Originally published: . Volume 2, No. 8. Source pages: 5.
As LPA’s new delegate to APA, Dr. Darlyne Nemeth attended the APA Council of Represent- atives on February 18-20 in Washington, D.C.
“It was an amazing experience,” Darlyne noted. “Being the Louisiana Council Rep is like being a member of the United States House of Representatives. The contents of the agenda for this meeting is 4 inches thick,” she said.
She participated in a variety of the Council activities, including deciding to reduce the dues of full members, adopting guidelines for a variety of issues, and establishing a new task force to create guidelines for psychologists’ use of telepsychology.
Darlyne noted that she was a little unprepared for the coalitions that existed. She explained, “What I didn't understand until I got there was that there were various coalitions, like special interests groups, that met before the council meeting officially began. Being new, I did not understand that I had to pay money to join these coalitions. Therefore, I did not bring a checkbook.” She said that each group requires a fee to join, and so she will bring these issues to the next LPA EC meeting for approval.
Dr. Nemeth expressed her wish for state associations to have more input, saying, “As the APA Council Representative from Louisiana, my elected duty is to represent LPA to the best of my ability. Many major divisions, such as Division 40, Clinical Neuropsychology, have several representatives supporting their agenda. It appears that the state and provincial associations do not have a lot of political influence on council and that is why they have a coalition. I would hope that, in the future, state and provincial associations will have more meaningful input.”
Dr. Darlyne Nemeth is a licensed psychologist, MP and is a specialist in neuro- psychology. She has been internationally recognized for her work with the hurricane Anniversary Wellness Workshops and was named LPA Distinguished Psychologist in 2010.
“I am grateful and humbled to be representing Louisiana in this major event,” she told the Times. And, “I am working hard to meet as many council reps as I can and to put forth a good image for Louisiana,” she said.
Dr. Darlyne Nemeth (R) at the APA Council meeting with APA President, Dr. Melba Vasquez. (Photo courtesy of Dr. Nemeth.)
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 2, No. 8. Source pages: 5.
At an educational meeting this week between LPA Executive Council members and Grassroots of Psychology, organized by Grassroots President Dr. Susan Dardard, participants discussed the position of LAMP regarding the omnibus board threat.
A member of the LPA executive committee, with connections to LAMP, suggested that LAMP might be willing to use their political influence to block the ominous bill if Grassroots members would agree to put their objections to Act 251 to rest. Most of those at the meeting indicated that while they would appreciate LAMP’s help, they could not agree to that arrangement.
It is unknown if LAMP will support or oppose the omnibus board bill.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
A career in public health is a natural choice, if not an immediately obvious one, for psychologists and psychology majors. When we think of public health, the disciplines of epidemiology and health policy and systems management may come to mind. However, public health also includes biostatistics, environmental health sciences, and behavioral and community health sciences.
Over the past two decades, each of these disciplines has contributed to improving the public’s health. There have been significant decreases in infant mortality, deaths from heart disease and stroke, an overall leveling off of alcohol, tobacco and illicit drug use, and significant advances made in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.
But challenges to the public’s health continue: obesity in children and adults is pandemic, as are diabetes and other chronic illnesses; oil spills and waste disposal threaten our environment; tobacco use remains the single most preventable cause of death and disease; and HIV/AIDS presents a serious threat, disproportionately affecting women and communities of color.
Psychology and public health complement each other in more ways than you can imagine. The complementary touchstone is behavior. Individual behavior and environmental factors are responsible for about 70% of premature deaths in the US. Psychology, the study of behavior, affords its graduates a program of study grounded in the scientific method, enriched by an understanding of the biologic bases of behavior, enhanced by developmental, social, organizational, community, and educational psychology, and woven together by statistics, research methods, and program evaluation.
In this on-going series, we will present examples of the natural fit between psychology and public health by highlighting the paths of psychologists whose professional careers have segued into public health. All are faculty of the Behavioral and Community Health Sciences Program (BCHS) of the LSU Health Sciences Center School of Public Health in New Orleans.
Dr. Sarah Moody-Thomas
The career of Dr. Sarah Moody-Thomas is a guide to a clinical psychologist’s transition into the field of public health. Dr. Moody-Thomas is the director of the BCHS program, the Charles L. Brown, Jr. MD Professor of Health Promotion, and Director of the LSU Health Care Services Division’s Tobacco Control Initiative (TCI). She earned her BS in psychology at Southern University in Baton Rouge and her doctorate in Clinical Psychology at the University of Georgia, where she co-majored in public administration.
