Science & Practice Committee Update

Science & Practice Committee Update

By Jennifer L. Hughes, PhD, MPH
Member-at-Large, Science & Practice

By Jennifer L. Hughes, PhD, MPH
MAL, Science & Practice

Gratitude

Let me start this update with gratitude – I am thankful for summertime, thankful for the first SCCAP Conference and the chance to spend time with great colleagues and friends, and thankful for the meaningful and important practice of community with others who care about improving mental health and resilience in children, adolescents, and families. I am also thankful for the many SCCAP volunteers, in particular the Clinical Practice Institute Sub-Committee, who made this year’s first in-person Clinical Practice Institute (CPI) a fabulous success, and the SCCAP Practice Committee and SCCAP Research Committee for their support of the SCCAP Conference through providing input and assisting with poster review.

As I move through my final year as your Member-at-Large for Science and Practice, I want to return to my appreciation of you, the SCCAP members, as you continue this important and, it seems, increasingly difficult work of providing care for youth and families, developing innovative strategies to better train our child mental health workforce, researching new models and interventions to grow our evidence-based assessment and treatment approaches, and contributing to your communities to support prevention, intervention, education, and access to care efforts.

Clinical Practice Institute (CPI)

The 2024/2025 SCCAP CPI theme was: “Improving Clinical Practice through Enhanced Case Conceptualization.” On December 6, 2024, Drs. Amanda Jensen-Doss, Bryce McLeod, and Lillian Christon led the virtual CPI session, “Guiding the Psychotherapy Journey: Using a Science-Informed Approach to Case Conceptualization in Clinical Care.” This interactive learning opportunity, which included case review and break-out room discussion, was attended by 44 SCCAP members.

On June 5, 2025, we held our first in-person CPI with 76 SCCAP members joining us in Chicago for a full-day event! Dr. Tim Cavell led, “Defiant Teens and Tweens: Family Therapy Case Formulation,” which included questions and case discussion with our members. Dr. Erica Rozmid presented DBT strategies for use with children and parents in “From Turmoil to Clarity: Conceptualizing Cases with Emotionally Dysregulated Youth.” Dr. Sarah Kate Bearman discussed ways to target mechanisms of change in treatment, leading an interactive session, “The FIRST Program for Children and Adolescents: Using Principles of Change for Treatment Planning and Clinical Decision-Making.” See pictures below!

Both events received fabulous reviews from our members and, given the ongoing and building success of CPI, we plan to continue to offer this training opportunities for our members. If you have a topic suggestion or would like to become involved in the CPI planning, please contact me!

2024/2025 CPI Sub-Committee

• Jenny Hughes, PhD Chair (MAL Science & Practice)
• Sherelle Harmon, PhD, LCSW
• Lucas Zullo, PhD (LEAD alumni)
• Jen Reese, PhD
• Alex Foxwell, PhD
• Pascale Stemmle, PhD
• Laura Dilly, PhD
• Jennifer Serico, PhD
• Sarah Kate Bearman, PhD
• Amanda Bowling, PhD

Awards

I also want to take a moment to thank the awards chairs: Dr. Puja Patel chairs the Bob Smith Psychological Assessment Award process and Dr. Pascale Stemmle chairs the Distinguished Career Practice and Training Award process. I am grateful for their time in advertising for the award, reviewing submissions with their awards committee members, and providing their recommended winners to the SCCAP Board each year!

Please continue to nominate SCCAP members for these important awards, and if would like to become involved in the awards review process, please contact me!

Science and Practice Resources

If you have not already, please sign up for the APA Science Spotlight, available here. Additionally, APA has a helpful resource page for practitioners, available here.

If you would like to become more involved in SCCAP’s science and/or practice initiatives, I am sure we can find a place for you within our Science and Practice Committees. Please contact me directly at jennifer.hughes@nationwidechildrens.org.