Mission and Charter

The mission of the IPPA Positive Clinical Psychology Division is to support and advance professional, ethical, effective, evidence-based, and culturally responsive practice of positive psychology principles in clinical settings.

The Division objectives specifically include:

1. To apply positive psychology findings in clinical settings, in assessing, treating, predicting, and preventing psychological problems and enhancing human wellbeing.
2. To provide a platform for clinicians, researchers, academics, and students to share knowledge, collaborate and enable healthy dialogue, in a way that builds a richer, nuanced and relevant understanding of incorporating principles of positive psychology in clinical practice.
3. To create a hub with a rich and dynamic repository of resources which include information about empirically-supported positive clinical interventions and assessment strategies, case studies, relevant research and concrete resources such as digital applications, websites, books, and scientific and popular articles.
4. To establish research and best practice guidelines, and outline training requirements including course work, research education, ethics training, externships, supervised practicum training, supervised internships and continuing educational recommendations to ensure requisite standards, consistent with most accreditation bodies, are met in delivering positive clinical services.
5. To plan and organize periodical online and in-person opportunities to disseminate knowledge regarding best clinical practices, which may include conferences, webinars, lectures, and newsletters.
6. To establish relationships with other clinical organizations and other disciplines to foster an exchange of knowledge and explore opportunities for collaboration.

The Positive Clinical Psychology Division intends to be an inclusive entity which fosters and maintains a healthy dialogue between people and organizations who come together to explore new clinical possibilities, solve clinical challenges in creative ways, learn from each other, and advance clinical psychology as a balanced discipline which explores and amplifies the best resources of clients to meet some of their toughest psychological challenges; and in doing so, fosters growth, resilience, and wellbeing.

To learn more about the Division’s focus, charter, and mission, please click here to download a copy of the IPPA Positive Clinical Psychology Division’s Launching Charter.