by Cynthia Cotter, Ph.D.

President, San Diego Psychological Association 

Welcome to the second issue of The San Diego Psychologist for 2018!

This issue includes articles featuring the presentations from our 2018 SDPA Spring Workshop held this past May 19th, entitled Preparing for the Unthinkable: Mental Health Provider Roles in Disaster Recovery.  This was the inaugural event of this title produced by the SDPA Disaster Psychology Committee co-chaired by Deborah Hopper, Ph.D. and Robert McGlenn, Ph.D.; it included remarkable national and local experts in disaster response and was hugely successful.  The Committee is currently marketing the event to other organizations and is offering assistance to organizations so that more events of this type might be produced.  If you are interested in these efforts, please contact the Disaster Psychology co-chairs. Special thanks to Mary Mulvihill, Ph.D. for being the guest editor of this important issue of The San Diego Psychologist.

We have recently launched our SDPA Fall Conference for this year, which will take place on October 27^th, 2018; early bird registration extends to September 30th, so REGISTER NOW!  The event entitled, Encountering Substance Use in Clinical Practice: Emerging Issues and Divergent Perspectives focuses on the very timely topic of problematic substance use. There has been a rapid increase in the use of prescription and non-prescription opioid drugs in the U.S. over the last two decades.  Drug overdoses have become the leading cause of death of Americans under the age of 50, with two-thirds of those deaths from opioids.  Behaviors related to alcohol abuse and alcoholism in the U.S. have also become much more serious.  The speaker list for this year’s conference is sterling:  Our keynote is George F. Koob, Ph.D., Director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.  Beth D. Darnall, Ph.D., Clinical Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, Stanford University Medical School will present on the dual crises of pain and prescription opioids.  We are excited to have investigative journalist Sam Quinones, author of Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic speak on the sociocultural roots of the current opiate crisis.  Other topics presented at the conference include marijuana post-legalization, addiction and personality, working with people of color in substance use treatment, support for families of substance users, and understanding relapse.  Divergent perspectives on intervention/treatment are presented.  There will also bespecial musical presentations.  Please join us for our most exciting SDPA Fall Conference to date.

SDPA is pleased to announce that it will be a Platinum Sponsor for the 2018 NLPA (National Latina/o Psychological Association) Conference  to be held from October 18^th-21^st 2018 at the Hyatt Regency La Jolla at Aventine.  We are fortunate that this conference is local this year; please don’t miss the opportunity to attend this amazing national event.

If you are already an SDPA member, we are so happy for your participation.  If you are not, there is no better time to become a member.  Members receive many benefits and discounts, including lower registration fees to the 2018 SDPA Fall Conference. Join SDPA NOW! We hope to see you soon.