Although primarily academic, Sarah’s career has included clinical practice, community development, and organizational behavior change in addition to research and program evaluation. She has been a member of the psychology faculties of Louisiana State University and University of New Orleans (UNO), ultimately becoming chair of the psychology department at UNO. While at UNO she maintained a small clinical practice, consulting specifically on behavior management of clients with both developmental delay and mental illness, initiating changes in environmental and structural processes for this population.
Sarah’s research interests have always focused on addressing the needs of minority and medically underserved populations by examining organizational structures that contribute to health disparities. While at UNO, she tackled her first major public health issue, preventing and controlling the use of tobacco products. She conducted school-based interventions to prevent tobacco use and research to identify individual characteristics and environmental factors affecting student’s decisions to smoke.
Her earlier work brought her into contact with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and its efforts to prevent and control cancer in high-risk groups. She became the regional president for the NCI-sponsored National Black Leadership Initiative on Cancer.
“The goal,” she said, “was to engage communities and get the word out on prevalence, screening, and early detection of cancer and the importance of involvement in clinical research.”
Her efforts brought her to the attention of the LSUHSC, where she was appointed Associate Director of Behavioral Science and Community Education at the Stanley S. Scott Cancer Center and professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Public Health and Preventive Medicine.
“I’ve had the pleasure of initiating several cancer control and prevention projects, including Partners in Wellness,” she said, “where we trained indigenous lay health educators from specific zip codes in New Orleans to share messages about screening and early detection of cancer and help community members navigate the health care delivery system to access care.”
“I am a founding member,” she explained, “of the New Orleans Chapter of Komen for the Cure, at one time known as the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, and served in leadership capacities to ensure representative participation in the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial and Selenium versus Vitamin E trials conducted by of the South West Oncology Group, a national cooperative group for clinical trials.”
Her NCI-funded projects have focused on increasing minority participation in cancer clinical research, the role of physician education in minority enrollment in clinical trials, and community education and dissemination of health promoting information. Her expertise in these areas has been recognized by her appointment to two committees of the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine: Preventing Nicotine Addiction in Children and Youths, and Cancer Research Among Minorities and the Medically Underserved.
“There is a wealth of research supporting the benefits of tobacco cessation and the effectiveness of evidence-based treatments,” Sarah noted. In 2003, the same year that the LSUHSC School of Public Health was established, and acting in her role as Director of the TCI (Tobacco Control Initiative), Sarah accepted the legislative mandate to provide tobacco cessation services to patients of the state’s public hospital system.
“For me, the challenge was to integrate this knowledge into the existing health care delivery system in a way that made access to treatment sustainable and available to all patients in that health care network. I saw this as an ideal opportunity to translate research into practice using the system change strategies recommended in the US Public Health Service [2000] clinical practice guideline, Treating tobacco use and dependence,” she said.
To reach this goal, Sarah marshaled the resources of both psychology and public health. She started by assessing the knowledge, attitudes, practices, and preferences of patients and clinicians, learned about institutional resources and infrastructure to identify, treat, and monitor tobacco users, and employed a systems approach to the development, implementation, and evaluation of the TCI.
“I used an ecological perspective to help me identify the levels of influence that might come into play and stage theories of change, such as the Transtheoretical Model and Organizational Development, to understand and guide individual and organizational change.”
The TCI emerged as a multi-level intervention to prompt clinicians to engage patients about their use of tobacco, rate readiness for change, and refer for treatment. These practices are supported and facilitated by information technology and the system’s electronic health record.
Fully implemented in seven of LSU’s public hospital facilities, the TCI is a recognized success. Its patient “quit rates” doubled between 2007 and 2009.
As a result, in 2010 the National Association of Public Hospitals recognized the TCI as an outstanding program for the use of health information technology in the identification and treatment of tobacco use. “This program [TCI] puts our state at the forefront of innovation to improve the public’s health,” said Dr. Sarah Moody- Thomas.
The BCHS program ascribes to a socioecological perspective to understand determinants of health. As such, Dr. Moody-Thomas and her faculty actively recruit psychology majors from area universities to pursue a master’s degree in public health.
She says, “Public health is a natural for someone with a background in psychology.” Dr. Sarah Moody-Thomas’ career path can attest to that.
