Prevention Coordinators are the linking agents providing technical assistance between universities and communities in the PROSPER model to support the implementation and sustainability of youth and family programs that have reduced substance abuse in prior research. This study examines the outcomes and trajectory of the frequency of contact of technical assistance (i.e. dosage) with community collaborative prevention coalitions across the three stages of coalition development. After communities were randomized, members of PROSPER coalitions (n=12) provided information about the quality of their operations at five time points across four and one-half years; prevention coordinators reported on the frequency of contact with their community coalitions at 14 intervals across the same period of time. This study only utilizes the intervention communities. Results from correlational models show that levels of dosage relate to the quality of internal coalition processes over time, but that the direction of the relationship changes over time: high frequency of contact early on relates to lower coalition-rated functioning initially. In contrast, early frequency of contact relates to higher levels of coalition functioning at later time points. Furthermore, longitudinal mixed models show that levels of dosage were consistent over time. These results provide empirical support of the importance of a proactive technical assistance model and add further evidence that important distinctions exist among different coalition developmental phases.

The transition to academic leadership entails learning to utilize an enormous new collection of skills. Executive leadership coaching is a personalized training approach that is being increasingly used to accelerate the onboarding of effective leaders. Vanderbilt University Medical Center has invested in a robust coaching strategy that is offered broadly to institutional leaders. This case study details the early transformational learning of leadership skills by one new institutional leader in the first two years in an academic leadership role, telling the first-person account of the experience of being coached while independently leading a division of hematology and oncology at a highly ranked medical center. Over two years' time, assessed in 6-month intervals, the academician transitions into the role, and using scenarios from regular practice in this position, learns to incorporate core leadership principles into the daily activities of running a division. The transition to academic leadership involves a transformation; a conversion that can be accelerated, guided, and applied with a greater deal of sophistication through intentional coaching, and the application of principles of behavioral science and psychology. Much like the process of coaching a high performing athlete, an elite academician can be trained in skills that enhance their game and succeed in creating a winning team. The academic medical center (AMC) is an interesting social organization, made up of highly accomplished and well-educated people, brought together around a variety of missions and motivations: education, patient service, research, community building, financial margins, and citizenship to name a few. Moreover, the leadership of AMCs almost entirely comes from within this community, drawing people with talents in science, teaching, clinical research, and service into roles that industries reserve usually for MBAs, lawyers, and other professionals who undergo rigorous guided training. Fortunately, academics are well-equipped with skills in lifelong learning, focused curiosity, and tend to be ambitious to a fault. Thus, there is a steady pipeline of budding leaders in AMC's eager to tackle new challenges that will further their missions. Like major industries in the public and private sectors, the demands of leadership are significant. How to navigate the transitions from physician, teacher, or scientist to academic leader is not covered easily in any text. Vanderbilt University Medical Center has adopted a model of Leadership Coaching, akin to the Trusted Leadership Advisor model (Wasylyshyn, 2017). This case study details the experience of one new leader (first author), freshly plucked from the medical science proving ground. Accounts and description of the experiences and intentions of the leadership coach, Dick Kilburg, provide insight into the processes applied in facilitating this transition. Finally, observations of the transition from the vantage point of the primary supervisor (Department Chair, Nancy Brown) provide a further description of the coaching effect on the early development of an AMC leader. The experience of the client, Kimryn Rathmell (Kim), is told in first person narrative format-fitting for the intense and personal experience that accompanies the transition to a leadership role.

The ways that people set, pursue, and eventually succeed or fail in accomplishing their goals are central issues for consulting psychology. Goals and behavior change have long been the subject of empirical investigation in psychology, and have been adopted with enthusiasm by the cognitive and social neurosciences in the last few decades. Though relatively new, neuroscientific discoveries have substantially furthered the scientific understanding of goals and behavior change. This article reviews the emerging brain science on goals and behavior change, with particular emphasis on its relevance to consulting psychology. I begin by articulating a framework that parses behavior change into two dimensions, one motivational (the ) and the other cognitive (the ). A notable feature of complex behaviors is that they typically require both. Accordingly, I review neuroscience studies on cognitive factors, such as executive function, and motivational factors, such as reward learning and self-relevance, that contribute to goal attainment. Each section concludes with a summary of the practical lessons learned from neuroscience that are relevant to consulting psychology.