Dear SPRISTAD-members,
The SPR conference in Jerusalem was a success in all regards and we owe thanks to the organizing committee, including Gary Diamond, Hadas Wiseman, Orya Tishby and Gaby Shefler, for organizing a wonderful conference. For SPRISTAD it was a historic moment. Poornima Bohla from India, Irene Messina from Italy and Erkki Heinonen from Finland presented the first results from the SPRISTAD study based on preliminary paper and pencil versions of the instruments. The instruments were well received by participants and were, as expected, sensitive to change. The panel was well attended, the audience was enthusiastic and we all felt we were taking part in an event that convincingly demonstrated the potential of the SPRISTAD study. Extended abstracts of their talks will be sent you later.
Final versions of the instruments are now available online in English, German, Spanish and Lithuanian for use by local research coordinators and trainees attending programs that have received ethical board approval. (Other language versions are soon to be available online including Italian, Hebrew, Dutch, Norwegian and Finish.) This was announced along with specific steps to start data collection at the SPRISTAD pre-conference workshop titled “The SPRISTAD Study of Psychotherapists in Training: Research Protocols and Online Data Collection.” The workshop was led by Bernhard Strauss, David Orlinsky and Ulrike Willutzki with contributions from research committee members Svenja Taubner, Louis Castonguay, Jan Carlsson and (Michael) Helge Rønnestad. The main focus of the meeting was the pragmatics and procedures of participation. It has been decided that the data will be stored at Uni. Witten/Herdecke under the auspices of Prof. Ulrike Willutzki. If you have any questions about procedures and instruments, don´t hesitate to let us know.
As a result of expiring terms and recent elections, there are some changes in the organization of SPRISTAD. Bernhard Strauss has left the position of Chair and has become the Immediate Past Chair. The new Chair is Helge Rønnestad (Uni. Oslo). Ulrike Willutzki has become the Chair-Elect for a 3-years term (2016-2018) and Hector Fernandez-Alvarez (Argentina) has succeeded Clara Hill as Senior Career Counselor. Other members of the Steering committee are Armin Hartmann (Uni. Freiburg) as Mid-Career Counselor and Svenja Taubner (Uni. Heidelberg) as Early Career Counselor.
David Orlinsky is leaving the position of Immediate Past-Chair and is appointed as a member of the Research Committee. The Research Committee consists of members of he Steering Committee in addition to David, and Louis Castonguay and Jan Carlsson, both of whom previously were counselor-members of the Steering Committee. David and Louis will be organizing a structured discussion session on the SPRISTAD study at the forthcoming NASPR conference at UC Berkeley (CA) in November this year. North American SPRISTAD members who could not join us in Jerusalem are especially recommended to attend that session.
Finally, we express our gratitude to all who have contributed to getting us where we are. A special thanks goes to Bernhard who has led us with a gentle hand and to David, Ulrike and Armin for their hard work in finalizing the instruments and for getting us on-line. Based on the initital findings reported by Poornima, Irene and Erkki in Jerusalem, we look forward to an exciting future of continued good work.
On behalf of the Steering Committee,
Helge Rønnestad
Chair
Ps. I am new to many in SPRISTAD. I am presently Professor Emeritus at the Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway. I received my Ph.D. from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1973. My primary research interests have been the professional development of psychotherapists and counselors, clinical/counseling supervision and process-outcome research. I have been a member of SPR since 1993, and look forward to contribute to the continued growth and success of SPRISTAD.