Editor’s Corner

 

It’s officially been one year since I stepped on board as the TAN editor.  Reflecting on the past year, there are several things that I am thankful for.

First, I want to thank you all again for being so open to the new formats and content of the revamped SoAP Box.  Change is hard, but I truly believe that bringing our newsletter into the digital age has been a big step forward.  Thank you for your continued readership and for exploring the articles and driving traffic to our site.  For those people who prefer a more traditional newsletter, we have also compiled a very basic PDF newsletter where you can find all of the content in one place.

I am also so thankful for the members who send me their wonderful submissions and feedback.  In particular, I have been thrilled with the initiative that our student and ECP members have taken to have their voices heard and hope that the SoAP Box will continue to be a medium in which everyone can find something relevant to them.   So, this is yet another plug to please submit any and all ideas and responses to calls for articles as the newsletter is only as successful as the entries we get.

Finally, I am so thankful for Jen Buckman (Past President) and Linda Sobell, President, who do so much to further our division.  Jen was truly a champion for the new format and I am forever grateful for her support.  As we go into the next year with Linda Sobell as our fearless leader, I am excited to see the continued growth and presence our division will make.

In this issue, I am happy to have a recap of the incredibly successful APA division programming as well as more information about the 2020 Collaborative Perspectives on Addiction (CPA) Conference.  These conferences are a wonderful opportunity to get to know more about our division, our members, and the important work we all do.  I highly recommend going to at least one next year!  This issue we are fortunate to have several articles by student members.  First, Sarah Grace Uhouse wrote a great piece on the work that inspired her to enter clinical psychology with a focus on addiction.  Next, Joshua Mervis wrote a relatable piece about struggling with a new addictions-focused client.  As usual, we got some really insightful and exciting submissions for  “SoAP Box Soundbites”, “Show and Tell”, and “Community Corner”. As always, Nancy Piotrowski has written another great Advocate’s Alcove Column where she covers the most recent advocacy-related issues relevant to our division.  We also have a great piece on APA ethical guidelines from Ray Hanbury.  Finally, be sure to check out the announcements page to learn about job postings.

We are welcome to any ideas you all may have about making the SoAP box as relevant to all of our readers as possible, so please don’t be shy!

For the next issue, I am hoping to continue soliciting new content. I am so excited about the submissions we received this time and I am hopeful that more people will feel comfortable submitting content in the coming issues.  Please submit any of the content requested below to me (dana.litt@unthsc.edu) by February 1, 2020.

-SoAP Box Sound Bites. In 50 words or less, please respond to the following prompt—What unique insights do you think addiction psychologists can provide to improve public health more generally?

-Show and Tell.  This is the place to show off your recent accomplishments, accolades, awards and/or to and highlight the cool ways in which you promote your lab (websites, Facebook pages, Instagram accounts, etc.). Send us a link and description of your current projects, awards, or media attention you may have received, and any other information that you would like to share with our readers. Please limit responses to 200 words.    

-Community Corner.  For the coming issue, I want to hear about ways in which you share your research and/or clinical work to the broader community. Please limit responses to 200 words.

-Clinical Translation.  Do you have any recently published work that you wish you would have had more room in the manuscript to discuss clinical implications and applications?  We would love for you all to share recently published work and give us more information about how your research findings could be useful for clinicians.  Please limit responses to 1,000 words.

-Finding Success in Failure.  Finding Success in Failure. In line with the recent trend of prominent academics and clinicians sharing their “CVs of Failures”, we want to hear about a time in your career that things didn’t go your way. For this next issue, I am hoping someone is brave enough to share about a time that they got less-than-ideal grant reviews back from a funding agency.  What was your process for managing this experience, what did you learn from the experience, and what would you recommend to others who might find themselves in a similar boat?  Please limit responses to 500 words.    

-Ethical Issues.  In this column, we are looking for articles focused on describing ethical issues you may come across in your research and/or addiction-related clinical practice.  Specifically, we want to hear what the ethical issue was, how you handled it, and lessons learned. Some examples could be issues related to googling patients, how you handled it when a patient contacted you on social media, or what happens when you run into a research participant out in the real world. Please limit responses to 500 words.    

If you have any suggestions for how we can make the SoAP Box more relevant and impactful for you, please don’t hesitate to let me know. Wanting to see articles on a specific topic? Send your topic ideas to me for upcoming issues. I am always open to ideas for new columns, hot topics to cover, or anything else you think would be useful for our readers.