For more information about the LSUHSC School of Public Health and the BCHS program and admission for fall 2011, visit http://publichealth.lsuhsc.edu/
Dr. Sarah Moody-Thomas, director of the Behavioral and Community Health Sciences Program (BCHS) of the LSU Health Sciences Center School of Public Health in New Orleans. Her Tobacco Control Initiative has received national notice. (Photo courtesy LSUHSC School of Public Health)
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 2, No. 8. Source pages: 8.
Centenary Professor Dr. Amy Hammond told the Times that a group of her students have worked together on a “student- initiated” research project, and have been accepted to present the results at the Annual Convention of the Association for Psychological Science, to be held in Washington, D.C., in May.
The student researchers are Amanda Shackleton, Jessica Garris, Michael Naquin, Shakeria Alcorn, Jacob Jones, and Katherine Shamburger.
The students developed their ideas for the project in the research methods course at Centenary, making changes and refining the research as they learned more, Dr. Hammond explained.
The study is titled, “A Sense to Remember: Seeing and Touching is Better than Hearing.” The student researchers presented participants with 21 words in three modalities—auditory (read aloud), visual (a photograph), or tactile (placed in the hands).
They discovered that recall was significantly better for items presented in tactile and visual modes than for items in the auditory mode.
Michael Naquin said, “The thing I enjoyed most about the research was working with my friends to apply our class concepts to real life, and at the same time we found some interesting results.”
Dr. Hammond’s students from Centenary getting set to present their poster research at APS in May. From L to R: Shakeria Alcorn, Jessica Garris, Michael Naquin, and Amanda Shackleton. (Photo courtesy, Dr. Hammond.)
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 2, No. 8. Source pages: 13.
Writing on behalf of Grassroots of Psychology in Louisiana, Dr. Alicia Pellegrin requested that the state medical board revise two phrases in the “rules” for medical psychologists. On
February 4th, Dr. Robert Marier, Executive Director of the medical board, wrote back to her, thanking her and her organization for providing comments, and he included a report of changes in the rules sent to the Senate Health and Welfare Committee.
Pellegrin had asked that the term in the proposed rules, “psychologist practitioner,” be changed back as it was in the original text of Act 251, “psychological practitioner.” Also she asked that the medical board to change the phrase “…shall include the practice of psychology as defined…” back to the original wording in 251, “… includes those practices as defined…”
While the medical board noted that it was not constrained to duplicate the exact wording of laws, the board said, “On the other hand, while it does not perceive any substantive distinction between the term psychological practitioner and psychologist practitioner, because the latter term does not appear elsewhere in the proposed rules, and for ease of reference to Act 251, the Board will accept the commenter’s suggestion, in part, by substituting the term psychological practitioner for psychologist practitioner within the definition of Medical Psychologist.”
Also, “…the Board is not disinclined to accept the commenter’s suggestion in this regard and tract the precise language of the Law in the last sentence of the term’s definition. Thus, Section 3903A, where the proposed rule would have defined Medical Psychology as: ‘… the practice of medical psychology shall include the practice of psychology as defined in La. Rev. Stat. §37:2352(5),’ in the final form of the rule that we have adopted that portion of the definition will instead read: ‘…the practice of medical psychology includes those practices as defined in la. Rev. Stat. §37:2352(5).’”
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 2, No. 7. Source pages: 18.
I am a Clinical Psychologist, who has worked in the field of behavioral health since 1989 in a variety of public and private facilities and programs serving in roles ranging from direct care, clinician, and administrator. I obtained a Bachelors in Social Counseling, a Masters in Pre-Clinical Psychology / Psychometrics, and a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology. My internship was at the Mississippi State Hospital, and my postdoctoral residency was with the LSUHSC Juvenile Corrections Program. I also completed a Postdoctoral Masters of Science in Clinical Psychopharmacology. My career experiences have spanned across a variety of settings including mental health, addiction, and forensics, governmental steering committees, management teams on the state level, and appointments to State Governmental/Legislative Committees.
