17th Annual Mid-Winter Meeting - Virtual
2024 Mid-Winter Meeting
February 28-29, 2024
Virtual Meeting - Zoom
The State of Clinical Health Psychology Training:
Strengths, Gaps And Paths Forward
This meeting builds on our series of Midwinter Meetings to inform clinical health psychology training programs on innovations in training related to health service psychology.
Day 1: Wednesday, Feb 28 (1 - 4:45 pm)
Summary and Outcomes from the 2024 SfHP Clinical Health Psychology Education & Training Summit: Pathways to the Specialty
Lloyd Berg, PhD, ABPP
Chair, Clinical Health Psychology Specialty Council (CHPSC) Division Chief of Psychology, Dept. Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Dell Medical School
The University of Texas at Austin
Mark Vogel, PhD, ABPP
President, Society for Health Psychology (SfHP)
Professor, Michigan State University
College of Human Medicine
This presentation examined the potential education and training pathways that can lead to competency in health psychology. Drs. Vogel and Berg covered historical events, such as past summits that led to the development of health psychology and CCHPTP. General competency benchmarks in health psychology were developed by CCHPTP and have evolved into the current competencies that guide our training in health psychology today. Drs. Vogel and Berg also reviewed the process of specialty CRSSPP petitions and the importance of educational and training guidelines in this process. Additionally, the speakers discussed the various educational and training pathways that led to competency in health psychology and the ability of the Education and Training Taxonomy for Clinical Health Psychology to guide these pathways. The CCHPTP Taxonomy was reviewed in the presentation so that programs and trainees would be able to understand how to apply the Taxonomy to their own training goals, programs, and careers.
Drivers of Change Impacting Education and Training in Clinical Health Psychology
Cathi Grus, PhD
Chief Education Officer
American Psychological Association
Dr. Grus presented on the future of psychology by examining workforce drivers of change in education and training and the impact they will have on clinical and behavioral practice in psychology. Some drivers of change discussed by Dr. Grus included the high levels of unmet mental health needs, particularly in older adults, and the insufficient number of psychologists to serve this group. Other drivers of change in the psychology workforce were discussed, such as demographic and enrollment “cliffs,” the changing landscape of education, and how technologies and rising costs of college are influencing college decisions. Our field needs to be prepared to meet these drivers of change if we are to continue to grow and thrive as a profession.
Systematic Oversight to Uphold Competency Development and Enhance a Collaborative Learning Environment
Shiloh Jordan, PhD
Director of Internship and Postdoctoral Training
VA Pacific Islands Healthcare System
Dr. Jordan presented on strategies to implement a supervision oversight feedback system that supports competency development, considers helpful tools to obtain data, and proposes that a collaborative learning environment is key to providing richer learning and training environments. In the example Dr. Jordan provided in her presentation, she described a collaborative model in which she meets for supervision monthly. During these supervision meetings, she distributes expectations and purposes of the meeting as an opportunity to consult and learn from peers to improve on supervision skills, ensure supervision quality and ensure competency development of trainee. Her presentation focused on how to foster a collaborative learning environment that involves engagement, collaborative communicate, and strategies to provide supportive and effective feedback to the collaborative learning team.
International perspectives in psychology training
Sonya Suchday, PhD
Professor & Chair, Department of Psychology
Pace University
Dr. Suchday's presentation emphasized the need for the field of psychology to incorporate global perspectives into both practice and research. She discussed how the integration of international perspectives can foster collaborative partnerships on a global scale, while also acknowledging the existence of power hierarchies. To better equip the field and future psychologists, Dr. Suchday recommends promoting and integrating intercultural competence. This can include opportunities for students to learn other languages and participate in undergraduate and graduate psychology programs. By training psychologists to use local languages and conduct professional work in both local and international communities, there is a greater focus on global perspectives in curriculum development. This can start as early as high school and continue throughout undergraduate and graduate psychology programs. Additionally, Dr. Suchday suggests promoting comprehensive global perspectives in all association activities, including publication, public interest, science, education, and other professional initiatives.
4:00-4:45pm
"CHIP In" After Hours: Optional Open Discussion & Networking
Day 2: Thursday, Feb 29 (12-4:30 pm)
Funding Health Psychology Services – It Doesn’t Happen on its Own
Stephen Gillaspy, PhD
Senior Director, Health and Health Care Financing
American Psychological Association
Dr. Gillespie discussed the strategies, principles, and mechanisms of financial advocacy and support for our work as clinical health psychologists. According to Dr. Gillespie, advocacy is critical for health care policies (e.g., Medicaid Blue Cross-Blue Shield) as it can facilitate our coding and reimbursement capabilities at the state and federal levels. Dr. Gillespie also discussed a “population health” approach and how this serves as an important lens that enables psychologists to work with individuals diagnose with physical and mental health diagnoses and creates pathways for clinical health psychologists to conduct primary and secondary prevention efforts.
Shared Governance: A Foundation for DEI Training in Clinical Health Psychology
Leah Squires, PhD
Chief, Psychology Service
Washington DC Veterans Affairs Medical Center
Dr. Squires discussed the important role of Multicultural and Diversity Committee training programs within the VA system. According to Dr. Squires, shared governance is an important aspect of socially-responsive psychology training programs. Dr. Squires shared that while there are many strengths and positive outcomes to facilitating shared governance, there are also challenges and possible barriers in enacting shared governance within VA training programs. In her presentation, she offered possible solutions on how health psychology training can be an agent for social justice and create environments in which providers, trainees, and supervisors can have challenging conversations while also feeling supportive.
Meaning, Purpose, and Health: From Research to You
Kevin Masters, PhD
Professor, Clinical Health Psychology
University of Colorado-Denver
Dr. Masters discussed the importance of meaning in understanding the intersections of health, behavior, and psychology. The initial part of his talk discussed the scientific evidence regarding meaning, physical health and wellness, and how they relate to pathways in which psychological factors (e.g., meaning and purpose in life) can influence our health and well-being. This scientific overview of the literature was tied back to how important meaning and purpose in life can impact our work as health psychologists. What are the implications of meaning and purpose in life on our training, relationships with our clients, other providers, and our health, well-being, risk for burnout, etc.? Ultimately, Dr. Masters connected how the meaning-making process that we know is so important in our work with our patients is not something that only affects our patients but ourselves as well, in many areas of our professional and personal lives including the striving for work-life harmony.
Advocacy in Psychology
Amy Beck, PhD, RYT 200
Legislative Chair, Missouri Psychological Association; Federal Advocacy Coordinator, Missouri Psychological Association; Society of Pediatric Psychology (Div. 54) Advocacy Partner with the American Psychological Association
Dr. Beck discussed advocacy and the importance of advocacy in our work as health care providers, researchers, mentors, and other roles. Dr. Beck provided examples of how we can practice advocacy in our everyday lives and expanded these examples into other levels of advocacy, including clinical; institutional; community; and state, national, and public domains.
CCHPTP Business Meeting (4:00-4:30)
Program Chairs:
- Gabriel Cartagena, PhD
- Rosemary Estevez Burns, PhD, DBSM, Maj, USAF
- Sharon Berry, PhD, ABPP
CE Credits
CE credits available through Wayne State University for those who attend the program. The Department of Psychology at Wayne State University is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The Department of Psychology at WSU maintains responsibility for the program and its content.