Year-end Meeting, December 2020
If you read my August update, some of this will be redundant. Apologies, for that. 2020 has certainly been a time of change, reflection, and thoughtful planning. It has been disruptive in unwelcome ways, for certain. It may also prove to have some of the aspects that Thomas Kuhn wrote about in The Structure of Scientific Revolution, book that many – perhaps most – of us read at one point or another. The notion that ABPP, and others, may change forever the way that we do things – a paradigm shift - is, by this time, not a novel concept. The viral disruption that has occurred has been a catalyst for considering, re-considering and planning changes in direction at many levels.

Changes & Examinations
Certainly, many who provide face-to-face services have experienced practice disruptions and rapid changes to telepsychology practice that may not have been seriously considered were it not for the shutdown. This has affected all aspects of our profession, from therapy and evaluation, to teaching and supervision. The rapidity of a need to change has resulted in transitions to alternatives at a speed that is largely unheard of in psychology! There has not been a lot of time to gather data, compare and contrast and study. We found ourselves in a position of needing to make the best decision we could with the data available.

Similarly, face-to-face examinations have been replaced, at least temporarily, by the use of synchronous audio/video examinations. I am genuinely impressed and grateful of those who have led this change with each specialty board. Examination via this platform format required rapid response, adaptations of long-standing models of examination, and experimentation with technology formats. This has now been accomplished by most, if not all, of the ABPP specialty boards.  Anecdotally, there appears to be a rather consistent finding that this type of examination is going well. There are pros and cons about this model that will need to be reviewed and considered carefully in the future, yet the urgent need to consider this change became an impetus for doing so. When the shutdowns began, I inquired of the specialty boards and found that there were roughly 150 examinations pending in the 90 days following my inquiry. Holding up examinations, waiting for a return to face-to-face processes, became an unacceptable response. Fortunately, candidates also desired to proceed.  Again, to all involved in adapting to the present circumstances are thanked!

ABPP Recognition by CRSSPP
In the most recent meeting of the Commission for the Recognition of Specialties and Subspecialties in professional Psychology (news flash! – note the name change; see below), ABPP was again recognized as a credentialing organization. The process of this is much like the documentation aspect of re-recognizing specialty areas. ABPP (or any such organization) is required to complete an application (lengthy) documenting that our organization meets the requirements set forth by CRSSPP. I had completed this on behalf of ABPP when the CRSSPP recognition process initially began (2013) and did so again this year. ABPP was granted full recognition, meaning that ABPP will next be required to undergo this process in 2027. If I am the person to complete that next application, trust me; it will be the last one I do (as much as I love ABPP, I do not anticipate being with ABPP for another 14 years! 😊). The meaning of this CRSSPP recognition is that it entitles ABPP specialists to list the ABPP credential in the APA Member Directory. The technically correct way to indicate our recognition is as follows:
“The American Board of Professional Psychology is recognized by CRSSPP to permit those credentialed by the American Board of Professional Psychology to list said credential in the APA membership directory.”

December 2020 BOT Agenda Book P&P Document
On encouragement of some of the Executive Committee, I am directing your attention to the newly revised formatting of the ABPP Policy & Procedure document. This is another task that I hope not to undertake! Reviewing and re-organizing the ABPP P&P into this document as formatted has, for a variety of reasons, taken six years. Yes, six years. Thanks to the persistence of many, starting with John Piacentini’ stint as Chair of the P&P Committee , progressing through that of Chris Pietz, and now Brenda Spiegler, the long-awaited, internally linked document is complete (for now). Using the document will allow you use a hyperlink to jump right to the policy you want, and use “control-home” to return to the top of the Table of Contents. Completing this has been something I have promised for quite some time, yet to do so, required that we get all of the policies reviewed, updated and organized. As you know, committee work sometimes moves a little slower that lightening, but we now have it!  As our friend and my predecessor, Russ Bent, would have said, “And there you have it!” 

Updates on Liaison Activities
The meetings that I typically attend have, as one would expect, been affected by Covid-19. Those that have occurred have largely been shortened and have been virtual in nature. Here are a few highlights from them, in no particular order.
Recently, at the APA Council of Representatives (CoR) meeting, approval was granted for renewal of recognition of several specialty areas as well as the recognition of Serious Mental Illness and also Clinical Psychopharmacology as new specialties. Both have been working on a proposal to ABPP to affiliate, and we have been actively working with the SMI group, from whom we will hear in the December meeting.

Also, as a result of action at that meeting, the APA Commission for the Recognition of Specialties and Proficiencies in Professional Psychology (CRSPPP) has changed its name to the Commission for the Recognition of Specialties and Subspecialties in Professional Psychology. Proficiencies that are presently recognized will be phased out and subspecialties will be recognized; subspecialties will not necessarily be the same areas as proficiencies. This change follows the lead that ABPP took several years ago in adopting a stance to recognize subspecialties. This change, and some others that CRSSPP (the organization formerly known as CRSSPP) have undertaken that put our two entities “on the same page” with respect to specialty and subspecialty recognition.

Related to CRSSPP was a decision by ABPP to accept those specialties that are recognized by CRSSPP as having already articulated the existence of the specialty area. Thus, in approaching ABPP to affiliate, the specialty area need not “make the argument” that the specialty exists; instead, what will be needed is an articulated plan for establishing an examination board in that specialty area that is logistically, practically and financially viable. It follows that subspecialties will need to follow suit. That discussion, however, is yet to be held and will hopefully occur soon, perhaps at the December 2020 Board of Trustees meeting.

The Council of Specialties in Professional Psychology (CoS) undertook writing a letter to the Commission on Accreditation (CoA) requesting that CoA encourage programs to use the Taxonomy for Psychology as a basis for program description. This letter came about as an outgrowth of the Interorganizational Summit on Specialty, Specilization, and Board Certification 4.0 in which most, if not all, of the organizations involved felt doing so would be good for the profession, students, and the public. An Outreach and Communications Workgroup from the Summit has been granted financial support from CoS to proceed with development of a computer app that will facilitate translation of a program into the “language” of the Taxonomy – identifying Exposure, Experience, Emphasis, or Major Area of Study for the program. Also funded through this grant is the completion of electronic (pdf or other similar format) descriptions of how the taxonomy might be useful from the perspective of a variety of users (e.g., student, employer, patient/client, etc.).
All remaining meetings for 2020, and indeed many through August 2021,  to which I serve as a liaison have been switched to virtual. I will keep you posted.

ABPP Central Office
As always, I am very proud of the work of our CO staff. Our team is extraordinary! We have been together for a long while; most of us working together for over a decade (Nancy has been with ABPP for roughly 16 years and the two of us have worked together since 2006; Lanette since 2008, Diane since 2009 and Kathy since 2014). Each of us has our particular area of “expertise”, yet we pitch in and work on whatever we can help with as needed. ABPP would not be where it is without this wonderful team and collaborative efforts. This year has provided some particularly challenging times due to the virus and related changes in operations for our boards, specialists, and applicants. CO staff has done its usual outstanding job of providing top-notch customer service. Thank you, Nancy, Lanette, Diane, and Kathy! We thrive in large part due to your dedication to ABPP and professionalism!
 
Stay safe, stay healthy, and take care of yourself, your loved ones, and each other!
 
David
David R. Cox, PhD, ABPP
Executive Officer