Articles, Leading Stories
New divisions proposed for APA
By Phyllis Hanlon
The American Psychological Association (APA) currently has 54 divisions that cover a wide spectrum of psychological areas. That may change, however, if the Council of Representatives for APA approves four new recently proposed divisions. In an email, Sarah Jordan, director, Division Service Office, Governance Affairs for APA, indicates that the Council last approved a new division, Trauma Psychology, in 2006. APA has received questions on new areas on occasion, but no concerted efforts have been made until recently. Mary Gresham, Ph.D., who has a private practice in Atlanta, Ga., filed a letter of intent with several colleagues to form a [More]
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Psychologist is diversity specialist, novelist
By Catherine Robertson Souter
They say that everyone has a novel in them and, for Deborah Plummer, Ph.D., getting that novel out onto paper started as escapism and turned into a well received novel about a woman very similar to herself…except that she sets out to solve a murder mystery and winds up targeted for death. Plummer is a nationally recognized diversity specialist, writer (as Deborah Plummer Bussey) of “Racing Across the Lines: Changing Race Relations through Friendships,” winner of a Mayflower Award for best publication in the category of Church and Society, and editor of the “Handbook of Diversity Management: Beyond Awareness to [More]
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Treatment resistance: a complex problem that requires multiple approaches
By Phyllis Hanlon
Individuals who suffer with mental illness have several treatment options from which to choose, including psychotherapy, behavioral therapy, short-term residential placement and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) or other pharmacological agents. In spite of this robust therapeutic menu, some patients remain significantly impaired, posing a challenge for effective treatment. Treatment resistance, present across a number of diagnoses and common in depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and personality disorders, involves multiple variables, according to Rick Barnett, Psy.D., LADC, MS clinical psychopharmacology and president of the Vermont Psychological Association (VPA). Those variables include who is defining treatment resistance, treatment approach, diagnosis, co morbid [More]
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Advice given to avoid professional legal pitfalls
By Jennifer E Chase
In a profession regulated by rules and boundaries established by governing bodies (and often, more personal ones practitioners impose on themselves), the legal issues that ensnare today’s psychologist far outnumber what faced their predecessors just 10 years ago. But according to experts in the field – folks who are used to doling out advice to those who dole out advice – pre-emptive thought about one’s actions can mean the difference between legal safety and a legal snafu. Milton L. Kerstein is a 25-year attorney and a managing partner at Kerstein, Coren and Lichtenstein, LLP, in Wellesley, Mass., where he counsels [More]
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Creation of licensing board still an issue
By Catherine Robertson Souter
Across the country, the practice of applied behavior analysis (ABA) has exploded. According to Steve Woolf, Ph.D., BCBA-D, president of the Massachusetts Association for Applied Behavior Analysis, Massachusetts has the highest concentration of board-certified ABAs in the world. “The last official count was 732,” he says. “Although that number is on the increase and we will probably see more than 1,000 a year from now.” With the explosion of the field has come a drive to create a licensing board to regulate the practice of behavior analysis. From three bills introduced to the Mass. legislature last year, the issue has [More]
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Funding will help support sharing of health records
By Pamela Berard
Maine and Rhode Island were two of five states to receive $600,000 in federal funding to help support the electronic sharing of health records among behavioral health and general medical providers. The Center for Integrated Health Solutions, which is funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the Health Resources Services Administration, awarded the contracts. In Maine, the State of Maine and HealthInfoNet will provide 25 behavioral health care organizations and 200 individual providers with new ways to securely share medical records, including use of the health information exchange (HIE) – an electronic system where health care [More]
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Agency helps city increase school mental health services
By Jennifer E Chase
Boston schools are bolstering the psychological services they offer students by enlisting in private therapists – namely from Boston’s The Home for Little Wanderers – to counsel kids in elementary, middle, K-8 and high schools across the city and on school time. With The Home servicing 40 Boston Public School locations as well as parochial and charter schools across the city, the organization is helping children get the mental health services they need by bringing the treatment and intervention straight to them. “School mental health and outpatient providers working in schools has been around for about 20 years,” says Cara [More]
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Pending legislation seeks to track seclusion in schools
By Phyllis Hanlon
The recent uproar over the use of “scream rooms” at the Farm Hill Elementary School in Middletown, Conn. has sparked a conversation about the use of seclusion and restraint to manage behavioral problems in an academic setting. This situation has prompted the Connecticut legislature to file a bill (HB 5347) that would require the State Board of Education to submit an annual report on the frequency of physical restraint and seclusion episodes to the Select Committee on Children. While widespread anecdotal evidence exists, no hard data has been kept that confirms the practice of seclusion and restraint in the school [More]
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Plan emphasizes housing for long-term homeless adults
By Pamela Berard
Several Rhode Island agencies and advocates for the homeless drafted a plan that would emphasize long-term housing over temporary shelters. In 2010, 95 percent of long-term homeless adults in Rhode Island were in shelters, with five percent in housing. Under the plan – 98 percent would be in housing and two percent in shelters, by 2016. The Rhode Island Housing Resources Commission, Rhode Island Interagency Council on Homelessness, and Rhode Island Housing worked with housing and homeless advocates to put together the $130 million plan, which seeks to eliminate both chronic homelessness and homelessness among veterans in five years; and [More]
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Self care at core of committee’s work
By Catherine Robertson Souter
Psychologist, heal thyself… A key component of the American Psychological Association’s code of ethics, self care is one of those widely accepted yet rarely enacted practices. Knowing how to find a balance can be a key aspect of creating a strong professional life. The Rhode Island Psychological Association (RIPA) recently created a colleague assistance committee, designed to give practitioners a resource for information on self-care, from information on practice issues and case consultation to help with finding that balance in life. Megan B. Spencer, Ph.D., chair of the committee, as well as a clinical neuropsychologist at the Providence Veteran’s Administration [More]
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