The current COVID-19 public health crisis is unparalleled and the impact is significant, multi-pronged, and ongoing. Disruptions to Health Service Psychology (HSP) training in the US and Canada, at all points in the education to workforce pipeline, have occurred and will likely endure and may worsen. Similarly, it is likely there will be continued COVID-19 impacts on health service delivery, education, training, travel, in-person meetings, and public gatherings. The APPIC board of directors is aware that the HSP education and training community has already responded to COVID-19 with creativity and innovation with regard to remote, distance, and tele-based education, training, service provision, and supervision.
The APPIC board of directors believes that shared strategies and practices, across programs and institutions, will reduce stress and confusion and may improve outcomes for all with regard to meeting APA (2018) and CPA (2011) accreditation standards as well as APPIC membership criteria for internship and postdoctoral programs (2006, 2016, 2018, 2019). The APPIC board of directors believes that shared innovations and better practices from the HSP training community will benefit everyone in our effort to provide high quality HSP education and training amidst a global pandemic.
To advance this effort, APPIC has committed to funding up to $5,000 per program (for a sum total of no more than $50,000) to support projects that focus on technology, innovation, tele-supervision, and tele-training with the goal of developing reusable and ongoing tools and products that will be shared with the HSP Training Community.