Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology

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The Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology (SCCAP) is an academic and professional society that was established to encourage the development and advancement of clinical child and adolescent psychology through integration of its scientific and professional aspects. The division promotes scientific inquiry, training, professional practice, and public policy in clinical child and adolescent psychology as a means of improving the welfare and mental health of children, youth, and families.

In the service of these goals, the Society promotes the general objectives of the American Psychological Association, and is listed as Division 53.

Mission

The mission of the SCCAP is to serve children, adolescents and families with the best possible clinical care based on psychological science. SCCAP strives to integrate scientific and professional aspects of clinical child and adolescent psychology, in that it promotes scientific inquiry, training, and clinical practice related to serving children and their families.^[2]

History

The society first appeared in the American Psychological Association as a section under the division of clinical psychology (Division 12) in 1962.^[3] As research in child development and behavior analysis progressed, the need for specialized training for clinical psychology students became more urgent.^[4] Conferences were held in the mid-1980s onward to discuss the material needed to treat children. By the next decade, Division 12 considered the possibility of clinical child psychology becoming its own division; and after a vote of the section members, the APA Council created the Division of Clinical Child Psychology (Division 53) in 1999.^[3] John Weisz became the first Division President the following year and the division went through a name change the year after that and maintains that title to the present day.^[3]

Membership

There are several types of membership in the society, depending on career stage.

Fellowship status

Fellow status in the American Psychological Association is formal recognition by professional peers that an individual has achieved great distinction in his or her field. In order to demonstrate outstanding contributions or performance in clinical child and adolescent psychology, the applicant must be able to provide:

• Documentation of continuous contributions or participation in clinical child and adolescent psychology over a period of a minimum of ten years,
• Evidence of distinctive contributions to clinical child and adolescent psychology that are recognized by others as excellent, and;
• Data exhibiting a documented impact beyond the immediate setting in which the candidate/nominee works.

These contributions include strong, long term impact of publication on the area of clinical child and adolescent psychology, impact through community service, cited work by others, presentation of papers, conducted workshops, holding office in psychological organizations, influencing legislation, receiving awards or grants or documented innovations in clinical child and adolescent psychology^[5]

News and publications

The Division currently publishes a couple of journals, newsletters and editorials. They are listed below.

Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology

The Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology^[6] publishes original contributions on the following topics:

• Development and evaluation of assessment and intervention techniques for use with clinical child and adolescent populations,
• Development and maintenance of clinical child and adolescent problems,
• Cross-cultural and sociodemographic issues that have a clear bearing on clinical child and adolescent psychology in terms of theory, research, or practice, and
• Training and professional practice in clinical child and adolescent psychology, as well as child advocacy.

The current editor of the journal is Andres De Los Reyes, Ph.D.^[7]

Newsletter

The SCCAP newsletter, InBalance, facilitates formal and informal communication among all society members, to share ideas, to provide an update on society activities, and to publish articles relevant to clinical child psychologists. The newsletter is published three times per year.

Professional resources

The SCCAP holds many resources for the professional psychologist. Among these resources include online training, practice resources, research resources, and many more career furthering benefits. Affirming its concentration on evidence-based assessment, the Society has collaborated with Florida International University’s Center for Children and Families in providing parents and professionals with online education on child and adolescent mental health.^[8]

EffectiveChildTherapy.Org

EffectiveChildTherapy.org is a free service site created by the SCCAP outlining the assessments and treatments with the best available scientific support. The site describes evidence based treatments, and general information about mental health. The site provides links to workshops and proven effective treatment options for mental illnesses such as clinical depression, anxiety, bulimia nervosa, and others.

Professional awards

The SCCAP also offers awards to professional members within the society. The purpose of these awards are to recognize excellence and innovation in support of the lifelong education and ongoing training of psychologists.^[9] Awards include (but are not limited to):

• Outstanding Contributions to Continuing Professional Development in Psychology Award
• APA Grants for Internship Programs

Student resources

The SCCAP encourages students to sign up for a membership by making student membership free. Various benefits include addition to a newsletter of psychology discussion and opportunities, eligibility of participation in the SCCAP's mentorship program, and eligibility for the Student Achievement award.

