Q: What is your experience of the EuroPsy in your country?

A:   When OPP – the Portuguese Association – was created, the Law that regulates the profession was developed within the EuroPsy Standards. Thus, the Committee I presided was comprised of 9 members, analyzed and assessed over 19 thousand applications, issued decisions on them over the course approximately 900 hours’ work and accepted all those who conformed with these standards. In Portugal, we have a large experience with EuroPsy since the 2008 law and I actively participated in its implementation in Portugal. Later, as the President of NAC, I felt I took part in a broader process at the European level and had the opportunity to debate the issues of the standards and the identity of Psychologists with European NAC colleagues which was particularly enriching. 

Q: What attracted you to joining the EAC?

A:  From the first moment, over a decade ago, I admired the work of the psychologists who conceived the idea of the EuroPsy, maybe because my country did not have a regulated profession at the time and I had struggled all my professional life to show how important Psychologists are to society and constantly thrived to show people what they do.
EAC was to me the most important piece of EuroPSy where the decisions on the competencies and the standards of quality were conceived and debated. Contributing to that aim was a true challenge, moreover in times of changes in society that defy our profession and the actions of psychologists that have grown far beyond imagined and have triggered the emergence of new areas of Psychology. 

Q: What hopes do you have for the future of EuroPsy in Europe?

A:  I hope that the number of certificates issued will rise exponentially in the next year. I also hope that 140 years after the birth of Psychology, this science has a maturity that allows its practitioners and theorists to explore its full potential. At the same time, I also hope that the growing awareness of the importance of psychologists in the promotion of everyone’s autonomy and well being will broaden the debate the new competencies of Psychology and psychologists in an ever-changing society. 

Dr. Sara Bahia

    University of Lisbon

Sara Bahia is a specialist in Clinical and Health Psychology and in Educational Psychology, with three Advanced Specialities: Psychotherapy, Vocational and Career Development Psychology and Special Educational Needs. Sara teaches at the Faculty of Psychology, University of Lisbon, as well as at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Lisbon and the Lisbon Theatre and Film School and School of Dance of the Polytechnic Institute of Lisbon. 

Her main research areas are creativity, inclusion and teaching. She is also a Supervisor of Professional Psychology trainees of the OPP (Order of Portuguese Psychologists) and an instructor for the internship trainee courses of Professional Situation of Psychology in Portugal and Ethics and Deonto logy. She was a Member of Accreditation Committee of the Faculty of Psychology of the University of Lisbon for two decades and presided the Portuguese National Awarding Committee (NAC) and the Technical Committee for the Admission of Members (CTA), from 2009 until its extinction in 2016. 

She has edited several teaching materials on the identity and professional development of psychologists as well as creativity and inclusion and has over 300 publications, mostly in Portuguese.