Paul LePhuoc, PhD, CGP

Paul LePhuoc, PhD, CGP, a recipient of the Anne Alonso Scholarship for the 2011 Annual Meeting, has gone from being a scholarship recipient to being a part of leadership serving as a Director of the International Board for Certification of Group Psychotherapists and a contributor to the Group Foundation. Here he shares his inspiration and his journey in AGPA.

“I applied for my first AGPA scholarship in 2010, while I was a predoctoral psychology intern at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center in Houston, Texas. Much of my clinical work that year involved group psychotherapy, but there was little to no mention of group therapy in the internship training curriculum. I’m sure this is a widespread occurrence in clinical training across mental health disciplines.

“I was awarded the Anne Alonso Scholarship, enabling me to attend the 2011 Annual Meeting in New York City, and connecting me to a new whole world of friends, colleagues, teachers, and scholars of group psychotherapy. I quickly learned that the caliber of group training was unrivaled, but moreover, the quality of connections with like-minded professional peers was what immediately attracted me to claim AGPA as my professional home.

“I opened my private practice in 2012 immediately after the completion of my post-doctoral fellowship. Since then, I have started and continue to run two thriving weekly psychotherapy groups. Being a group therapist is central to my professional identity, and I’m thrilled to contribute each year to the Group Foundation, paying it forward so that other trainees and new professionals can experience the transformational power of AGPA.”

Paul’s story is a wonderful example of the positive impact of our scholarship program. It opens doors for students and new professionals to attend the AGPA Annual Meeting, become members of our community, and, indeed, shapes their professional lives and how they then give back to our organization. Paul’s is just one story of many.