PsyCPD: PsySSA’s In-House CPD Platform

PsyCPD: PsySSA’s In-House CPD Platform

PsyCPD: Earn Your CPD Points Today!

In line with the requirements of the Continuing Professional Development Guidelines for the Health Professions, PsySSA offers members access to an online PsySSA CPD platform. Members can obtain CPD points through the SAJP and AJOPA questionnaires available on this platform. PsySSA CPD aims to assist Professionals manage points and ensure HPCSA compliance. At no additional cost, members are able to read through articles, answer associated questions, attain CPD Points and store Continuous Education Units (CEU) in the CPD vaults. The opportunity to obtain CPD points is also made available at PsySSA’s annual Congress and through our CPD Workshop Series 2024.

PsyCPD is your gateway to continuing professional development, featuring a CPD Accredited Articles Library. Here, you’ll find a selection of articles each paired with a questionnaire, providing an opportunity to earn CPD points. With up to 18 Clinical CPD points currently available, PsyCPD offers a valuable resource for advancing your expertise and fulfilling your professional development requirements.

 

HPCSA CPD Regulatory Update
  • Members are reminded that CPD Certificates are no longer issued by service providers.
  • CPD points allocations to HPCSA for activities completed on the PsyCPD platform are submitted bi-monthly.
  • To verify uploaded CPD points, enquiries must be directed to the HPCSA. For a step-by-step user manual for practitioners to send a request for CPD updates, click the button below:
Congratulations Prof Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela

Congratulations Prof Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela

Congratulations Prof Pumla Gobod-Madikizela!

2024 Templeton Prize Laureate

 

PsySSA extends its heartfelt congratulations to Prof Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela on her remarkable achievement of becoming the third South African, following Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Professor Emeritus George Ellis, to be awarded the esteemed Templeton Prize. This prestigious accolade honours individuals who have leveraged science to address issues fundamental to humanity. Professor Gobodo-Madikizela’s pioneering work on the reparative quest, aimed at disrupting intergenerational cycles of violence to foster shared futures, is profoundly relevant in the world today. Her scholarship serves as a poignant reminder of the profound impact we can have on society, both as psychologists and as human beings, through our recognition and affirmation of the humanity of others.
As we celebrate this extraordinary milestone, we are inspired to continue our collective efforts in advancing psychological science and practice to contribute meaningfully to the betterment of humanity.
HPSIG Podcast: What exactly is Health Psychology, and why does it matter in South Africa?

HPSIG Podcast: What exactly is Health Psychology, and why does it matter in South Africa?

EPISODE 24

HPSIG Podcasts

 

I

HPSIG Podcast: What exactly is Health Psychology, and why does it matter in South Africa?

by Dr. Bronwyne Coetzee

In this episode, we speak to Dr Bronwyne Coetzee, a psychology researcher and senior lecturer at Stellenbosch University, who provides a clear overview of health psychology. In this podcast, Dr Coetzee argues for its critical importance within a context of rising non-communicable diseases, syndemics, and substantial structural barriers to health. In addition, she explains the field’s current status as a formally unrecognised sub-discipline within the country, and discusses the next steps required to establish it as a professional registration and subject of university programs.
Workshop 4: Rescheduled to 28 May 2024

Workshop 4: Rescheduled to 28 May 2024

Integrating Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) in the treatment of OCD

About this workshop:

DATE RESCHEDULED TO 28 MAY 2024

Time: 18:00 – 20:00

The aim of this three-part workshop series is to introduce practitioners to ACT, an evidence-based treatment, which is firmly rooted in Relational Frame Theory (RFT).

Topics to be covered over the three-part series:

  • What exactly are ACT, ERP and RFT.
  • How to effectively diagnose OCD keeping comorbidity in mind.
  • The essentials and treatment goals of ACT for OCD.
  • Making decisions on whether to involve the client’s social support network in the treatment process.
  • Lessons learned in constructing exposure exercises, both in and out of the session.
  • Lessons learned in treating children with OCD.
  • Lessons learned in dealing with experiential avoidance and defense mechanisms.

To bring the work alive, I will make use of illustrative case studies (the successes and the not so successful experiences), experiential exercises, metaphors, and offer workshop attendees opportunities to practice some of the tools used in the treatment of OCD.

There are few practitioners who treat OCD, particularly child clients, and few who use evidence-based methods. We are in desperate need to get more practitioners on board in the effective treatment of OCD.

To convey how ACT can be used as an effective treatment for OCD in clinical practice integrating Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) by means of focusing on a little bit of theory, doing experiential exercises, learning about the importance of metaphors and how to use them, tracking patient progress,  lessons learned – the successful and not so successful! To bring the theory and the work alive I will make use of case studies, practical therapeutic  ‘tools’, and my clinical experience.

Meet our Presenter!

Bernice du Plessis: Working in the private sector as an evidence-based therapist for well over a decade, Bernice’s treatment approach is informed by both Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Mindfulness-CBT.  Bernice had the privilege of completing her clinical training at SUN which offered an intensive CBT program. Owing to the dearth of continued training in this field Bernice joined and became a board member of the South African Chapter for the Association of Contextual and Behavioral Science (ACBS SA). The ACBS has been instrumental in providing practitioners with the opportunity to be taught ACT by top accredited international trainers including Dr. Robyn Walser, Prof. Tamar Pincus, Prof. Melanie Noel and Dr. Russel Harris to name a few!