My practice ranges from the evaluation and treatment of forensic matters to emotional, behavioral, educational, mental health, and substance abuse problems. I am a Louisiana native and currently reside in Prairieville with my wife and two children. I have been a member of LPA for almost 17 years, beginning as a Masters-level student. I now serve as the Chair of Membership for LPA. In the past, I have served on the Executive Committee in LPA in different capacities, but have focused on issues of membership/enrollment activities as this is critical for LPA in establishing effective advocacy and developing the profession. I am also the Secretary for the Louisiana Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers. In 2008, LPA honored me with the Early Career Award. My experience in different capacities within LPA has helped me to understand the importance of investing and supporting the continued development of the profession of psychology. If given the opportunity, I look forward to leading the organization and to further advancing psychology in the State of Louisiana. I have benefited from my involvement with LPA, and offer my service as a means of giving back to our larger professional community.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
LPA is in the midst of a major transition. Although we have made good progress in the last 18 months, I believe there is more to do. If I am privileged to serve as your Secretary of your LPA, I pledge to continue working to make LPA an open, transparent, and effective organization; one that will truly work to further the interests of psychology as a profession, to protect the profession of psychology from being regulated or controlled by other professions, and to ensure that the will of the membership is truly reflected in the actions of the Board.
While working on the By-Laws committee, I had the opportunity to work with many fellow psychologists from around the state. I was impressed with the ability and intelligence that so many of my colleagues exhibited. We are fortunate to have so many people with such a wide array of talents and experience who are willing to volunteer their time. That impression was confirmed when I recently had the opportunity to appear before the EC to ask questions about an unfortunate release of information to a third party. It was obvious that the membership of the newly constituted EC understands the importance of responding to legitimate concerns of the membership.
I pledge to work with anyone and everyone who is interested in promoting the interests of society. I do not believe that we all have to agree on every issue. In fact, such mindless conformity would not serve to enhance our profession. However, I do believe that it is imperative that we all work in a good faith and open manner, with no hidden agendas or interests that are in conflict with psychology. I believe we are moving in that direction. It is my intention to further this process.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 2, No. 7. Source pages: 19.
I have avoided the political aspects related to psychological practice for quite a long time now – I guess since the 1970’s when I was the youngest mental health center director in the US (Region VII MHC in Oxford, MS) and President of the Mississippi Mental Health Directors organization, on various MPA committees and advisory councils. I was also the first MHC Director to secure federal revenue sharing funds for a new building. While that history makes me sound old, it reminds me of Ronnie Reagan’s statement in his campaign when he said in a debate that this “was not going to be about age – his opponent couldn’t help it if he was young and inexperienced.” I also think about what Angela Herzog, President of MPA said a couple of years ago about psychologists who did not get involved in the governance of MPA. She said something to the effect that when you don’t get involved, “you might be letting people dumber than yourself make decisions for you.”
Now I certainly do not feel we have any “dumb” psychologists in Louisiana, but there certainly has been a lot of internal strife within our ranks, which I believe sound problem-solving efforts could remediate. We are all trained in problem solving, and I believe resolutions to the problems should be available.
I am not a medical psychologist, but have colleagues who are and who are not. Perhaps my organizational background, problem-solving skills, and maturity can add to the stability of our inter- relationships. I would feel privileged to be elected and to serve as a Director of the LPA Executive Council.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
I received my license to practice in Louisiana in 1981 and practiced clinical psychology in New Orleans for over 25 years. I retired a few years ago and currently live in Austin, Texas, frequently traveling to Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
I seek the position of LPA Director to accomplish the following goals:
•Revitalize LPA as an Ardent Advocate for the Profession of Psychology in Louisiana
•Manifest an LPA Organizational Culture of Integrity, Transparency and Inclusion
•Assert and Defend the Professional Autonomy of Psychologists
•Reestablish the Credibility and Influence of LPA in the Louisiana Legislature and Executive Branch
•Expand the Scope of Psychological Practice and Oppose the Encroachment of Other Professions Unqualified to Perform Psychological Services
•Expand the Relevance and Value of LPA to all Psychologists, Psychology Academics and Students Across the State Through Desired Continuing Education Programs, Academic Forums, Regional Meetings and Opportunities for Social/ Professional Networking
•Create a More Equitable Tiered-Dues Structure Promoting Membership Growth and Retention
•Enhance Community Awareness and Appreciation of the Contributions of Psychology in Enhancing the Quality of Life
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 2, No. 7. Source pages: 20.
Psychology has always fought to fend off those who sought to narrow our scope of practice and lay claim to our skills. We have needed to guard our profession since its inception. The demand that we protect what is ours is as great today as it was in bygone years.
One of the solutions to a strong profession is strong state and local organizations that can advocate for all of us in the professional arena. The making of strong professional organizations rests on membership base, membership participation, and membership support. Members support the organization’s work and the organization supports the members’ profession.
