Grad Student Recommended Organizations/Listservs

[Dazen]

Pretty self-explanatory. I'll be an incoming clinical psych grad student this fall, and was wondering what organizations and listservs you found most useful when you were beginning your training? I'm particularly interested in forensics and trauma, but am also looking for broad recommendations.

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[SomeGreatNotion]

I liked ABCT. The conference and listserv are good. Particularly useful for an incoming grad student looking for generalist training/updates.

 

[WisNeuro]

The niche orgs and listservs are more helpful. I never really got much out of the larger, more general orgs in grad school.

 

[Indiana_Jane]

AP-LS, Div 18 Criminal Justice subsection and ABCT - forensic/externalizing special interest group!

 

[ClinicalABA]

I liked ABCT. The conference and listserv are good. Particularly useful for an incoming grad student looking for generalist training/updates.

I'd second this. It's been a while (it was still called "AABT" back then, and our conference presentations included overheads!) but I found this to be an accessible and welcoming conference. I particularly benefitted from participation in a few of the Special Interest Group (SIG).

Local professional orgs can be a great place to get more information regarding political actions and non-clinical issues, and if you hang around long enough you'll likely find yourself on some board or another.

 

[WisNeuro]

Also, join your state psych association. Membership is usually free, or super cheap for students. Great way to network/learn to network. Some state orgs also have active mentorship programs.

 

[Ollie123]

Are you on more of a clinical path or more of a research path? Answer will differ markedly based on response.

In general, I haven't found listserv discussions to be remotely useful. Many of the discussions are downright ridiculous. I was on one student one for a while related to internship (forget which one) and the things people messaged about made me question how their program hadn't kicked them out yet. Professional ones are only marginally better. Organizational involvement and conference attendance are quite another matter though.

 

[WisNeuro]

Are you on more of a clinical path or more of a research path? Answer will differ markedly based on response.

In general, I haven't found listserv discussions to be remotely useful. Many of the discussions are downright ridiculous. I was on one student one for a while related to internship (forget which one) and the things people messaged about made me question how their program hadn't kicked them out yet. Professional ones are only marginally better. Organizational involvement and conference attendance are quite another matter though.

Smaller, more niche are better in my opinion. For example, the general npsych listserv gets a lot of junk posts. But, the private ABPP boarded only listserv for neuropsych is by far the best source of neuropsych info and networking by far.

But yes, I agree, on larger listservs, I see questions that make me question how someone is licensed all the time.

 

[Dazen]

Thanks so much for all the great suggestions! Right now I’m planning on being more research focused, although I’m also clinically interested in assessments.

 

[Ollie123]

For research I would definitely go for niche conferences then. APA is frankly embarrassing as a scientist. Its a bit outside my field, but I think ISTSS is a big trauma one. I don't know for forensic work, though some will depend on your exact focus within forensics. There is plenty of forensic-ish work at substance use disorder conferences, but that is of a very different nature than someone working clinically with psychopathy, etc.

Wis and I are likely to disagree on this, but I wouldn't bother with a state org if research-focused. Nothing wrong with doing some networking or popping in to a conference up the road (i.e. you don't need to explicitly avoid it), but there are much better places to focus your time/energy. The conferences aren't going to have much in the way of "A+" work you want to model and the number of people with similar interests is going to be negligible. I might make an exception if you were extremely geographically restricted and simply COULD NOT move out-of-state for whatever reason.

 

[WisNeuro]

For research I would definitely go for niche conferences then. APA is frankly embarrassing as a scientist. Its a bit outside my field, but I think ISTSS is a big trauma one. I don't know for forensic work, though some will depend on your exact focus within forensics. There is plenty of forensic-ish work at substance use disorder conferences, but that is of a very different nature than someone working clinically with psychopathy, etc.

Wis and I are likely to disagree on this, but I wouldn't bother with a state org if research-focused. Nothing wrong with doing some networking or popping in to a conference up the road (i.e. you don't need to explicitly avoid it), but there are much better places to focus your time/energy. The conferences aren't going to have much in the way of "A+" work you want to model and the number of people with similar interests is going to be negligible. I might make an exception if you were extremely geographically restricted and simply COULD NOT move out-of-state for whatever reason.

I'd generally agree. But I'd still check what's available. some state orgs give away grants/scholarships/research awards. Competition tends to not be that fierce either, so if you're a fairly competent student researcher, your chances could be very good at some easy money.

 

[Dazen]

One more question on this - are there any listservs that are specifically focused around mathematical modeling/advanced statistical methods? I'm hoping to focus on these in grad school in addition to my content interests.

 

[BuckeyeLove]

PSYLaw is going to be your go to. I also recommended Bestinterests listserv (mostly custody related issues), but if you're interested in psycho-legal evaluation as a whole, it's a plethora of knowledge and solid evaluators are constantly posting. Once you get boarded you can join the all sacred ABFP listserv, where you can talk with boarded people at your leisure (much of it is often not forensic-related lol).