The Governor has appointed Leah Crouch, PsyD, to serve on the Louisiana State Board of Examiners of Psychologists (LSBEP) according to a Boards & Commission announcement July 21. Dr. Crouch will begin serving the five-year appointment this month, according to sources.

Outgoing chair is Darla Burnett, PhD, MP, who ended her term in June. Currently serving are Drs. Phil Griffin, Koren Boggs, Jesse Lambert, and Amy Henke. Dr. Lambert is the only medical psychologist with Dr. Burnett completing her service.

In February 2017, Dr. Crouch captured 58 percent of the votes cast in the election and Dr. William Schmitz received 42 percent. The Louisiana Psychological Association submitted both Dr. Crouch and Dr. Schmitz to the Governor, with the association’s request that Governor Edwards appoint the top vote getter, according to sources.

Dr. Crouch is owner of River Bends Psychology, a Private Practice located in New Orleans, where she provides psychological services to adult population. She received her PsyD from the University of Denver in 2006 in Clinical Psychology.

She is also with Tulane University, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, where she is a Clinical Assistant Professor and previously an Assistant Professor, and providing services on an adult, acute, inpatient psychiatric unit for those with chronic and severe behavioral illness.

Dr. Crouch has previously worked for the Department of Defense, Department of the Navy, at the Naval Consolidated Brig Chesapeake, providing services at a Joint Regional Correctional Facility, where she helped restore and prepare prisoners for return to duty or re-enter civilian society. She also worked as a psychologist at the Naval Hospital in Beaufort, South Carolina from 2010 to 2012.

In 2009 and 2010 Dr. Crouch provided services in a juvenile correctional center for Louisiana State University, Health Science Center –New Orleans, School of Public Health Juvenile Justice Program.

Dr. William Schmitz, Jr., is a clinical psychologist with the Department of Veteran Affairs and resides in Baton Rouge. He earned his PsyD from Baylor University in 2006.

Dr. Schmitz, previously served as the President of the American Association of Suicidology, and clinical psychologist, and presented in 2015 as the plenary session speaker at conference of the Louisiana Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers.