(l-r) The Gevirtz School's Miriam Thompson presenting Heidi Zetzer with her Jean Spruill Achievement Award from APTC
The Association of Psychology Training Clinics (APTC) has awarded Dr. Heidi A. Zetzer of UC Santa Barbara’s Gevirtz School with the Jean Spruill Achievement Award at APTC's 2023 conference in Albuquerque, NM. The award honors individuals who demonstrate longstanding, active involvement in APTC, commitment to excellence in training, and dedication to innovative and best practices in doctoral training clinics. Dr. Zetzer was presented with a Jean Spruill Achievement Award by UCSB’s own Dr. Miriam Thompson, who directs the school’s Mind & Behavior Assessment Clinic and is also a member of APTC.
Zetzer is a Teaching Professor in the Department of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology and the Director of the Carol Ackerman Positive Psychology Clinic. She served as President Elect, President, and Past President of APTC from 2016 through 2022. To quote from the letter of nomination written by a colleague, “Dr. Zetzer is noteworthy for her kind, wise, supportive, calm, and brilliant leadership during an enormously challenging period for psychology training clinics, specifically navigating the COVID-19 pandemic, which brought about unprecedented, massive change and re-organization. Dr. Zetzer was a beacon in that crisis that helped lead clinics to higher ground and a resilient response to the academies and communities we all serve. When so many of us needed her the most, she never complained, panicked, or failed to respond to any questions or needs from our extensive membership.
“Dr. Zetzer’s long standing efforts go far beyond responding, in a caring, compassionate, and wise fashion to our emails. Another amazing contribution has been her helping to establish and co-editing our association’s APTC Bulletin: Practicum Education & Training since 2018 and continuing to serve as co-editor through five fantastic issues as well as contributing to previous issues of the APTC Newsletter. These efforts have created numerous opportunities for a thoughtful, scholarly forum for many more members to contribute and learn, while leaving an essential historical document of our association. For each of these issues, she invited co-editors who she often helped to mentor. This approach is typical, as Dr. Zetzer seeks to make outstanding, high quality contributions, while mentoring the next generation of professionals. She is always thoughtful, creative, and magnanimous in all her official and unofficial professional communications. She communicates her care and respect for all of us in everything she does.”
The Association of Psychology Training Clinics is a national organization for directors of over 200 clinics, including clinics in the U.S., Canada, and Guatemala. Its members are directors of clinics that are typically associated with pre-doctoral graduate training programs in professional psychology clinical, community, counseling, clinical child, and school psychology at regionally accredited universities. The organization’s mission is to support and represent the interests of its member directors and their clinics.