American Board of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology Update

American Board of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology Update

By Adam B. Lewin, PhD, ABPP
President, ABCCAP

If you’re reading this deep into the InBalance Newsletter, then I am speaking to my base – you care deeply about our field. Beyond our colleagues, how do we know who is a Clinical Child/Pediatric Specialist? We require distinct training. We possess highly specialized competencies. Nevertheless, the public – including our medical colleagues – struggle to differentiate between behavioral health professionals (e.g., LMHCs, psychiatrists, social workers) let alone within-psychology specialization. Any licensed psychologist can claim the title “Child and Adolescent/Pediatric Psychologist.” Board certification is the mechanism for clearly distinguishing who, individually, has obtained specialty training and whose competencies have been reviewed by panel of peers. However, Board Certification also allows us to claim ownership of our profession – Clinical Child/Pediatric Psychology. This only works if we’re all-in:  ownership of our field must come from us.

What is board certification? Board certification is a peer review of our training and our specialty-specific competencies. The review standard is competency – not exceptionality (the bar is not expert-recognition but rather proficiency 3-5 years past training). Examiners are our peers: clinicians, hospital and community psychologists, educators, researchers, advocates – volunteers who are dedicating many hours of their time to protect our specialty.    

Clinical neuropsychology is a good example of specialists claiming and enforcing “ownership” of their field. Three days into my job at University of South Florida in 2009, I got a letter from a community neuropsychologist in response to a research ad placed by my research assistant incorrectly (naïvely) claiming we were providing a “neuropsychological assessment”. In Clinical Neuropsychology, board certification is the norm, not the exception. Near-universal boarding makes it transparent as to who is specialized. We need to do the same in clinical child/pediatric psychology.

In the past decade, we have made significant efforts to define our specialty. We formed our own training council, developed Child/Pediatric Postdoctoral Competencies, and are currently revising our specialty training guidelines. The impact of these efforts is diminished if the public and our peers cannot distinguish who has fulfilled specialty training and all required competencies.  

I could think of many reasons why you may have deferred seeking board certification. Now is the time to change. Even if boarding isn’t highly relevant to your individual growth, we need to make this move collectively. Instead of focusing on “why not”, I encourage you to think about why we all should.  Throughout my presidential term year, we plan to offer programming aimed at helping you with the process (or to shift those who are still on the fence). Everyone reading this newsletter cares deeply about our specialty – let’s work together to recognize and enhance our unique profession. 

Please visit our site at https://www.clinicalchildpsychology.com/ for more information.

Please join me in congratulating specialists boarded in 2022 (see below).

Emily Mudd
Jasmine Ghannadpour
Sarah McCarthy
Jocelyn Stokes
Amy West
Sheila Modir
Katherine Gallagher
Sarah Connollv
Bianca Brooks
Audrey Thurm
Geoffrey Putt
Melisa Finley
Lillian Haves
Christina Hubbert
Joseph Gumina
Lisa Roberts
Rebecca Aldea
Cortney Zimmerman
Nancy Bandstra
Brittany Barber Garcia
Heather Ciesielski
Jessica Valenzuela
David Coe
Gail Robertson

Emily Mudd
Jasmine Ghannadpour
Sarah McCarthy
Jocelyn Stokes
Amy West
Sheila Modir
Katherine Gallagher
Sarah Connollv
Bianca Brooks
Audrey Thurm
Geoffrey Putt
Melisa Finley
Lillian Haves
Christina Hubbert
Joseph Gumina
Lisa Roberts
Rebecca Aldea
Cortney Zimmerman
Nancy Bandstra
Brittany Barber Garcia
Heather Ciesielski
Jessica Valenzuela
David Coe
Gail Robertson