In recognition of outstanding professional competence and leadership in the field of group psychotherapy, AGPA has awarded Distinguished Fellowship to Elizabeth Knight, MSW, CGP, DFAGPA
(The original source of this article is the AGPA Group Circle Newsletter, Winter 2012 Issue)
Elizabeth Knight, MSW, CGP, DFAGPA, has been a clinical member of AGPA since 1978 and a Fellow since 1988. She served AGPA in a variety of roles, including Member-at-Large, Chair-Elect, and Chair of the Affiliate Societies Assembly; Chair, Public Affairs Committee; Member and Chair, Nominating Committee; Newsletter Editor; Institute Committee Member; Conference Committee Member; Board of Directors; President; and Board Member, Group Psychotherapy Foundation.
One of Ms. Knight’s supporters for Distinguished Fellowship wrote: “Beth guided the Tri-Organizational Board through a complicated strategic planning process with a focus on prioritizing our goals to help move the mission forward. She advanced the Education and Learning and Membership goals; this was a monumental task because of the declining membership and the strong, varied feelings about the direction AGPA should take. It should be noted that she took on the presidency after a family crisis in which her daughter-in-law was killed in an automobile accident.”
Ms. Knight was deeply involved in the Houston Group Psychotherapy Society (HGPS) and the Southwest Group Psychotherapy Society (SWGPS). She served in various positions, as HGPS Conference Chair, Newsletter Editor, Secretary, President and Board Member. Over the last 10 years, she has been a consultant for the HGPS Annual Institute. She served on the SWGPS Board of Directors. She was a Consulting Member, Secretary, and Vice President of the A.K. Rice Institute, Texas Center, and was a representative to the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health.
Ms. Knight is Clinical Assistant Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Texas Health and Science Center, Houston, and co-leads training groups for psychiatric residents at both institutions. She has encouraged and mentored many women to aspire to leadership roles, both in HGPS and in AGPA. She is the Co-Founder of the Athena Group Institute in Houston, a forum for women to explore professional issues, encourage and understand female mentoring, and celebrate the challenges they have faced and overcome.
Ms. Knight is the author of two book chapters, one on issues in long-term group psychotherapy for women, the other a description of the group psychotherapy program at the Menninger Department of Psychiatry at the Baylor College of Medicine.