Fellow Status in APA Division of Clinical Psychology

Entry for 2 September 2012:

Last April I received an email out of the blue from the head of the Fellowship Committee of the Division of Clinical Psychology (Division 12) of the American Psychological Association, asking if I’d like to be nominated for Fellow status in that division.  Thanks, I said, but I’m a professor of counselling working in Scotland now; are you sure you want me?  No problem!, She said.  So I put together list of my clinical-psychology-relevant accomplishments and sent it off.

This past Friday, at the end of a long week running this year’s Strathclyde EFT Level 1 training workshop, I learned that I’ve been elected to Fellow Status in Division 12 of the American Psychological Association.  According to APA (www.apa.org/membership/fellows/index.aspx):

Fellow status is an honor bestowed upon APA Members who have shown evidence of unusual and outstanding contributions or performance in the field of psychology.

Election to Fellow status requires evidence of unusual and outstanding contributions or performance in the field of psychology. Fellow status requires that a person's work has had a national impact on the field of psychology beyond a local, state, or regional level. A high level of competence or steady and continuing contributions are not sufficient to warrant Fellow status. National impact must be demonstrated.

I was previously elected to Fellow Status in two other divisions (Humanistic Psychology, Psychotherapy), but with 3500 members Clinical Psychology is by far the largest of the three divisions to which I belong and the discipline in which I received by PhD.  It’s nice to have this recognition in my home discipline.