Student Awards

• Child and Family Caucus Student Travel Award: A student travel award to defray expenses associated with presenting at the annual American Psychological Association meeting.
• Michael Sullivan Diversity Scholarship Fund: A research grant to support or assist graduate students in covering expenses related to the enhancement of issues of diversity and inclusion.
• Janet Hyde Graduate Student Research Grant: Grants awarded to doctoral psychology students to support feminist research.
• Esther Katz Rosen Fund: Grants awarded to doctoral psychology students to support research about gifted and talented children and adolescents.

Student Advisory Board

The Student Advisory Board (SAB) is responsible for initiatives geared toward supporting student development for individuals at all stages in their career trajectories, including undergraduate students, graduate students, and post docs.Current SAB projects include a mentoring program that partners undergraduates interested in clinical child and or adolescent psychology careers with graduate students in the field; a speed-mentoring event at APA for students to speak with senior clinical child and adolescent psychologists; a monthly column on the Div53 website highlighting different career trajectories; and an award given to four students in recognition of their contributions to the field. The SAB also manages a student listserv, and supplies the Div53 website with student-focused content.

Student Mentorship Program

The SCCAP Mentorship Program serves to connect undergraduate students with graduate students in clinical child and adolescent psychology programs across the country.^[10] The program offers undergraduate students interested in the field the opportunity to ask questions and gain guidance from graduate students, while graduate students will offer advice and recommendations on various topics, such as the graduate application process, career objectives, research interests, and graduate student life.

Membership privileges and benefits

The journal publishes original contributions on development and evaluation of assessment and intervention techniques, clinical child and adolescent and cross-cultural and sociodemographic issues, training and professional practice in clinical child and adolescent psychology, and child advocacy. Members have access to journals, psychological and medical textbooks, government and open databases, pre-screened peer-reviewed articles, and online databases. The society provides a members-only listserv and a discussion forum for scientific and professional topics.

Project involvement

In an effort to promote evidence-based assessment and healthy development in children, the SCCAP and six other APA divisions relating to child and family development are currently involved in creating an organized database of science-based online resources. This resource center would be translated to Spanish and readily accessible to parents, caregivers, educators, and health professionals.

Presidents

Presidents who are elected to the SCCAP serve a three-year term as president-elect, as president, and as past president. The purpose of a three-year term is to ensure that the president receives mentorship from the previous president for a year before performing his duties as a president. Finally, the president will serve as a mentor to the next president.

Presidents of the society include:

• John Weisz, Ph.D., winner of the James McKeen Cattell Fellow Award (served 2000)
• Philip Kendall, Ph.D. (served 2001)
• Stephen Hinshaw, Ph.D. (served 2002)
• Thomas Ollendick, Ph.D. (served 2003)
• Benjamin Lahey, Ph.D.(served 2004)
• Stephen Shirk, Ph.D. (served 2005)
• Wendy Silverman, Ph.D., ABPP (served 2006)
• Elizabeth McCauley, Ph.D. (served 2007)
• Cheryl King, Ph.D. (served 2008)
• Mary Fristad, Ph.D., ABPP(served 2009)
• Anthony Spirito, Ph.D., ABPP(served 2010)
• Anne Marie Albano, Ph.D., ABPP(served 2011)
• Mary Fristad, Ph.D., ABPP(served 2012)
• Marc Atkins, Ph.D. (served 2013)
• Joan Asarnow, Ph.D. (served 2014)
• John Piacentini, Ph.D., ABPP (served 2015)
• Eric Youngstrom, Ph.D. (president for 2016)
• Mitch Prinstein, Ph.D. (president-elect for 2017)

Past Presidents when society was Section 1 of Division 12

See also

• Twitter link
• Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology

• American Psychological Association
• Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology
• Divisions of the American Psychological Association
• Association for Psychological Science

References