At APA’s 2007 Annual Convention in San Francisco, APA’s Practice Directorate, Committee for the Advancement of Professional Practice (CAPP) and Board of Professional Affairs will sponsor a variety of programs designed to stimulate discussion and help practitioners grow, thrive...and cope.

• “Tools for Growth: Business Strategies for Successful Practice,” on Saturday, Aug. 18, 10–11:50 a.m., will outline basic business skills that psychologists can use in their practices to effectively provide psychological services in an evolving marketplace. This program, sponsored by the APA Practice Organization Committee for the Advancement of Professional Practice, provides established practitioners, early-career psychologists and practice-oriented graduate students with practical, concrete strategies for building and maintaining a successful psychology practice. Presenters will cover a variety of topics—including basic business planning, marketing strategies and technological solutions—to help participants meet their clinical, legal and ethical obligations, while creating thriving careers as practitioners.

The presenters will be David W. Ballard, PsyD, MBA, of the APA Practice Directorate and Nancy Gordon Moore, PhD, executive director of the Kentucky Psychological Association.

• “Psychology’s Emerging Leadership Role in the Treatment of Serious Mental Illness,” Saturday, Aug. 19, 2–2:50 p.m., will highlight new and emerging roles and responsibilities for psychologists in the area of serious mental illness (SMI), in which recent treatment advances have enabled people to recover to a great extent, and rehabilitation interventions have become the gold standard. Many of the newer rehabilitation-oriented interventions were developed and tested by psychologists, although the interventions have not yet been widely implemented. Speakers will examine how, given burgeoning interest in rehabilitation interventions for people with SMI, psychologists have a unique opportunity to assume leadership roles in clinical research and practice, program development, advocacy and training.

Sponsored by APA’s Committee for the Advancement of Professional Practice’s Task Force on Serious Mental Illness and Severe Emotional Disturbance and chaired by William D. Spaulding, PhD, of the University of Nebraska, the session will feature presentations by Mary A. Jansen, PhD, of the British Columbia Mental Health and Addiction Services; William Safarjan, PhD, of the Altascadero State Hospital in California, and Charles Faltz, PhD, of the California Psychological Association. Dan Abrahamson, PhD, and Seaaira Reedy, of APA’s Practice Directorate, will serve as discussants.

• “Zero Tolerance in Schools: Maintaining Safety or Fostering Inequality?” Sunday, Aug. 19, from 2–3:50 p.m., will update participants on the recent findings of the APA Zero Tolerance Task Force regarding the history, effectiveness and utility of zero tolerance (ZT) policies in U.S. public schools. Presenters at the Board of Professional Affairs-sponsored session will examine recent research findings on the possible discriminatory nature of these policies in some schools.

Speakers will outline the recommendations in the task force report, including both practical and policy implications, present data on the variation in ZT policies across a statewide sample of high schools, report on an analysis of a national sample exploring how racial and ethnic disparities in discipline are distributed and the factors that might contribute to disproportionate application of such policies; and explore the link between school discipline and the juvenile justice system.

Chaired by Peter Sheras, PhD, of the University of Virginia, the session will include presentations by Russell Skiba, PhD, of Indiana University–Bloomington, Anne Gregory, PhD, of the University of Virginia, M. Karega Rausch, PhD, of Indiana University–Bloomington, and Darren Woodruff, PhD, of the American Institutes for Research. Cecil Reynolds, PhD, chair of the APA Zero Tolerance Task Force, will serve as the discussant.

• “Help for the Helper: Meeting the Needs of Psychologists Impacted by Disasters,” Sunday, Aug. 19, 3–3:50 p.m., will focus on the emotional, social and professional needs of psychologists who are survivors of large-scale natural and man-made disasters—during the crisis period and in the subsequent months and years. Presenters will discuss the challenges of self care while helping others following a disaster and supporting other psychologists in the aftermath of disaster. The APA Board of Professional Affairs Committee on Colleague Assistance (ACCA)–sponsored program also will address the ongoing collaboration between ACCA and APA’s Disaster Response Network.

Chaired by Terri M. Davis, PhD, of the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology, the session will include presentations by Lynn R. Schechter, PhD, a Louisiana-based private practitioner, and Bruce D. Nystrom, PhD, a private practitioner in Wichita, Kan. Jaquelyn L. Resnick, PhD, will serve as the discussant.

—Compiled by APA’s Practice Directorate