December 8, 2021
This is my final President’s message posted prior to the new CoS slate of officers taking office as of January 1, 2022. First, it has been a professional and a personal privilege to serve as the President of the Council of Specialties in Professional Psychology. The importance of the role CoS serves in bringing all Specialties in professional psychology together has been highlighted and emphasized by the work done by the CoS membership over the past year. The CoS board of directors representing all Specialties in Professional Psychology implemented the 2021 Taxonomy Initiative endorsed in 2020 in collaboration with CRSSPP and ABPP. CoS put into action aspects of the cumulative work of the Interorganizational Summit 4.0 Initiative which called for the CoS to improve each Specialty’s taxonomy and promulgate the taxonomies within our specialty areas and across organizations. To accomplish this improvement and promulgation we used the Education and Training Guidelines: A Taxonomy for Education and Training in Professional Psychology Health Service Specialties and Subspecialties and authored additional documents to guide our efforts in revising our taxonomies. Each Specialty with membership in CoS worked to implement clear and consistent language when describing the educational and training opportunities offered by their Specialties and the individual education and training programs associated with these Specialties. The CoS Executive Committee team composed of members Drs. Rick Seime, Victor Molinari, Robin Hilsabeck, and Julia Phillips, and supported by consultants Drs. Toni Minniti, Scott Sperling, and Ron Rozenski, have been doing this work all year long. To date eight revised Taxonomies have been posted on this website and the remainder are in process, are “coming soon”, and will also be posted. A plan for periodic review and revision of taxonomies is in place. Plans for the promulgation of our taxonomies with different organizations and at various levels are in process as well. I wish to emphasize that the current multilayered efforts to disseminate and promulgate the use of the taxonomies is the result of interorganizational planning activities reflected in the four summits that have occurred over the past ten years that included the Council of Specialties in Professional Psychology (CoS), the American Board of Professional Psychology, (ABPP) and several education & training councils. These efforts are the result of past leadership which has recognized the importance of engagement across organizations and has been dedicated to doing this work. It has been my real good fortune to have had the opportunity to add my own efforts to this good work. The incoming officers of CoS lead by President Robin Hilsabeck, are President Elect, Victor Molinari, Secretary, Danielle Rynczak, Treasurer, Michele Rusin and myself as Past-President will continue to do so and add their own initiatives to move the CoS forward in 2022.
My wishes to all for a happy and safe holiday Season and for a wonderful 2022,
Karen E. Farrell, Psy.D., ABPP
President,
Council of Specialties in Professional Psychology