Supporting the future of group psychotherapy
With her bequest to APF's Div. 49 (Society of Group Psychology and Group Psychotherapy) Fund, Jean Keim, PhD, a psychologist working in New Mexico is helping to secure a strong future for group psychotherapy. Her legacy will reinforce a field she has dedicated her career to.
Keim first became involved with the Society of Group Psychology and Group Psychotherapy when then-president Arthur M. Horne, PhD, appointed her to a committee during his presidency and became her mentor. She was later elected Div. 49 president in 2011. During her tenure, Keim's presidential initiative was to create a strong foundation to fund innovation in group psychology and psychotherapy. Working with APF, Keim brought this idea to fruition by establishing the APF Div. 49 Fund and the Division leadership committed $100,000 for initial funding.
Her bequest will support innovation in teaching and supervision of group psychotherapy. "It is important to remember that many clinicians we train do not become researchers," Keim says. "Rather, they have long and productive careers ‘in the trenches' treating clients. Innovation in how we train and supervise these clinicians is critical."
As a single mother, Keim understands how tight money can be. But she believes in service and the importance of giving back. By remembering APF in her estate plans, Keim is using a portion of her estate to make a positive and significant impact on group psychotherapy for years to come.
Keim encourages her colleagues to do the same. "Stop talking about it and just do it! Whether the amount is small or large, it affects the future of psychology and ultimately changes lives in our community."
For more information on including APF in your estate plans or contributing to the Div. 49 Fund, visit APFopens in new window or call (202) 336-5843.
Placek winner studies adjustment in ethnic and LGBT youth
APF has presented the $15,000 Wayne F. Placek Grant to Luis Armando Parra, a third-year human development doctoral student in the department of human ecology at the University of California, Davis. Parra is studying the effects of compounded ethnic/racial and sexual minority prejudice on the immune system and how that affects psychosocial adjustment. Parra seeks to identify resilience factors, such as parent and peer support, and coping strategies that can ease the effects of prejudice in young, sexual minority people of color.
The Wayne F. Placek Grant encourages research to increase the general public's understanding of homosexuality and sexual orientation, and to alleviate the stress that lesbian women, gay men, bisexual women, bisexual men and transgender individuals experience in this and future civilizations. Since 1995, the Placek Fund has granted more than $1 million.
For more information on the Placek Grantopens in new window, visit the APF website. Applications are due March 1.
APF grants $90,000 to support giftedness work
APF has presented three Esther Katz Rosen Fund Grants to support research and programs on the psychological understanding of gifted children and youth.
- Catherine Hartley, PhD, an assistant professor at the Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology at Weill Cornell Medical College, received a $50,000 Rosen Grant to examine the cognitive and neural processes that contribute to the early emergence of goal-directed learning in gifted children.
- Alissa Doobay, PhD, of the University of Iowa, won a $20,000 Rosen Grant, to investigate the effectiveness of a social skills intervention based on Scott Bellini's Building Social Relationships model for improving social functioning in a mixed group (students with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder) of twice-exceptional adolescents (students who are both intellectually gifted and have some form of disability) in grades nine through 12.
- Rena Subotnik, PhD, of APA, and Frank Worrell, PhD, of the University of California, Berkeley, received $20,000 for the Coalition for the Psychology of High Performance, a group that is raising awareness about how psychological research can be applied to high performance in academics, sport and the arts.
For more information on the Rosen Fund Grantsopens in new window, visit the APF website. The next application deadline is March 1.
Graduate student explores link between racial identity and achievement
APF has presented the $10,000 Kenneth B. and Mamie P. Clark Grant to Krystal Thomas, a doctoral student in the developmental psychology program at Virginia Commonwealth University. Thomas is using the grant to study how social factors in classrooms affect racial identity and academic achievement. More specifically, Thomas will explore cross-racial friendships, teacher-student interactions, child racial identity and academic outcomes.
The Kenneth B. and Mamie P. Clark Fund supports research and demonstration activities that promote the understanding of the relationship between self-identity and academic achievement with an emphasis on children in grade levels K–8. For more information on the Clark Grantopens in new window, please visit the APF website.
Thank you APF donors
APF cannot provide grants and scholarships without the generosity of our dedicated donors. Your gifts are launching the careers of promising young psychologists, supporting innovative pilot programs in crucial areas, funding groundbreaking dissertations and graduate research, and much more.
Although APF had to turn away 90 percent of applicants this year, donors from all over the country are helping APF change that.
It is not too late to join the Campaign to Transform the Future in 2015. APF currently gives almost $800,000 annually in grants and scholarships. With more support, one day APF can provide more than $1 million a year in funding to psychologists working on society's most critical issues.
