Summer has wrapped up which means our yearly conference is just around the corner. Our conference chairs, Drs. Robin Wilson and Carmen Zabarauckas, have done a fantastic job at developing an enriching program that will appeal to clinicians and researchers alike.

You will recall that elections took place earlier this summer for President, Public Policy Representative, and Research Representative to the ATSA Board of Directors. A call for interest for the Treasurer position, which is a Board appointed position, was also made at that time. A reminder that the President is elected for a 4-year term: one year as President-Elect, two years as President, and one year as Past President, while the regular Board members’ positions are 3-year terms, renewable once. I am pleased to announce your newly elected members: Our current board member and Treasurer Shan Jumper has been acclaimed as the new President-Elect; Katie Gotch, who had been temporarily filling the position of representative of Public Policy, has been voted into the position; and Jeff Sandler was voted to become the new Research Representative on the Board. Finally, the newly Board appointed Treasurer is Ainslie Heasman. Their terms will start officially in January 2019, but we are already putting them to work by inviting the new members to attend our Board meeting in Vancouver. You will also have the opportunity to meet these new Board members during the ATSA members’ lunch during the conference in October.

On the international front, a special issue on international approaches to the treatment and management of sexual offenders was recently published in the IATSO journal (IATSO is our sister organization based mostly in Europe). Coordinated by our international representative on the Board, Kieran McCartan, the special edition has 12 papers drawn from the international round table that took place at the 2017 ATSA conference. These papers detail the perspective from Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, Sweden, UK, and USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Israel, Belgium) from representatives of ANZATSA, ATSA, ATSA-NL, CoNTRAS-TI, IATSO, and NOTA. Each paper reviews their respective countries’ approaches to the assessment, treatment, and management of sexual offenders. I would strongly encourage you to review these papers as to gain a better understanding of, as well as learn from, the various perspectives offered in this special issue. Add link… Kieran is checking if it is available from Martin at IATSO.

Still on the international front, I am happy to report that in July, a formal affiliation agreement was signed between ATSA and the Italian organization CoNTRAS-TI (National Coordination for the Treatment and Research of Sexual Aggression - The Italian Contribution ([English translation of Coordinamento Nazionale per il Trattamento dell’Aggressione Sessuale-Testimonianze Italiane]). This agreement provides direct linkages between our two associations to facilitate the sharing of information on policies and best practices when working with individuals who have sexually offended. A representative from CoNTRAS-TI has been invited, as is current practice with all of ATSA’s sister organizations, to attend the meeting of the ATSA Board of Directors that takes place the day preceding the ATSA conference. 

Work on the International Treatment Study is progressing. The next step is to establish the parameters of the treatment program that will be tested. To that end, the international experts panel, comprised of treatment providers and researchers, is reviewing the literature to determine the core elements that constitute current best practices in the treatment of individuals who have engaged in sexual offending behavior. This is a complex endeavor to ensure our treatment program reflects best international practices. We are very lucky that so many individuals have agreed to provide their expertise to this important work. We will share the results as soon as they become available.

Until then, I hope that you will be able to join us at our yearly conference to discover the latest research findings, learn about new clinical approaches, and renew or establish new relationships with colleagues and friends in Vancouver!

Michael Miner