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Call for Applications: ABCT CHANGE Leaders

New & Noteworthy
To apply to be a CHANGE Leader, please use the form at the bottom of this page.

The Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) is pleased to announce the second Call for Applications for Change Leaders (from October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2027). A maximum of 10 Change Leaders will be selected for the two-year program.

Selected Change Leaders will be provided with:

  • Up to $1500 in travel support reimbursement annually to attend two consecutive ABCT conventions.
  • Complimentary registration to both conventions.
  • Change Leaders will have an opportunity to receive both sponsorship and mentorship from ABCT leaders over a two-year term.

 

What is the ABCT Change Leaders Program?

This is a program aimed at engaging early advanced students and career professionals in a two-year, leadership development activity with assigned sponsors while ABCT takes active steps to broaden and improve the diversity, equity, inclusion, access, and justice focus of its work. The ABCT Board recognizes that important structural change in our organization should come from an intersectional and collaborative process with diverse members, including those who may not feel represented by current or historic board membership.

The ABCT Change Leaders Program has its own designated staff and Board liaisons to the program to help facilitate this effort. This unique leadership program aims to expose participants to the structure and activities of ABCT through interactions with program directors, the Board, and other leadership groups in an effort to demystify how ABCT operates. This knowledge then will be used by Change Leaders, working collaboratively with existing leadership, to make a difference at a systems level within and beyond ABCT.

Program Directors

  • Dr. Ana Bridges, Department of Psychological Science at the University of Arkansas
  • Dr. Donte Bernard, Department of Psychological Sciences at the University of Missouri
  • Dr. Jill Ehrenreich-May, Department of Psychology at the University of Miami

Who should apply? 

We invite applications from ambitious terminal Master’s or doctoral students, early-stage investigators, and/or clinicians (<5 years since Ph.D., Psy.D., M.D., D.O., or terminal Master’s degree) who are motivated and interested in clinical science, leadership opportunities, and making an impact on the future of ABCT.

Deadline for Applications is August 1, 2025

ABCT Change Leaders Program Benefits

Each participant accepted into the ABCT Change Leaders Program will be appointed for two-year terms and will be assigned an ABCT Sponsor who is a current or prior ABCT board member with a commitment to sponsoring diverse clinicians and scholars across various contexts. ABCT Change Leaders will meet with their Sponsors virtually, a minimum of three times per year and, ideally, once per year in person at the ABCT Convention. Sponsorship activities will include listening to and promoting the ideas of Change Leaders, orienting them to the organization’s structure and practices, and helping direct Change Leaders to organizational resources. In addition, ABCT Change Leaders will:

  1. Meet with ABCT Board members on the Thursday morning of the annual ABCT convention and attend at least one other Board meeting in each year of their term to discuss organizational initiatives and share ideas.
  2. Develop (and potentially implement) or sustain action plans for programming, activities, or education to help support organizational change goals developed in partnership with prior Change leaders, current Change Sponsors, or other ABCT leadership.
  3. Provide feedback to ABCT leadership on relevant ABCT initiatives.
  4. Engage in opportunities for presenting, moderating discussions, and sustaining related activities of individual or group interest at ABCT conventions and throughout the year.
  5. Engage in a supportive and sponsored process for career development with a cohort of peers interested in promoting diverse future leadership for ABCT and other organizations.
  6. Be identified as an “ABCT Change Leader.”

To support this program and its goals, all ABCT Change Leaders selected will be expected to attend:

  • An initial governance overview and orientation meeting
  • Monthly scheduled meetings with the Change Leaders group and program directors, and an ABCT Board liaison and staff member.
  • At least 3 half-hour meetings with individual Sponsors annually.
  • A Thursday morning meeting with the Board at the ABCT Conventions, and select other meetings, as scheduled.

How To Apply:

To apply for the ABCT Change Leaders Program, candidates are invited to submit the following material using the application below by August 1, 2025. A complete application must include:

  1. A 1-page cover letter describing one’s current position(s), prior leadership experience, reason(s) for interest in the Change leadership program at ABCT, and a description of how participation in the Change leadership program would benefit the applicant (personally and/or professionally).
  2. A current CV.
  3. Completed endorsement form from someone (e.g., a peer, colleague, mentor, community partner) with sufficient knowledge of the applicant’s leadership potential. ABCT CHANGE Leaders Endorsement Form

Questions may be directed to Dr. Ehrenreich-May at j.ehrenreich@miami.edu.

CHANGE Leaders Application Form

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What Is Cognitive Behavior Therapy?

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a type of treatment that is based firmly on research findings.  It places emphasis on changing your cognitions (thoughts) or behaviors (actions) in order to effect change in how you feel. These approaches help people in achieving specific changes or goals.

Changes or goals might involve:

A way of acting: like smoking less or being more outgoing;
A way of feeling: like helping a person to be less scared, less depressed, or less anxious;
A way of thinking: like learning to problem-solve or get rid of self-defeating thoughts;
A way of dealing with physical or medical problems: like reducing back pain or helping a person stick to a doctor’s suggestions.

Cognitive behavioral therapists usually focus more on the current situation and its solution, rather than the past. They concentrate on a person’s views and beliefs about their life. CBT is an effective treatment for individuals, parents, children, couples, and families. The goal of CBT is to help people improve and gain more control over their lives by changing behaviors that don’t work well to ones that do.

How to Get Help

If you are looking for help, either for yourself or someone else, you may be tempted to call someone who advertises in a local publication or who comes up from a search of the Internet. You may, or may not, find a competent therapist in this manner. It is wise to check on the credentials of a psychotherapist. It is expected that competent therapists hold advanced academic degrees. They should be listed as members of professional organizations, such as the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies or the American Psychological Association. Of course, they should be licensed to practice in your state. You can find competent specialists who are affiliated with local universities or mental health facilities or who are listed on the websites of professional organizations. You may, of course, visit our website (www.abct.org) and click on “Find a CBT Therapist”

The Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) is an interdisciplinary organization committed to the advancement of a scientific approach to the understanding and amelioration of problems of the human condition. These aims are achieved through the investigation and application of behavioral, cognitive, and other evidence-based principles to assessment, prevention, and treatment.