Commentary for Pioneers in Pediatric Psychology: Thirty-Seven Years of Research, Training, and Clinical Practice in Pediatric Psychology

Abstract

I have spent a substantial portion of my career working in a hospital with pediatric inpatients and outpatients and, except for a recent 5-year interval mostly devoted to research, have generally spent half of my working time involved in clinical care. Consistent with that background, the theme I hope to address in this essay primarily involves what it was like to develop a clinical service early in the history of the field of pediatric psychology and how that service has evolved to the present day. To provide some context for understanding how far we have come in training pediatric psychologists, I will also discuss what the climate was like for trainees and early career clinicians in the 1970s. Finally, I will comment on the research climate then and how it has evolved, as well as how clinical work and research can inform one another over the course of a career. The Climate Surrounding Clinical Psychology and Clinical Training, Then and Now