative that APA has now incorporated as a central component in its official response to the RFI. Seeing Division 50’s impact on the final product from APA made me feel genuinely proud to be part of SoAP – APA is looking to us for guidance on these critical issues, and we’re stepping up to the challenge. Thanks again to everyone who took the time to craft such thoughtful and well-researched responses.

• For the first time, Division 50 partnered with our colleagues at the American Society of Addiction Medicine for their annual Addiction Medicine Advocacy Conference, building bridges between psychologists and physicians passionate about using science to inform public policy.  Breaking down the silos and divisions between professions is going to be a defining component of moving addiction practice, science, and policy forward in 2023 and beyond.

It's truly been an impactful 2023 thus far, and there’s so much more in store!  In particular, please mark your calendars for APA 2023 this August 3-5 in Washington DC – we’ll be looking to pick up right where CPA left off, and we have an exciting slate of programming in the works that’s being curated by our Chair, Dr. Angela Heads, and Co-Chair, Dr. Christina Lee.  More details about APA coming soon, so make sure to keep an eye on the listserv for updates.

There’s so much more we could chat about, but at this point you’re probably more than ready to read the fantastic articles Dr. DiBello has assembled for this Quarter’s SoAP Box!  So I’ll stop here, but, as always, please feel free to reach out to me directly if you have any questions or would like to be more involved in the Division – I’m always available to you at aaron@weinerphd.com.

Be well and take care out there,

Aaron Weiner