Positive Clinical Psychology Division
Election 2018
Biography:
Rhea L. Owens, Ph.D., L.P. is an Assistant Professor of Counseling Psychology at the University of North Dakota (USA) and is a licensed psychologist with a clinical specialty in the treatment and assessment of children and adolescents. She received her Master’s and Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Kansas. Her research interests include the clinical application of positive psychology and the assessment, application, and development of strengths. Dr. Owens is an Editorial Board member for the Journal of Positive Psychology and Well-being and The Counseling Psychologist (TCP). She also served as a guest Associate Editor for a special issue on Applications of Positive Psychology for TCP. Dr. Owens is currently a member of the International Positive Psychology Association’s (IPPA) Positive Clinical Division’s Executive Clinical Council. She is also the Editor-in-Chief of the Positive Clinical Division’s publication— Positive Clinical Psychology: An International Perspective. Dr. Owens has served on IPPA’s Membership Committee, including in the role of its Secretary. In 2009, Dr. Owens, alongside Dr. Jade Bender, created the Students of the International Positive Psychology Association (SIPPA) Division. She previously served as SIPPA’s President-Elect and President. She has also been part of the Executive Board of the Section on Positive Psychology (SPP) of the American Psychological Association since 2008 in the roles of Chair, Chair-Elect, Editor, Practice Representative, and Student Representative. She is currently the Past Chair of the SPP. Dr. Owens received the Shane J. Lopez Award for Professional Contributions in Positive Psychology and the Student Award for Distinguished Contributions in Positive Psychology from the SPP, as well as the International Positive Psychology Association’s Honorable Mention Dissertation Award.
Statement of Interest:
The advancement of the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA) has been a cornerstone of my career. As a founder and first President-Elect of IPPA’s first division—the Students of the International Positive Psychology Association—I have been involved with the organization since its creation. I would be honored to serve in the role of President-Elect of the Positive Clinical Division and further its success. Positive psychology is my passion. Professionally, I seek to advance the research-base and clinical resources available to positive therapists. In addition, I provide clinical training to students through the integration of positive psychology in graduate (and previously undergraduate) courses and supervision. My goal is to disseminate the knowledge we have in the clinical application of positive psychology, so one day a balanced practice, rather than a deficit-focus, becomes the norm. Personally, I aspire to make positive psychology a way of life. When interacting and working with others, I make every effort to attend to their strengths and attempt to organize our shared goals around the unique and complementary abilities of the group. Furthermore, hope has a constant presence in my life; I find identifying and working towards new goals both energizing and fulfilling. In the role of President-Elect, I would aim to further the Division through: (a) the collection and dissemination of positive clinical resources; (b) highlighting featured members monthly; (c) the development of an international student representative initiative; (d) the creation of student, clinician, and researcher awards; and (e) further advancement of the Division’s publication, by facilitating two issues per year, growth in the number of submissions, and wide-spread dissemination. Thank you for your consideration of my application. If selected, I would carry on the great work of the Division and work hard to promote its development.
Hi Rhea,
I have a few questions:
1. Spanning the gulf between research and practice is central to the Division. What would a future where this gap is bridged look like? How can the Division help move us all there?
2. What has been your best experience with the Positive Clinical Psychology Division so far? (Could be a program, event, exchange, etc.)
3. Can you give an example of a time where you lead a team that created a successful outcome?
Hi Jenny!
These are great questions! Please see my responses below.
1. Spanning the gulf between research and practice is central to the Division. What would a future where this gap is bridged look like? How can the Division help move us all there?
I think the bridge between practice and research is one we can and should continue to attend to as the field continues to grow and develop. Research and approaches to practice will continue to evolve and will need to be something we consistently attend to. From my point a view, a future where this gap is bridged to a greater extent would include consistent, frequent, open, and positively constructive communication between individuals who practice, conduct research, or some combination of these roles. Seeking out and welcoming diverse perspectives will only enhance our knowledge base and clinical practices. This will help ensure we provide the best services possible to our clients and that the interventions and approaches we use in clinical practice are sound and evidence-based.
From a research perspective, I think there are several steps we can take to help bridge this gap: (a) Give greater attention to clinical significance and clinical relevance when reporting research findings; (b) Seek out clinicians’ input on and involvement in research projects; (c) Ensure the language used in research reports is friendly to diverse readers, including researchers, clinicians, and students; (d) Provide clinical applications and recommendations in all research reports; and (e) Provide greater and/or more accessible outlets for research and research funding for applied research. Similarly, I think there are a number of approaches we can take to bridge practice and research from the practice side: (a) Write up interesting case studies, including data that assesses processes and outcomes; (b) Tape sessions of clinical services as research (and training) resources – with the informed consent of clients and following proper ethics procedures; (c) Serve as a clinician in intervention-based research/clinical trials; and (d) Write about innovative techniques, interventions, or approaches to help advance the field. These are just a few ideas, but I believe greater collaboration and consultation between practitioners and researchers would be beneficial.
