The Summer Treatment Program SIG Updates

The Summer Treatment Program SIG Updates

By Katie Hart, PhD & Sarah Tannenbaum, PsyD, ABPP
Co-Chairs, STP SIG

Summer is coming! STPs across the country are busy planning, recruiting, and coordinating efforts for this year’s programming. If you are interested in learning more and connecting with those who are preparing, please join us!

Here are our updates: We had a meeting of STP directors and those interested in STPs during the ADHD SIG pre-conference meeting at ABCT in November. There was great discussion about the recent articles published in Evidence Based Practice in Child and Adolescent Mental Health as part of the special issue on STPs. Many are published online, and we encourage readers to check out all the incredible contributions of STPs across the country. We are learning so much about ways in which we can maximize STP outcomes, increase access to programming, improve training experiences, strengthen and diversify the STP workforce, extend the model to new populations and settings, and so much more.   

We also discussed topics for quarterly outreach to SIG members and ways we can continue to network and increase subscribers to our listserv and increase connections between STP communities. There was good discussion around how to sustain STPs year to year and attendees were encouraged to connect with one another about how to build a strong financial portfolio for long-term success. We also discussed developing and regularly updating a database of locations of STPs across the country/world. Finally, we determined that an annual SIG meeting at ABCT would be the ideal as many of our teams gather at the conference. As such, we will work to schedule time during the 2025 ABCT conference in New Orleans. We hope you can join us there!

For those of you interested in joining, the primary goal of the STP SIG is to provide a professional forum that supports clinicians, researchers, students/trainees, and administrators in the successful implementation of STPs. We invite you to join our listserv and share emerging or promising practices and interventions that can enhance the STP by increasing access, promoting equity, increasing diversity, improving training practices for the next generation of child mental health practitioners, and incorporating more family/stakeholder feedback and voice into intervention strategies.

As we have said before, an STP takes a village, and we are here for you! Please join us in connecting around the world through this program that has changed our lives and so many others. We welcome all your feedback, questions, comments, and insights about STPs! Let’s keep STPs and Dr. Pelham’s legacy going.