Dr. Gilbert Newman Awarded the 2016 Political Advocacy Champion Award

In January, the American Psychological Association Practice Organization Political Action Committee (APAPO-PAC) held its first "It's PACademic" fundraising reception in Atlanta, GA to raise awareness and support for the PAC's Education Fund.

At the reception, Jim Diaz-Granados, PhD, APA Executive Director for Education and Vice Chair of the PAC, awarded Gilbert H. Newman, PhD, Dean of the Wright Institute, the 2016 Political Advocacy Champion Award for his leadership and commitment to advancing education advocacy. Each year, the Political Advocacy Champion award is given to one psychologist who demonstrates their commitment and dedication to increasing the political engagement and advocacy of our members and contributes to those efforts by supporting the PAC's Education Fund. Newman was honored for his tireless grassroots and political advocacy efforts on behalf of psychology education and training, as well as professional practice.

Filipino American Psychology: Past, Present, and Future Inaugural Conference

On January 30, 2016, the Division on Filipino Americans (DoFA) of the Asian American Psychological Association hosted an inaugural conference, "Filipino American Psychology: Past, Present, and Future", at the Wright Institute.

Pioneers of Filipino American psychology presented on its history, current theory and research, as well as future directions. Dr. E.J.R. David, author of "Brown Skin, White Minds: Filipino-/American Postcolonial Psychology", delivered the keynote address. DoFA was proud to present its very first Virgilio Enriquez Award for Excellence in Leadership and Service of the Filipino American Community to Assemblymember Rob Bonta.

In 2012, Assemblymember Rob Bonta was sworn in as the first and only Filipino to serve in the California State Legislature. In his first year in office, Bonta authored AB 123, which Governor Jerry Brown signed, to teach students about the contributions of Filipino Americans to the California Farm Labor Movement. Bonta is chair of the Assembly Health Committee and the Select Committee on the Status of Boys and Men of Color in California.

Publicaton: Congratulations to Ian Faerstein

Congratulations to Ian Faerstein (PsyD '15) who just had his paper (co-authored with Hanna Levenson, PhD) accepted for publication in the Journal of Psychotherapy Integration. The paper, based on his dissertation (which was awarded outstanding dissertation of the year at this year's WI graduation) is entitled: "Validation of a Fidelity Scale for Accelerated-experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP)." His findings indicate that with some further refinements the AEDP-Fidelity Scale may be a useful tool for describing essential AEDP interventions, investigating outcome in AEDP, and training AEDP therapists.

Join us in congratulating Ian Faerstein!

Dr. Kim awarded APAGS 2015 Guardian of Psychology

GUARDIAN OF PSYCHOLOGY

This award goes to a graduate program and/or individual (SPTA member, faculty or staff member) who communicates the importance of student advocacy in psychology. The person or program is nominated by a current member of ACT through the APAGS grants and awards portal and will receive a framed certificate, public recognition, and invitation to blog about their passion for guarding psychology and inspiring advocacy at gradpsychblog.org. Congratulations to:

CPA Student Poster: Congratulations to Tanisha Stewart

Congratulations to Ms. Tanisha Stewart who will be presenting her poster at the 2015 Student Leadership & Advocacy Conference on November 14th in San Diego.

Title: Attending College While Black: Neighborhood Diversity, Ethnic Identity, and the Perception of Racial Microaggressions

The presentation will demonstrate how today's neighborhood racial segregation negatively influences how Black youth are learning about race and their racial identities. It will outline how growing up in either homogeneous or diverse backgrounds affects not only racial socialization and ethnic identity, but also self-esteem, academic performance, college adjustment, and the ability to take the perspectives of others.

Jeri Mares to Co-Lead International Survivors of Suicide Loss Conference in Livermore, CA

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s International Survivors of Suicide Loss Conference is held in over 300 sites across six continents with AFSP volunteers driving the coordination of each individual site.

MA Graduate Jeri Mares will co-lead the Livermore conference and also deliver the opening address.

The conference examines the issue of suicidality worldwide while discussing grief & mourning, self-care, and resources for survivors of suicide loss – those that have lost a loved one to suicide. Most sites secure a mental health clinician or member of the survivor community to speak, and a video is aired in all 300+ sites at the same time. This year, the video will feature families from all over the nation that have endured suicide loss.

Additionally, the Livermore site will feature break-out process groups for post-video processing based on distance from loss (0-1 years, 2-3 years, etc.). Each group will be facilitated by two mental health clinicians.

Dr. Hanna Levenson: APA Psychotherapy Supervision DVDs Released

Hanna Levenson, PhD, WI core faculty, has just had two of the 12 APA Psychotherapy Supervision DVDs she produced and co-hosted released this month--Relational Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Supervision (Guest Expert: Joan E. Sarnat) and The Integrative Model of Supervision (Guest Expert: Brian W. McNeill). The APA Psychotherapy Supervision Video Series aims to provide a thorough review of various approaches to clinical supervision. Each video in this series features a demonstration of a supervisor conducting supervision with a student and an interview with the expert, alternately conducted by hosts Hanna Levenson and Arpana G. Inman. Companion books will also be forthcoming.

Dr. Levenson's videos and the companion books will be added to the Wright Institute library as they are made available.

Dr. Kupers on CNN

From the article on CNN.com: "Supreme Court won't hear solitary confinement case, but issue isn't going away"

"Terry Kupers, a professor at the Wright Institute, says that Raemisch isn't alone. "Many state department of corrections are looking at the immense damage long-term solitary causes in the prisoners, and the expense of maintaining supermax units, and they are turning away from solitary as a management strategy," he said. Kupers says that focus is turning to an effort to look for intensive and safe treatment and rehabilitation interventions to help disruptive prisoners learn the social skills they need to function in general population and then "succeed at going straight in the community.""

Town Hall Forums Consider Hoffman Report

The Wright Institute Mentoring Program and the Wright chapter of Psychologists for Social Responsibility (PsySR) recently hosted two town hall forums regarding the recent release of the Hoffman Report. Students, faculty, and members of the community came together to discuss the implications of the American Psychological Association's collusion with the Bush Administration in supporting enhanced interrogation techniques. Speakers at the events included Drs. Deborah Kory, Daniela Kantorová, Anita Barrows,and Steven Kanofsky.

Luisa Lancaster Participates in Fundraising Walk to Prevent Suicide

The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention organizes fundraising walks to raise both awareness and resources to fund research, educational programs, and support survivors of suicide loss.

This year nearly 200,000 people will be walking in 350 cities across the country, and MA student Luisa Lancaster will be one of these people. Luisa and her family will participate in San Jose's "Out of the Darkness" walk this Sunday, September 20. Visit the AFSP website to learn more about these fundraising walks and to get involved!