From APSA's Chair, Neil Hemstock

NEW INITIATIVE FROM APSA; PRACTITIONER BRIEFING PAPERS

APSA’s central aim is to try to find ways of supporting the work of practitioners in services to adolescents, and at a recent Committee meeting it was decided to extend our work in this area by funding a series of Briefing Papers for members, summarising relevant research on a range of topics of interest. Topics will be chosen to reflect issues of particular importance or where new research sheds light on an old problem. The briefings will draw on robust, peer reviewed research, but will also make inferences about what the evidence suggests for practice with adolescents. The series is being edited by our two affiliated Editors, Keith Wilshire (who edits Rapport) and Ann Hagell (who edits the Journal of Adolescence). Keith and Ann bring together both practitioner expertise and wide knowledge of the evidence base.

We have great pleasure in enclosing the first in the series, on Adolescence and Antisocial Behaviour. This is offered as something of a pilot, and we will be monitoring the reaction. The plan is to generate approximately three a year, and if members have ideas about topics for further issues, please do let us know. At the moment both depression and self-harm are high on the list.