Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology (encompassing Pediatric Psychology) has been recognized as a specialty by the Council of Specialties in Professional Psychology and the Commission for the Recognition of Specialties and Proficiencies in Professional Psychology (CRSPPP) since 1998.  As the emergence and work of training councils in other specialties (e.g., Health Psychology, Geropsychology) revealed that having a training council dedicated to education in a specialty area offers benefit to constituent members of the specialty and to the training community more broadly, leaders in Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology began to consider the establishment of a specialty-specific training council. 

 

In 2013, Michael Roberts and Mitch Prinstein requested funds from APA Divisions 53 and 54 to host a brief interest meeting about the potential formation of a new training council focused on educational issues in Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, inclusive of Pediatric Psychology.  With these funds, Roberts and Prinstein hosted an initial interest meeting at the Council of University Directors of Clinical Psychology (CUDCP) mid-winter meeting in January, 2014.   At the interest meeting, there was unanimous and enthusiastic support for a training council that would include programs representing the doctoral, doctoral internship, and postdoctoral fellowship levels of training in clinical child and pediatric psychology.  Roberts and Prinstein organized subsequent interest meetings at the Society of Pediatric Psychology Annual Conference (SPPAC), the APPIC conference, the APA Convention, the National Conference in Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, and the Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) conference.  These meetings were useful for gauging interest in the formation of a new training council, discussing logistics, and identifying potential initiatives for such a council.

 

A number of possible training council initiatives emerged from these initial interest meetings, including:

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• the development of training guidelines in clinical child and pediatric psychology

• advocacy for child/pediatric training issues within broader training policies (e.g., accreditation, licensure, etc.)

• sharing of resources among training directors

• cross-talk between trainers at different stages of the training pipeline to ensure continuity in training

• discussion of future directions in the field and necessary revisions to training

• sharing resources to allow more sites to develop clinical child/pediatric training, etc.

• discussing adherence to accreditation guidelines within the context of clinical child and pediatric training

• reviewing training competencies for clinical supervision skills in clinical child and pediatric psychology practice

• discussing research training curricula at each stage of the educational pipeline

• sharing and collaborating on course syllabi or online didactic presentations

• discussing how integrated care changes training needs at each stage of training; and 

• developing and sharing behaviorally anchored ratings scales to measure trainee competencies (readiness for internship, etc.).

 

In all six interest meetings, attendees affirmed unanimous commitment to, and interest in a training council.  As a result of these meetings and the enthusiasm from training programs, Roberts and Prinstein developed a listserv for interested programs to further discuss the new training council, to review possible criteria and costs for membership, and to propose possible meeting locations/times. 

 

In December 2014, Roberts and Prinstein invited Sharon Berry, Ric Steele, and Brian Chu to form a steering committee to advance the establishment of a specialty training council.  This steering committee was charged with the following tasks:

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• draft bylaws and disseminate to interested potential members for review and comment

• create a membership application procedure

• petition potential sponsors for funds to legally incorporate the group

• once incorporated, review applications and “accept” first members, collect dues

• develop a set of possible member working groups to advance agenda and dissolve the steering committee to so members could elect a board of directors for the training

• council that would organize an initial meeting of the training council board and its members

 

As a result of the work of the steering committee,  the CCaPPTC was established as a training council that includes members representing the doctoral, doctoral internship, and postdoctoral fellowship levels of training in clinical child and pediatric psychology.   With iterative input from a number of doctoral, internship, and postdoctoral training programs, the steering committee successfully developed bylaws, incorporated the Clinical Child and Pediatric Psychology Training Council (CCaPPTC) as a non-profit advocacy corporation [501(c)(3)], developed an application procedure, and accepted a initial member training programs into the Training Council.

 

After key tasks required to establish the Council were completed by the steering committee, an initial Board of Directors was elected and subsequently assumed the leadership of the organization.  Since that time, Board members have continued to be elected and serve terms as per CCaPPTC bylaws, and the Board of Directors now oversees the agenda and conduct of the training council. 

 

With the advent of the training council, the Clinical Child Psychology Specialty Council (formerly termed the “synarchy”) is now comprised of APA Division, 53 (the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology), APA Division 54 (the Society of Pediatric Psychology), the American Board of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology (ABCCAP), and the Clinical Child and Pediatric Psychology Training Council (CCaPPTC).  As such, CCaPPTC has essential involvement in activities related to the specialty (e.g., contributing to required renewal petitions to maintain recognition of the specialty). CCaPPTC also has representation at the Council of Chairs of Training Councils.  Under the Board of Directors, CCaPPTC engages in numerous, varied initiatives intended to fulfill the council’s established purpose to promote the advancement of graduate and postgraduate education and training within the fields of clinical child and pediatric psychology.