President's Message
Welcome to Div. 49 (the Society of Group Psychology and Group Psychotherapy). We represent your needs as a group psychologist and group psychotherapist. Our members engage in teaching, research and practice related to groups. Div. 49 members work in counseling, clinical, social, organizational, health and sport psychology contexts. By engaging with us you will find a colleague, a mentor or a collaborator to help you further your career as a group psychologist or psychotherapist.
As a member of this division, you share the belief that groups represent a vital aspect of everyday life. We are all members of a family, a work group, a team, a club, a professional organization, a religious community, a therapy group and others. With this knowledge, we have the opportunity to enhance our communities’ productivity, health, leisure and attachments. One of the best ways for you to achieve this enhancement is through interacting and networking with group researchers and practitioners from many different areas of psychology. If you are interested in groups and your curiosity extends to many different kinds of groups, Div. 49 is your home. We are especially proud of the depth and breadth with which our student and early career members are involved in the division. We are a small enough division that our annual meeting will provide you with ample opportunity for conversation. You won’t feel lost or faceless in Div. 49.
On this website you will find a one-stop shop for everything you need related to groups. You can read our newsletter The Group Psychologist, stay abreast of the latest research in our journal Group Dynamics: Theory Research and Practice, get information on our conference program and access a variety of tools to help you with your teaching, research, practice and job searches.
One of my goals for my presidential year is to improve your connection with your division. That means connecting you to your colleagues, teachers, mentors and collaborators. We will do this by providing students and early career psychologists with financial and other support to attend the convention and to participate in the program. We offer you many opportunities to receive travel and research grants for the convention. Please browse our awards to see which opportunity fits you. Convention programming in the next couple of years increasingly will be geared towards practice and training so that what you learn will enhance what you do on a day-to-day basis. Join us at our social events at the conference. We will help you to connect with mentors, to network with colleagues and to enhance your teaching, practice and research of groups.
Groups and group-related phenomena are receiving more attention from more sources than ever before. This is an exciting time to be thinking about how collectives impact humans and society. If you are not already, become a member of Div. 49 and tell us how we can help to further your career and your knowledge and practice of groups.
Giorgio A. Tasca, PhD, CPsych
Div. 49 President