I believe our Division can help us move in this direction by: (a) Providing a searchable member directory where members can choose what information they would like to share with other members of the Division to promote greater collaboration and possible mentorship; (b) Providing opportunities to promote research collaborations between clinicians and researchers (e.g., putting out calls to work on projects and initiatives together using the listserv and website, holding conference calls on topics of interest [e.g., hope in therapy] to brainstorm possible collaborations, holding roundtables at the World Congress on Positive Psychology with the goal of bridging this gap); (c) Creating a mentorship program where SIPPA members are paired with Positive Clinical Division professional members with the goal to promote professional development, practice and research consultation, and collaborations on projects of shared interest; and (d) Developing and sharing an up-to-date repository of evidence-based resources (e.g., book, chapter, and article citations, videos, manuals) in a variety of modalities (e.g., list of resources on the website, monthly emails highlighting new resources) that emphasize the integration of research and practice; and (e) Providing small grants for students and professionals that support applied research.
2. What has been your best experience with the Positive Clinical Psychology Division so far? (Could be a program, event, exchange, etc.)
I think my best experience so far has been working with several members of the Division to compile the Division’s first publication: Positive Clinical Psychology: An International Perspective. I had the pleasure of working with a number of talented members of the Executive Clinical Council, the Associate Editors of the publication, article reviewers from around the world, and the authors. It has been an honor and pleasure to work with everyone! It was also wonderful to learn about some exciting, very current research happening around the world and to help disseminate that research to the members of the Division as a way to enhance their practice and further the literature.
3. Can you give an example of a time where you lead a team that created a successful outcome?
Building off of my answer from the second question, I believe the creation of the Positive Clinical Division’s publication and its first issue is an example of a successful outcome following leading a team. This project began from the ground up. First, I drafted the purpose of the Division’s publication, the types of submissions it would include, and author submission guidelines. This was provided to the entire Executive Clinical Council to review and provide feedback on. Following their input, revisions were made and the final draft was later approved by the team. Information about the publication was disseminated to our membership and I answered questions for interested members about the publication. As we were accepting manuscript submissions, I worked to recruit a team of Associate Editors and an Editorial Board. All members of our Division were invited to apply for one of these roles. With the input of the Division’s President, the Associate Editors were selected. With the input of the Associate Editors, we selected the publication’s Editorial Board. As manuscripts were received, they were assigned to one of the Associate Editors or myself to manage. We identified qualified reviewers from the publication’s Editorial Board and other experts around the world based on the topic of the manuscript to review the manuscripts. Each manuscript was assigned to at least two reviewers and received a final decision from the managing editor (i.e., the assigned Associate Editor or myself). The reviewers were provided with an evaluation form I developed for our Division’s publication to collect feedback across consistent areas (e.g., relevance of the topic to our publication, writing style). From there, authors were notified of a decision regarding the status of their manuscript and provided with a summary of the reviewers’ feedback to improve their manuscripts. Following revisions, the manuscripts were reviewed by the reviewers again as well as the editors. Once the final versions were approved, a member of the Executive Clinical Council and I copyedited each manuscript and ensured the authors approved all final changes. From there, the documents were provided to the IPPA web/graphic designer for formatting. From there, I have reviewed several versions. Our final version will be coming out very shortly, and our team is very excited about the final product!
Hi Rhea, thank you so much for your sustained interest in serving the positive psychology community! What do you feel are the most critical aspects of the Division member experience? In what ways can Divisions become even more effective in their work engaging members?
Thanks for your consideration!
L
Hi Leona! These are also great questions! Please see my responses below.
What do you feel are the most critical aspects of the Division member experience?
I think the most critical aspects of members’ experience are: (a) A sense of community through a positive, welcoming experience and shared interests; (b) Consistent communication from Division leaders and IPPA as a broader organization, and outlets to provide feedback and input; and (c) Access to member resources and opportunities unique to our Division.
In what ways can Divisions become even more effective in their work engaging members?
I think this is a great question, and I will provide my perspective. I also think this would be a great question to ask our current members to learn what they enjoy about their experience so far and ways the Division can improve in this regard. Some suggestions I have, similar to what I discussed above, are: (a) Creating a searchable member directory where members can include information about their interests as a way to facilitate connections, collaborations, and possible mentorship; (b) Sharing positive clinical resources to a greater extent through a variety of means (e.g., list of resources on the website, highlighting new resources through the listserv, including a list of members’ resources in the Division Publication); (c) Highlighting featured Division members monthly, including students and professionals; (d) Greater communication and collaborations with SIPPA to identify ways students and professionals can work together; and (e) The creation of Division-specific student, clinician, and researcher awards that are given on an annual basis.
Thanks for your questions!