The profession of Health Service Psychology (HSP) has defined diversity as a competency area that is applicable across doctoral, internship and postdoctoral levels of training (APA, 2018; CPA, 2011). Systemic racism, inequality and disparities persist and true change is needed to achieve equity, inclusion, diversity, justice, and social responsivity in the HSP education and training community.

The APPIC board of directors believes that elevating voices and strong practices from the HSP training community will benefit everyone in our community in addressing the “Racism Pandemic.” To advance this effort, APPIC will fund up to $5,000 per program (for a sum total of no more than $50,000) to support projects that develop and disseminate reusable and ongoing tools and products that focus on combatting systemic racism, inequality, and disparities and/or elevating justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion.  These tools are meant to be shared with the HSP training community.  

Eligibility & Proposal Review

APPIC member Internship, Postdoctoral and Doctoral Program Associate member programs and/or affiliated faculty/staff are eligible to apply. Interested practicum programs are encouraged to partner with Internship and/or Doctoral Program Associate member programs to apply. Preference will be given to proposals that are innovative, describe a sound plan, address two or more levels of training (e.g., Internship entry level, Internship exit level, Postdoctoral entry level, and Postdoctoral exit level), utilize methods that could be easily adopted by other programs, and/or develop tools/products that can easily be disseminated to other programs. Creativity is encouraged in terms of content and methods (e.g., podcasts, recorded modules with interactive components, toolkits, etc.). Proposals may include methods already in use by the program or entirely new ideas that have yet to be developed or implemented.

Proposal Guidelines

• Proposals should be no more than two pages single spaced using 11 point Arial font and should be submitted to APPIC Central Office (appic@appic.org) by email no later than 1/22/2021 with “APPIC Call to Action on Equity, Inclusion, Justice, and Social Responsivity” in the subject line.
• Proposals should include:
  • A brief description of the facility or program.
  • Names and general qualifications of the individuals leading the project.
  • Letter of support documenting approval of the training director if the training director is not directly involved in the project.
  • Description of the tool/product/practice and how it addresses systemic racism, equity, inclusion, diversity, justice, and/or social responsivity in the HSP education and training community.
  • A time-line for the project (final products due by November 1, 2021).
  • An estimated budget including total funds requested and how those funds will be used. Indirect costs are prohibited.
  • If an already-established tool/product/practice is to be evaluated, it should be appended.
• Questions and consultation regarding proposal submission can be directed to Dr. Jeff Baker (jeff.baker@appic.org) or Dr. Allison Aosved (allison.aosved2@va.gov).

Given the urgency of this moment, those funded are expected to provide APPIC with a written report within 4 months of funding describing progress and summarizing preliminary progress. A final product will be due within 8 months of funding (November 1, 2021).

Note: Funded investigators will be awarded 50% of their allotted funds shortly after notification that they have been funded; and, the other 50% of the funds will be awarded upon delivery of the final product that is ready, as determined by the APPIC board of directors or their designee(s), for dissemination to the HSP training and education community.

Funded investigators may have the opportunity to describe their project/tool/product/practice in an APPIC webinar and/or at the APPIC 2022 member conference.

PROFESSION-WIDE COMPETENCIES IN HEALTH SERVICE PSYCHOLOGY
Sources: Commission on Accreditation
Standards of Accreditation in Health Service Psychology
https://www.apa.org/ed/accreditation/about/policies/standards-of-accreditation.pdf

Canadian Psychological Association
Accreditation Standards and Procedures for Doctoral Programmes and Internships in Professional Psychology
https://cpa.ca/docs/File/Accreditation/Accreditation_2011.pdf