Recognizing Excellence in Clinical Psychology: From Student to Specialist Examiner

Over the past two years, the American Board of Clinical Psychology (ABCP) and the Academy of ABCP worked to develop and implement several awards. In this article, we describe these awards and share a little bit about some of the deserving recipients of our inaugural awards.

Recognition of Examiners

ABCP first sought to formally recognize examiners who have provided extensive service. We created the distinction of Senior Examiners for this honor. Senior Examiners are specialists board certified in Clinical Psychology who have demonstrated dedicated service to the American Board of Clinical Psychology (ABCP) as a board certification examiner. Senior Examiner status is a distinction bestowed in recognition of service and dedication in providing board certification examinations in Clinical Psychology. Senior Examiners are selected by their Regional Directors after serving on no fewer than 10 board examination committees and having served as exam chair on no fewer than 3 examination committees for the American Board of Clinical Psychology. Please visit the Academy of ABCP announcements to learn more.

Additionally, the Distinguished Examiner Award is an honor bestowed upon a Senior Examiner in recognition of outstanding professionalism, service, and commitment in providing board certification examinations in Clinical Psychology. Distinguished Examiners are selected by the board of directors through a nomination and interview process. They must be current Senior Examiners of ABCP that consistently demonstrate good judgment, efficiency, responsiveness, and timeliness when serving as an examiner. Moreover, they must demonstrate the ability to manage difficult examinations and effectively manage their role of examination committee chair. Our inaugural Distinguished Examiner Award was given to Jeffrey Barnett, PsyD, ABPP, and our most recent recipient was Dr. Jamylah Jackson, PhD, ABPP:

• Dr. Barnett is a Senior Examiner with ABCP and a licensed psychologist board certified by the American Board of Professional Psychology in Clinical Psychology and in Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology. Additionally, he is a Distinguished Practitioner in Psychology of the National Academies of Practice. He also is a Professor of Psychology at Loyola University Maryland. Among his many awards he is a recipient of the American Psychological Association’s Award for Outstanding Contributions to Ethics Education, the ABPP award for Distinguished Service and Contributions to the Profession of Psychology, and now the ABCP Distinguished Examiner Award.
• Dr. Jackson is a Senior Examiner with ABCP and board certified by the American Board of Professional Psychology. Dr. Jackson serves as the Deputy Associate Chief of Staff for the Education & Learning Resources Service at the VA North Texas Health Care System (VANTHCS). In this role, she has oversight and responsibility for all accredited and affiliated health trainee programs within VANTHCS. Additionally, she oversees professional development programming for about 7000 staff employees. Prior to this role, Dr. Jackson served as Director of Psychology Training for 7 years and the Director of Education and Training for 3 years within the Dallas VA’s Mental Health Service. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at UT Southwestern Medical Center. She is past-chair of the VA Psychology Training Council’s Executive Committee which supports all VA psychology training programs.

Recognition of Early Career Psychologists

ABCP also developed an award for early career psychologists who achieved board certification within the last year. The Early Career Psychologist Advocacy Award honors early career psychologists whose advocacy efforts have had a positive impact on policy, law, public reform, communities, and/or institutional change. Advocacy efforts may be demonstrated through the development of strategic alliances for the purpose of effecting change; organizing diverse affiliates (including institutions and agencies) for the purpose of a common cause; development and implementation of action plans for targeted change or progress toward a social, political, economic, or cultural goal; and evaluation of the effectiveness of advocacy efforts. Our first recipients of this award were Nicholas Grant, PhD, ABPP, and Jaleh Shahin, PhD, ABPP:

• Dr. Grant is a board certified clinical psychologist currently serving on active duty in the U.S. Navy. His advocacy efforts have focused on LGBTQ+ people and communities. Dr. Grant has engaged in many advocacy roles, including: serving as chair of the 2019 American Psychological Association’s (APA) writing group that revised the Resolution on Opposing Discriminatory Laws, Policies, and Practices Aimed at LGBTQ+ Persons; serving as a 2016-2017 APA Congressional Fellow, with special designation as a William A. Bailey Health and Behavior Fellow; volunteering since 2015 on the board of directors for the national non-profit organization GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ+ Equality, including being the first-ever psychologist elected as President; and, serving as an appointed member of the Washington, D.C. Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs Advisory Committee.
• Dr. Shahin is a board certified clinical psychologist in Alberta, Canada. She has served as a board member of the British Columbia Psychological Association (BCPA) and an active member of the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) Advocacy Committee. Her advocacy efforts include presenting to the British Columbia Legislative Assembly as part of the special committee on the Police Reform Act; serving as a committee member for the CPA Title Task Force; publishing advocacy related articles in psychology journals; providing media interviews; and serving underprivileged youth at a multidisciplinary student-led medical clinic.

Support for Doctoral Students

The American Board of Clinical Psychology Doctoral Student Scholarship aims to support doctoral students in an APA/CPA-accredited doctoral program in clinical psychology who intend to pursue board certification in clinical psychology following their training and licensure. ABCP provides the honorees’ ABPP early entry fee to support their future pursuit of board certification and $100 to defray costs of educational materials. In partnership, Society of Clinical Psychology, Division 12 of APA, provides the honorees a one-year student membership to Division 12 and Section 10: Graduate Students and Early Career Psychologists. Please visit the ABCP Awards, Grants & Scholarships webpage to learn more.