Career, Leadership & Mentorship luncheon/Forum

The first of what we hope would become an APA ritual/tradition took place in New Orleans, on Sunday, May 23rd, 2010 during our annual APA scientific meeting. It was convened by Drs. Gary Weinstein & Eliot Sorel with several MITs & ECPs participating.

We heard thought-provoking presentations from Dr. Steven Koh about the mentorship initiative he started in San Diego, California, complemented by a presentation from Dr. Hind Benjelloun about the Career & Leadership, now Career, Leadership & Membership. This initiative was started three years ago by the Washington Psychiatric Society with a grant from Area III; it was expanded to the New Jersey District Branch this spring and is available to others upon request.

The luncheon/Forum also featured discussions of the APA Assembly Leadership Training Manual, which was developed by the APA Assembly’s Leadership Training Workgroup (LTWG) and will soon be available on APA’s website and could be of value in starting such programs nationwide.

The group intends to develop a Career, Leadership & Mentorship (CLM) workshop for next year’s annual meeting as well as convene as a CLM Forum at that time. A CLM workshop is currently being planned for the XX World Congress of Social Psychiatry in Marrakech, Morocco in October 2010.

Eliot Sorel,MD, Chairman, APA Assembly LTWG
Founder, WPS, Career & Leadership
May 23, 2010