Bernice has had the opportunity to present at various local and international conferences and workshops with the focus on using ACT in clinical practice. She has been published in the Journal of Peace and Conflict and the Journal of Child and Abuse and Neglect. Even though she holds a second masters in psychological research from UCT, she much prefers her clinical work.

Bernice’s expertise lies specifically in the treatment of OCD, anxiety related disorders, children who have experienced trauma, tic disorders, trichotillomania, Dermatillomania, ADHD, Autism and working with clients who live with chronic health conditions and persistent pain. She works with children and adults in both English and Afrikaans.

The values which inform her work are adventure, acceptance, authenticity, challenge, curiosity, collaboration, flexibility, humour, humility, independence, and innovation. Bernice is known for forward-thinking and her non-conformist approach to life and work, she is a creative, out-of-the-box thinker with an unconventional approach to both her work and life.

 

Workshop 2: GBV and Marginalised Groups: What are their lived experiences?

Workshop 2: GBV and Marginalised Groups: What are their lived experiences?

About this workshop:

As South Africa gears up for its seventh democratic general elections, we pause to reflect on changes on the ground. Several initiatives at national and provincial levels have been implemented, that seek to address the persistent reality of violence. Yet, violence continues to define the society that we create and live in.
This workshop focuses on the lived experiences of violence, specifically gender-based violence and sexual violence among gender and sexually non-conforming persons. We take a personal, intimate look at the experiences of violence among marginalised persons. We reflect critically at the dynamics at play and ask what has changed and what needs to change. What role can/should psychologists play as practitioners and activists in contributing towards a violent-free society?

What to expect:

  • A survivors account of GBV by Sibongile Mdibi
  • Understand the intersection of (S)GBV, gender and sexualities with a focus on masculinities by Prof Thabo Msibi
  • Gain insights into policy implementation and GBV programmes with Thenjiwe Mswsane
  • Shared experience by Dr Angeline Stephens on working with SGBV survivors
  • Participate in an interactive session where your thoughts and experiences contribute to the discussion.

 

Meet our Presenters!

Angeline Stephens, PhD (she/her) is a psychologist working in student mental health at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. She is also an executive member of the Sexuality and Gender division of the Psychological Society of South Africa (PsySSA). Her work is informed by feminist, critical and decolonial approaches to psychological praxis that recognise the interconnectedness between persons and contexts. She is particularly interested in the intersections of gender, sexuality, violence, citizenship, and work with marginalised people. Her current work focuses on trauma and healing from sexual and gender-based violence.

Thabo Msibi is the Deputy Vice Chancellor for Teaching and Learning and a professor of Curriculum Studies in the School of Education at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.   He completed his Master of Education degree at Teachers College: Columbia University and obtained his PhD in Education from the University of Cambridge. He has published research in South African and international journals and books and is author of the book Hidden sexualities of South African Teachers: Black male educators and same-sex desire.  He has also co-edited a book entitled Gender, Sexuality and Violence in South African Educational Spaces, with Deevia Bhana and Shakila Singh.  He also is an associate editor in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Gender and Sexuality in Education.  Prof Msibi is a recipient of a Distinguished Teacher’s Award from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and is an NRF P-rated scholar.  He is also the recipient of the Early Careers Distinguished Alumni Award, awarded by Teachers College: Columbia University and the Chen Yidan Visiting Global Fellow, awarded by Harvard University.  Prof Msibi also received the inaugural Human Sciences Research Council Young Scholars Medal for the Social Sciences and Humanities in 2019.  In 2022, Prof Msibi was appointed by the Basic Education Minister to serve on the sixth Umalusi Council.  At the University of KwaZulu-Natal, he also leads the University Staff Doctoral Programme offered via the United States-South Africa Higher Education Network.

Sibongile Mdibi, known as Sbo MaDlamiini, is a mother of three girls and three grandchildren. She is a survivor of GBV. She is the author of the book ‘No one marries to divorce’ and was one of 16 women who contributed to a book of poems, This is how we mend our bones,  which was facilitated by Masoodah Mohamed. Despite the hardships that she has endured, Sbo manage to study and obtained a BA degree in Health Science and Social Services, specialising counselling. Sbo is very passionate about working with families who experience GBV, especially those living in deep rural areas. She offers counselling support and seeks to empower and encourage families to speak out against GBV.

Thenjiwe Mswane is SGBV Strategic Coordinator at the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal. Before taking up this role, Thenjiwe worked as the Education Campaigns Officer at Wits University’s Gender Equity Office (GEO). Thenjiwe has also worked for the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR), Livity Africa, Kwa-Zulu Natal Research Institute for TB and HIV (K-RITH), and the Centre for Aids Research In South Africa (CAPRISA). Thenjiwe is the author of the Sunday Times Literary Awards shortlisted novel All Gomorrahs Are the Same (Blackbird Books, 2021) and has written for numerous publications including HOLAafrica! the GALA Queer Archives Queer Realness.