By Mary Louise Cashel, PhD
Chair, SCCAP Conference Planning Committee

The inaugural SCCAP Conference was held on June 6-7, 2025 at the University of Illinois Chicago, near the heart of downtown. By all accounts, it was a huge success!

Dr. Regine Galanti opened with a brief Presidential Address.

Our keynote speakers included Dr. John Weisz, Dr. Rebecca Ford-Paz, Dr. Sarah Burgamy and Dr. Olivia Moorehead-Slaughter. These presenters provided timely information on current research evaluating the effectiveness of child and adolescent psychotherapy, the challenges faced by immigrant and newcomer youth and families in the United States, and critical aspects of working with gender diverse and multicultural youth.

We had a tremendous response to our call for student posters; we received over 180 submissions and the 60 posters selected for presentation were of the highest quality.  The poster session was also a wonderful networking opportunity for students and professionals to discuss future research directions. 

Dr. Lynda Gibson chaired the juried review and the poster award winners were:

Best Overall Posters

Three Special Interest Groups also selected “best poster” winners, including:

AIRS SIG Poster Award
Logan Cummings, Ph.D., University of Texas Health Sciences Center
Identifying Adolescents at Risk for Acute Psychiatric Rehospitalization: A Two-Year Survivor Analysis

ASD SIG Poster Award
Chris Balbo, M.A., University of Hartford 
Associations among Autism, ADHD, and Autism+ADHD and Caregiver Emotional Support and Aggravation

Bilingual Psychologists Poster SIG Award
Alyssa Payne, M.S., Nova Southeastern University
Parental Accommodation and Youth Anxiety in Latino Families: The Moderating Role of Acculturation and Immigrant Status

We also celebrated some of our 2025 SCCAP Awards winners:  Dr. Justin Parent- Richard “Dick” Abidin Early Career Award and Grant Recipient; Dr. Jonathan Weinand- Distinguished Career Award for Practice and Training; and Dr. Roberto Abreu- Early Career Contributions to Diversity Science Recipient.  Each awardee gave a presentation highlighting their impressive work.

Our breakout panel sessions addressed key issues in the business and practice of clinical services, effective research mentorship, and preventing academic burnout.  These sessions were moderated by Dr. Jarrod Leffler, Dr. Tim Cavell, and Dr. Mary Louise Cashel, respectively.

Our Special Interest Groups (SIGs) also had time to come together and meet in person.  The AIRS (Acute, Intensive, and Residential Services) group hosted a special presentation entitled, AIRS in Review:  Past, Present and Future.  The Bilingual Psychologists group provided a training seminar on ethics and best practices for supervising bilingual supervisees.  The IEC (Infant and Early Childhood) group used the time for an organizational meeting.  We were especially excited to host the in-person meeting of the Clinical Child and Pediatric Psychology Training Council (CCaPPTC). 

Perhaps most importantly, across both days there were opportunities for socializing and networking among our members.  We had a community-building welcome reception on Friday night and some of us concluded the conference with a wonderful riverboat architecture tour of Chicago on Saturday!

We are now in the process of soliciting feedback from our attendees to inform planning for the next SCCAP Conference in 2027.  For those you that attended, please complete the Qualtrics survey you were emailed. For those of you who were unable to join us, we hope we will see you at the next one! 

From past and present members of the SCCAP Board – thank you for attending THE SCCAP Conference! See you soon at APA!