LPA needs Louisiana psychologists to join and participate in our state’s organization to give psychologists the support we need and to represent psychologists in social and political action. I strongly advocate for more avenues for psychologists to enter LPA, more opportunities for psychologists to participate at the state level, and for LPA to become more relevant to the professional lives of all psychologists, be they academic, clinical or other professional domains.
I believe LPA needs small, regional assemblies to facilitate networking at the local level and to attract psychologists to participate in LPA where they live and work. With local access to LPA activities, LPA can provide more meaningful service to its members.
What can be better for Louisiana psychologists than a strong LPA? What can be better for LPA than a broad based, well-served, loyal membership?
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 2, No. 7. Source pages: 1.
The Psychology Board will be reviewed in the 2012 legislative session, as part of the “Sunset” law. The law calls for a periodic review of all state boards. The purpose of the sunset review is to eliminate inactive entities, and “The elimination or consolidation of entities, programs, or activities which duplicate other governmental entities, programs, or activities.”
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
LPA executive council surveyed its members regarding a number of topics and found that up to 74 percent of respondents indicated they were concerned about Act 251. Results were published in the February LPA news- letter by Dr. Robert Storer, who coauthored the survey with Dr. Gail Gillespie.
Respondents, 22 percent of the membership, gave their views to three statements regarding the legislation passed in 2009 that moved medical psychologists to the medical board.
• 60 percent of respondents “strongly disagreed” and another 14 percent “disagreed somewhat” with the statement “Act 251 is not a concern to me.”
• 51 percent responded “strongly disagree” and 12 percent responded “disagree somewhat” in response to the statement “Act 251 is a concern but LPA does not need to take any action.”
• 47 percent responded “strongly agree” and another 8 percent said they “agree somewhat” to a third statement, “Act 251 is a concern and LPA needs to take action.”
The results were based on 57 members, which concerned President-Elect, Dr. Phillip Griffin. He said to the Times, “Is this a mandate to jump into something?
Not hardly,” pointing out that the majority of members had not responded to the survey.
Last fall Dr. Susan Dardard conducted an independent telephone poll to “take the pulse of the members on a critical issue.” She talked directly with 107 members (from a sample of 155) who gave their support for an LPA resolution to protect the autonomous practice and regulation of the profession of psychology. (See PT Vol 2 No 3.)
Since the passage of Act 251 in June 2009, several national groups, including the Committee for the Advancement of Professional Practice, the Interdivisional Healthcare Committee, the APA Board of Educational Affairs, and the board of the American Medical Psychologists, have also raised concerns about aspects of Act 251.
[Editor’s note: While LPA has a right to privacy in many matters, it also has a number of concrete and philosophical public duties. The Times’ publisher views this exchange to fall under the public’s right to know (first amendment.)]
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
The “Behavioral Health Professional Working Group” (BHPWG) gave its final report to the Senate Health and Welfare Committee in February. The group was created by a Senate resolution in 2010 which asked psychologists and licensed professional counselors to work together to develop specific language for the counselors’ legislation.
The BHPWG reported they made progress in clarifying standards for mental health professionals, and
also in building better collaboration between the two groups, one of their goals. However, they were not able to develop specific language, according to the final, nine-page report.
Authors noted, “The means by which to translate the identified mental health practice standards toward legislative language relative to diagnostic scope for the licensed professional counselors remains an area for further work within the BHPWG, as there persists a difference of opinion regarding the current standard and the level of required expertise to provide comprehensive mental health diagnoses.”
The core of the differences between the two groups, as described in the report, revolves around diagnosing mental illness. Authors wrote, “The counselors believe that the current statute authorizes counselors to diagnose and treat mental and emotional disorders.” However, “The psychologists disagree and hold that the current practice act for counselors granted a limited diagnostic scope of practice to counselors that is commensurate with their current master’s degree level of training.”
Over nine meetings and interim discussions, the group reviewed differences and similarities between the two professions and developed a list of essential standards for practice and regulation that both groups agreed on.
“Within the BHPWG,” the authors wrote, “the following considerations were determined to be essentials for practice evolution and effective regulation of professional activities: (i) enhanced educational requirements, (ii) enhanced training requirements, (iii) specialized supervision, (iv) requirement of a standardized national examination focusing specifically on clinical diagnostic skills, and (v) a formal mechanism for the designated regulatory board to examine the competency of providers prior to licensure.”
