Dear ABGP members,

This past Friday and Saturday your ABGP board convened for its annual face-to-face meeting in Chicago. We are a small membership of nearly fifty members. As many of you may know, our existence within ABPP has been questioned at times. With the stewardship of our president, Dr. Joel Frost and the past president Dr. Sally Barlow, ABPP now sees us as small but powerful. We continue our mission of working as gatekeepers in the field of group psychology. We strive to preserve the quality of care that public receives in terms of group psychotherapy, currently the most popular modality in the United States.

Nonetheless, if we cannot improve our recruitment our existence in ABPP may be compromised. The board worked, tirelessly (no, I am not being dramatic) with the mission of trying to recruit new members who would qualify for ABGP. A vision of broadening our net to bring in other group therapists besides our psychodynamic brothers and sisters was proposed. We will reach out to AGPA, drama therapists, and Division 49 to expand our membership. As with all of ABPP, we are also reaching out to early career psychologists (ECP’s). Expanding our membership will help us in promoting and preserving the quality of group psychology in the United States.

As many of you know, group psychotherapy was denied specialty status in APA for the fourth time. We will join forces with other organizations in hiring a professional technical writer familiar with navigating these proposals. If group psychotherapy does not gain specialty status with APA, insurance companies may stop reimbursing for services. We are confident that our proposal will be accepted once the bureaucratic waters are properly navigated. ABGP will be giving $5000 toward this effort. This contribution will help to hire the writer.

The Group Academy has been re-established with Drs. Andy Eig and Tom Lowry as officers. After many years of serving on the board, Tom will be stepping down at year’s end and Dr. Sally Barlow will be joining Andy as an officer. The Academy’s primary objective is to educate the field and the public about group psychology. We have established a website for these purposes.
If you have an announcement about your recent publications or presentations, please e-mail me and I will post it on the website. We are always looking for brief articles or blog posts about group. Please consider submitting them as well.

Treasurer Dr. Joel Frost reports that ABGP is in excellent financial health. We have had two new exams this year (with one more to go). This is a 200 per cent increase. We have also trimmed our expenses significantly. Instead of having an expensive steak dinner at our board meeting, we have a working dinner with pizza and wine. Despite being a die hard New Yorker, I have found the Chicago style pizza and the warmth of the company to be quite enjoyable.

The board also planned our Annual dinner in Manhattan. We have found a less costly ($30 per person) and more personable solution. Stay tuned for the invitation to my home in downtown Manhattan (West 20th Street). This is a chance for us to get together with friends and colleagues and to welcome potential members in an authentic Manhattan loft. Please bring a friend or two who may be interested in joining ABPP. Even if they are have no interest in joining bring them anyway! All potential members will dine for free.

To paraphrase John F. Kennedy, here is the part where one needs to ask not what ABGP can do for you but what you can do for ABGP. We are all Group certified because of our dedication to the group modality. As an extremely small membership, we all need to use whatever resources we have. Professional and personal responsibilities pull us all from ABGP. What may seem like a small gesture can make a huge impact on ABGP. Do you know of someone who would be a good addition to ABPP? Bring him or her to the ABGP dinner in Manhattan. Can you write a 500 word blog post? We are always looking for people to sit on an oral exam.

I look forward to hearing from all of you soon.

Best Regards,

Andy Eig, Ph.D. ABPP
Secretary, Academy Officer

Why Get Certified?

The practice of American Psychology has become increasingly complex and competitive. There has been a decided trend toward practice focused in delimited areas with a number of such areas emerging as specialties. The American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP) establishes and continually incorporates the current developments in the definition and requirements of specialties in professional psychology. Over the past decade 11 new specialties have joined 3 traditional specialties which have been in the field for the past 55 years. The new specialties have emerged through public needs and professional advancements. The public is not expected to be knowledgeable about specialty requirements such as accredited doctoral programs, internships, or supervised post-doctoral training. The clearest and most responsible way for a psychologist to represent herself/himself to the public, third-parties, and the profession as a specialist is to be certified through an organized peer process as meeting the standards and demonstrating the competencies required in the specialty. ABPP is the only non-profit professional unitary organization with multiple specialty board quality controls recognized by the profession as certifying specialty practitioners in psychology. An American Board of Group Psychology (ABGP) designation shows the public that the psychologist has attained a high level of competency in group psychotherapy and group dynamics. It demonstrates that the practitioner is dedicated to the practice of group in an ethical and responsible way. Perhaps the most important reason to be board certified in group psychology is that, as a clinician who identifies as a Group Psychologist, the field needs you as an advocate as we move forward into a more challenging environment for the legitimacy of our work. Beyond that, here are twelve benefits to you:

Twelve Benefits of an ABGP Certification

• Board certification in Psychology indicates specialty expertise which distinguishes you from other psychologists who work with patients with health issues.

• Board certification in Psychology distinguishes you on the job market! • Uniformed psychologists with board certification who work at the Department of Defense or Public Health Service receive a monthly specialty pay bonus.

• Health care providers in other disciplines consider board certification as a minimum standard to document training and expertise for patient care.

• Board certification facilitates license mobility in most states.

• Many hospitals ask about board certification when applying for privileges.

• Some hospitals or medical centers require a board certification for approval of privileges, and others are moving towards this policy.

• Some academic and academic medical settings require board certification for promotion and tenure.

• Health insurance companies routinely ask about board certifications when applying to be part of their networks.

• Consumers of health/mental health services will increasingly ask about board certification, and can identify board certified psychologists on line.

• Access ABPP online resources for networking and referrals.

• Join other leaders in Psychology to define excellence in our field!