Arpana Inman
The Society of Counseling Psychology (SCP) is excited to be welcoming a new president, Dr. Arpana Inman of Lehigh University. Her research primarily emphasizes immigration and identity, international psychology, as well as multicultural competencies in supervision and training. Social justice and advocacy are woven into her counseling psychologist (CP) identity, permeating her research, training, and practice. She describes her scholarship as a “social justice, advocacy tool to raise awareness, bring attention to, and give voice to issues.” Her work reflects this commitment to social justice, as well. She currently directs a school-based mental health clinic that grew from a community-based participatory action project she was involved with. The clinic provides services to the underserved communities in her area who do not otherwise have access to these types of services and provides a great training opportunity for students in her program. Dr. Inman has long been involved with SCP and in various capacities, from helping with the convention programing to serving as the Chair of the Fellows Committee. Throughout her tenure in SCP, she has found that mentorship and networking are strong assets to this division. Additionally, the emphasis on diversity and social justice within the field align well with her own values, as clearly seen in her work. Taking over as president, she looks forward to advocating for and including marginalized communities, supporting master’s training within APA, seeing a greater presence of CPs within leadership roles, and developing greater integrative work. Her theme, “Leadership through Advocacy: Influencing and Advancing Change” includes three specific initiatives to help engage our counseling psychology community in facilitating meaningful change through our work and addressing the issues and concerns of the division. The first, Respectful Dialogues and Social Justice Engagement, continues the work of Dr. Anneliese Singh by finding ways to help advocate for different communities and develop our skills in having these dialogues and integrating them into all of our interactions. The second, Attending to the Master’s Training Issues, will focus on the critical support we can provide to master’s graduate and practitioners in the area of accreditation and licensure. Dr. Inman also noted that many doctoral level CPs also hold master’s level professional identities. Following Dr. Marty Heesacker and other CP’s work in this area, Dr. Inman hopes to continue the advocacy for training at both the doctoral and master’s level, including collaborating with and having conversations with various stakeholders (e.g., APA, ACA, MPCAC, etc.). Finally, the third initiative addresses specific needs for mid- and early-career psychologists. Many of these colleagues must take on administrative leadership roles without sufficient preparation, and this initiative will help examine this rising trend as well as find ways to help support these colleagues as they take on leadership positions. In addition to these initiatives, she has also developed a task group to develop a strategic plan for SCP, which she hopes will identify the specific needs of CPs and plan initiatives to support them.leader Dr. Inman’s dedication to advocacy and her passion for incorporating this work into her role as president will start immediately. One goal for CPs overall is to engage more with advocacy at various levels. For this reason, she has helped plan two-training sessions that will emphasize advocacy work. The first was a webinar (June 29th, 12-1:30 EST) that focused on the connection between psychology and policy. Following APA, a brown bag (August 6, 12-2PM EST) will be offered where attendees can learn more about how to translate practice into policy. We can expect more events like these in the future, too, as Dr. Inman will develop a special group that will conduct a needs assessment to identify areas that mid-career and ECPs may be interested in learning about. I look forward to hearing more about Dr. Inman’s plans for SCP and am excited to welcome her as the new President of SCP! This SCP Member Spotlight composed by: |
