Editor’s Corner

Dana Litt, PhD
Editor

Victoria Votaw, MS
Student Editor

Needless to say, a lot has happened since our last issue of the SoAP Box. Between the far-reaching impacts of COVID-19 on our professional and personal lives and the ongoing discourse related to racism, social inequity, and injustice in our country, I know that the past few months have been particularly taxing on all of us. While we all struggle with these historical events surrounding us, it becomes even more clear that our division has a great deal of work left to do. Please be sure to read the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee’s powerful statement on what SoAP Can and must do related to pursuing justice and equity, promoting the representation of underrepresented groups, and amplifying underrepresented voices in addiction psychology.

Related specifically to our work as a division, it is notable that both CPA and APA have gone virtual this year. Although we welcome the opportunity to present our research, there is clear sadness at what is lost when colleagues can’t gather at professional conferences. Our leadership has done an exceptional job adjusting these conferences and related programming to best meet member needs, which was no small task. What has become abundantly clear through these hard times is how resilient and strong we are as a division. I am honored to be a part of it and so thankful to have the chance to work directly with so many of you.

For this issue, be sure to start with our President’s Column, where Linda Sobell, PhD reflects on her past year and the fantastic news that addiction psychology’s approval as a specialty board for ABPP.  In this issue, we are also fortunate enough to have 3 Early Career Psychologist articles (by Mark A Prince, PhD, Julie Cristello, MS, and Laura Lesnewich, MS) , which further reflects the growth of this division. We are also fortunate to have two great pieces reflecting on Finding Success through Failure. First, Dr. Jennifer Buckman shares her insight into dealing with difficult mentoring situations. Dr. Kate Carey also graciously shares with us the trials and tribulations of adapting research during the time of COVID-19. In addition, we have an excellent submission for the Clinical Translation column that does an excellent job applying novel research findings to clinical practice related to opioid use disorder. As always, we received great submissions for SoAP Box Sound Bites (on COVID-19 and Division 50 priorities), Community Corner, and Show and Tell.

Please be sure to read the several important division announcements appearing in this issue. First, we are happy to announce the recent results of the Division 50 election. We also have information on APA programming courtesy of Susan Collins, a powerful statement from our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, referenced earlier, and a touching piece written by our own President, Linda Sobell, in memoriam for Dr. Nancy Petry, who we lost far too soon.

Finally, you may have noticed that we have a new student editor.  Please welcome Victoria Votaw, a doctoral student at the University of New Mexico!  I am so pleased to have her on board and to have the opportunity to work with one of our amazing student members.  You will notice that there is a call for a new SoAP Box Editor. As much as I have enjoyed my time thus far, it is time to pass on the torch. Please read the description provided for the position and let me know if you have any questions. Being the SoAP Box editor is a wonderful way for early- and mid-career members to get involved in the division and I highly encourage anyone who is interested to strongly consider applying.

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 October 1, 2020.

-SoAP Box Sound Bites. In 50 words or less, please respond to the following prompt—What advice would you share with someone just starting out in the addiction psychology field?

-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. We would love 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 will share lessons learned from shopping around for a paper that took a while to find a home. 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 patents, 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.