Clinical graduate students were strong representatives of the Department of Psychology at this year’s National Annual Convention of the Canadian Psychological Association held in early June in Victoria, BC.
This year’s convention had posters from a variety of students representing the broad range of research conducted in the Psychology Department, including through the CMHR. Doctoral student, Kevin Capobianco, in reflecting on this year’s convention reported “CPA offers a wonderful chance to be around so many others who share a passion for psychology. Presenting my poster allowed me to meet several people who shared their thoughts about clinical practice and gave me valuable ideas to think about as I plan my future research. I feel I also gave them something to think about when they approach new clients. I couldn't ask for anything more, these types of discussions are what make conferences such crucial events in our field.”
Fellow doctoral student, Beth Keleher, echoed these thoughts on the convention. “I very much enjoyed presenting my research alongside so many other capable students and researchers. Overall, the CPA convention provided a great opportunity to learn from and exchange ideas with our field's most respected researchers and clinicians.”
As well, Dr. Ian Nicholson, CMHR Director, was invited to co-lead this year’s annual Site Visitor Training Workshop, presented by the Canadian Psychological Association’s Accreditation Panel. Along with Accreditation Registrar, Dr. Stewart Madon, and the Accreditation Panel Chair, Dr. Janice Cohen, they led those in attendance through the various steps in preparing to visit a doctoral or internship program, how to review the materials from the self-study, strategies for conducting the various interviews throughout the site visit, and how to write up the report so it can be the most benefit for the Accreditation Panel and the program under review. According to Dr. Nicholson, “Program accreditation is about the professional community evaluating itself to provide the best training of our students as possible. It was wonderful to see so many psychologists wanting to learn how to support accreditation by learning to be a site visitor.”