Project TeamUP is excited to offer professional development funding to attend the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) annual conference from Thursday, November 17th (travel day) to Sunday, November 20th, 2022, in New York City, NY. Please see conference and application details below:

Conference Description: ABCT’s 56th convention theme is Emergency & Disaster Preparedness and Response: Using Cognitive and Behavioral Science to Make an Impact. The COVID-19 pandemic revealed incredible strengths and formidable weaknesses in our preparedness and response to a global health emergency. Concurrently, additional emergencies, epidemics, and syndemics were revealed, some of which were caused or exacerbated by COVID-19, and others were longstanding but became more apparent (e.g., mass shootings, hate-based crimes, increase in suicide, substance use, mental health disorders, rise in disasters due to climate change). This year’s convention will spotlight research that helps us answer the question of where we are in developing the robust theory and sound science to be able to respond to health emergencies, epidemics, and syndemics that we face. Do we know enough about the mechanisms of action and essential ingredients of our interventions so that we can quickly develop, adapt, and deploy cognitive and behavioral interventions to prepare and respond? Do we have the public health systems and evidence-based policies in place to recognize mental/public health emergencies and respond to them effectively? Do we have evidence-based ways to communicate the evidence for cognitive and behavioral interventions to the public and policymakers to effect change? Are we equipping current and future professionals with the necessary tools to respond to disasters? Finally, do we have the contingencies in our field to encourage this kind of science?

Conference Schedule – student programming begins Friday, November 18th, 2022, at 8:00 am EST.

Funding Details: Project TeamUP is offering a select amount of full scholarships to students. All expenses will be paid on behalf of the student with the exception of the food per diem and taxis, which will be reimbursed/paid out after the student returns. A full scholarship includes the following:

• Conference registration;

• Hotel costs for 3 nights (11/17, 11/18 & 11/19) in a shared room (assignments based on Project Coordinator discretion with student preferences taken into account, more details shared if offered scholarship);

• Roundtrip airfare (San Diego to JFK and JFK to San Diego)

• Daily food per-diem (4 days)

• Two shared taxi rides (JFK airport to the conference hotel, conference hotel to San Diego airport; riding together with USD students)

Who is eligible to apply: All CMFT students are encouraged to apply. Applications will be reviewed holistically and consider equity amongst HRSA financial support.

Conference Logistics: The Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) annual conference is held from Thursday, November 17th to Sunday, November 20th, 2022, in New York City, NY. Thursday, November 17th, you will fly out to New York, so you may attend the full programming available to students, which begins Friday, November 18th, at 8:00 am EST. You must agree and be able to attend the conference to receive funding. Dr. Lebensohn-Chialvo, a Project TeamUP consultant and former Project TeamUP Co-Director/USD MFT professor, will be in attendance and available as a resource to students who attend.

Practicum/Fieldwork/Class Conflicts: Before applying, we suggest that students check in with their supervisors and/or instructors and ask if there would be any significant concern with them missing those specific days of practicum or class. Students should approach it as “asking for permission” and not just “informing.” However, most employers/supervisors understand that conference attendance is a legitimate reason for being away.

Deadline To Apply: The deadline for submitting applications is 9:00 am PST on Monday, September 12th, 2022, and the application link is: https://bit.ly/TeamUPABCTCon. The short application includes a 500 words or less statement answering the following questions: (A) What previous or current experiences in behavioral or cognitive therapies cultivated your interest in attending this conference? (B) How will attending this conference inform your post-graduation career plans?

Next Steps: Applicants will receive an email by 5:00 pm Wednesday, September 14th, 2022, and the selected students must accept their offer for funding by 5:00 pm PST on Thursday, September 15th, 2022, which includes completing a short survey to move forward with booking travel arrangements. A mandatory orientation will be held for awardees to review travel policies and conference etiquette. To be eligible for this funding opportunity, you must apply through Project TeamUP for group registration, and you cannot register on your own to request reimbursement.

This will not be the only conference funding offered during the 2022-2023 academic year! An application for The 38th Annual San Diego International Conference on Child and Family Maltreatment will go out later in the semester. Please contact me directly (aisaac@sandiego.edu) if you have any questions or technical issues submitting your application.