Author Archives: Nabil El-Ghoroury

About Nabil El-Ghoroury

Director of APAGS. Licensed psychologist in Ohio. Clinical and research interests include autism spectrum disorders, social networking, doctoral training in psychology, and working with Latino children and families.

My Path to Working at an Association

If you had told me 20 years ago that I would one day work at the American Psychological Association, I would have laughed and said, “No way!” I was committed to one day working in a hospital as a pediatric psychologist. But after 8 years as Associate Executive Director of APAGS, I can say that this is a job that I have relished. Who knew?

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Developing the APAGS Strategic Plan with the APAGS Committee, Washington, DC, 2012.

How did I get to APA as a staff member? Primarily, it was because I got involved. I served 4 years on the APAGS Committee as Member at Large and Chair of the Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Concerns. I also was the student representative on the Ethics Code Task Force, revising the APA Ethics Code. After 4 years as a student leader, I took some time off from APA while I started my dream job in a department of pediatrics at a county hospital. I returned to APA leadership a few years later as a founding member of the Committee on Early Career Psychologists, followed by a term on the Board of Professional Affairs. It was halfway through my term on BPA that the AED position opened up at APAGS. My leadership experience at APA and other organizations (primarily Ohio Psychological Association and the Society of Pediatric Psychology) opened up the doors.

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Possible Impact of Federal Hiring Freeze on the Internship Match

Dear fellow students,

As many of you already know, President Trump issued an executive order on January 23rd toInternships in Psychology Workbook freeze the hiring of Federal civilian employees across the executive branch with the exception of military personnel. The President’s memorandum can be found here. At present, this freeze includes all hiring at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BoP), and the Indian Health Service (IHS). Taken together, these three Federal departments are host to more than 700 APA-accredited internship slots, the vast majority of which are accredited through the VA.

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Thoughts on the EPPP Step 2

By Christine Jehu, Ph.D., APAGS Chair

You may have heard that the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards (ASPPB) is currently developing a second examination (EPPP Step 2) for psychology licensure to assess clinical competency. This exam would follow the Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology (EPPP). Continue reading →

What’s Your House in Psychology Game of Thrones?

The fifth season of Game of Thrones recently ended, and I’m going through withdrawal. Then I started thinking, what if psychology were like Game of Thrones? For those of you who don’t know the show, here’s a quick summary. Set in a medieval, magical world, there is a land called Westeros where there are 7 Great Houses that were principalities now united into one kingdom. These houses have regional power over smaller (less powerful) houses in their area. The king of this world sits on the Iron Throne (a throne made of swords). In the book series and the show, the death of one king has led to an ongoing civil war with different leaders fighting to succeed him. Each House is run by a family (which gives the house its name) and has a sigil, a flag which includes a symbol and a saying. My favorite house is House Stark, which has a direwolf as its symbol and its saying is “Winter is coming”.

I started thinking what would Game of Thrones set in a psychology world look like? I started thinking of which psychologists might lead powerful houses and what might their slogan be. Here’s what I ended up with:

House Freud 2House SkinnerHouse AinsworthHouse Bandura SigilHouse Rogers SigilHouse Sue SigilJoinTheRealm_sigil

 What house would you be in? If your preferred house is not listed, take a moment to create a sigil and think of a funny slogan for your house. You can make a sigil at this link and post it in the comments! 

5 Tips from Finding Nemo for Completing Your Dissertation

FINDING NEMO 3DThis past weekend, as I stumbled upon “Finding Nemo” on cable (ok, I’ll confess, I wanted to watch it again), I reflected on how Marlin’s journey could be similar to the dissertation process. In the movie, Marlin is a clownfish who sees his son Nemo captured from the Great Barrier Reef by a diver. He embarks on a long journey to Sydney to rescue his son. Here are my lessons learned from Finding Nemo that I believe can apply to the dissertation process (seriously).

1)      Be prepared for a long journey. Marlin swims hundreds of miles in search of his son. Be ready for all the work that can go into completing the dissertation, which also takes lots of time. It’s helpful to know that you’re on a long journey, and give yourself plenty of time to do all the assigned tasks.

2)      Friends can help you along the way. Marlin gets help from numerous friends: Dory reads the address on the diver’s mask; Crush the sea turtle gives Marlin directions to Sydney via the East Australian Current; Nigel the brown pelican rescues Marlin and Dory and takes him to Nemo. Your friends and peers in graduate school can help you as you finish the dissertation. They can encourage you, help you solve problems that you encounter, and then celebrate with you at the end.

Fish Sydney Opera House3)      Listen to the advice you’re given. A school of fish advise Dory to avoid jellyfish. Marlin didn’t listen and ended up getting stung. On your journey, you may get advice from your colleagues and professors. It’s helpful to listen to what they say, particularly when it’s about making your path easier. While you might want to add some more measures to your dissertation, if someone is suggesting that you streamline your study to make it easier to finish and analyze, that is good advice to listen to!

The-sharks-in-Finding-Nemo4)      Watch out for the sharks. Marlin encounters 3 sharks, one of whom eventually tries to eat Marlin and Dory. You may encounter different sharks along your dissertation journey. For example, a professor who is really difficult to work with could be a shark if you pick him to serve on your committee. If you do end up with a shark on your committee, don’t bleed like Dory! Do your homework, prepare for what kind of questions he might ask, and don’t give him any reason to eat you.

5)      Just keep swimming. Of course, the final, and most important lesson, from Finding Nemo is just keep swimming. When you find yourself overwhelmed with the amount of work you have in front of you, keep slowly chugging away. Work for small amounts of time, even just 10 minutes a day, to keep your momentum. If you keep swimming, you might be able to build some momentum and work for longer bits of time. However, if you stop swimming, it might be harder to restart. Swimming every day is the best path to finishing the dissertation!

Just Keep SwimmingThe dissertation is a long journey, so best of luck while you dissertate, and when all else fails, stay calm and just swim on!