Based on discussions, the counselors proposed changes in their standards and credentialing process. These changes included increasing degree hours to equal national standards, requiring specific education units for certain areas such as diagnosis and ethics, and installing a national exam for new licensees.
“Representatives from psychology agree that such additions could strengthen the counseling profession,” the authors wrote. “The psychologists maintain, however, that some aspects of these strengthening measures could be further refined and translated into a tiered licensure system with an advanced practice
certification in counseling and that this would provide significant clarity and indicate providers capable of diagnosing and treating major mental disorders. Similar models of tiered counseling practice are available in other states.”
Authors wrote that, “Psychology representatives believe that setting common advanced practice standards and a single regulatory authority for advanced tiers of mental health practice are needed to avoid current and future conflicts between psychologists and counselors.”
The Senate resolution, sponsored last June by Senator Willie Mount, from Lake Charles, also asked the group to address ways to maximize the mental health services to the state’s citizens and to develop collaborative practice methods.
“While the BHPWG did not reach consensus on all of the group’s charges as outlined in SCR100, the dialogue promoted and encouraged a more collaborative approach across mental health professions,” the authors noted.
“Through collaborative and interdisciplinary panels like the BHPWG, it was realized that professions should be working to identify gaps in coverage, gaps in training within the state’s educational institutions, and developing models to most effectively deliver behavioral health services in the state.”
The authors also wrote, “Several potential models to more effectively manage this [scope of practice] issue
were discussed during the course of the BHPWG, although there was no consensus on an accepted model in Louisiana.”
The group explored potential models, “… (i) a combined regulatory authority for all mental health practices, (ii) an interdisciplinary advisory panel to review rules and regulatory conflicts that arise across mental health professions, or (iii) advanced certification in mental health practice regulated by the psychology licensing board. Although these models were discussed within BHPWG, there was no consensus across group members on these models.”
The counselors supported their autonomy, the authors writing, “Counselors would advocate that each board remains autonomous in its decision making, but all professions would have the benefit of this consultation and collaboration process.”
The working group included Drs. Joe Comaty and Tony Young, chair and vice chair of the Psychology Board, and Drs. Jessica Brown and Darla Burnett who represented the Louisiana Psychological Association.
Representing the Louisiana Professional Counselors Board of Examiners are Drs. Gloria Bockrath and June Williams. Michael Gootee and Cindy Nardini represented the Louisiana Counselors Association.
Also attending many of the meetings were Jacqueline Shellington from the state board for social work and Dr. Robert Marier from the medical board, as well as members of the public and the press.
The full report can be obtained from the Senate Health & Welfare Committee.
The BHPWG’s final report was provided to the Senate Health & Welfare Committee in February.
Working Group members discussed different models for advanced practice and single regulatory authority.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
In a press release on February 21st, Governor Jindal announced that he was pursuing legislation that would give greater flexibility and help protect higher education and health care.
Governor Jindal said, “As we confront the budget challenges in the next fiscal year, we must transform state government to become more efficient and sustainable while protecting critical services for our people like education and health care. These budget flexibility bills are an important way to free up funds that are currently locked away, while the areas of higher education and health care are left vulnerable to reductions in tough budget years.”
According to the statement from the Governor’s office, $4.75 billion is “locked away in dedicated funds.” The governor believes that his measures will allow more options to help protect critical services.
The action gained support from Regents Chairman Bob Levy and President of the LSU System John Lombardi.
Also the measures were welcomed by the President of the Louisiana Community and Technical System, Dr. Joe May and also UL System President Randy Moffet, the announcement noted. Specific details of the Governor’s plan are given on his website.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 2, No. 7. Source pages: 2.
Already we have non-psychologists (there are NO psychologists on the LSBME) regulating the practice of all aspects of psychology by a number of psychologists.
Now we have a report by a group of professionals including Psychologists, LPCs, a Social Work representative, and the Exec Director of LSBME unable to come to a conclusion as to where we are going in this state with mental health care. This leaves as a possible (probable?) solution that several professions would be put under medicine. That model has been praised in the past by Dr. Marier (ED of LSBME) and may well be what Sen. Mount would like to propose to the legislature in April. Having her committee hear the bill would mean it would be very likely to pass that hurdle and be on its way.
Hey guys, please recognize that we are not like the other professions:
PSYCHOLOGY IS MUCH, MUCH MORE THAN HEALTH CARE.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.