Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 16. Source pages: 5.
Three candidates are offering to fill an upcoming position on the psychology board. Koren Boggs, PhD, Beverly Stubblefield, PhD, and Jesse Lambert, PsyD.
Dr. Boggs is a clinical psychologist at Children’s Hospital in New Orleans. She received her degree in 2007 from the University of Mississippi and has been licensed for a number of years and in Louisiana since 2013. She is a member of the Assn. for Behavior Analysis International and International Society for Autism Research.
Dr. Stubblefield is in private practice in Slidell and has been licensed since 1987 with a specialty in clinical. Her degree is from the University of Mississippi and she is also licensed in Mississippi. She is a member of American Psychological Assn, Louisiana Psych Assn, and Southeastern Psych Assn.
Dr. Lambert is from Gonzales and has been licensed since 2009 in clinical. He graduated from Argosy University in Dallas, Texas. He is a member of the Baton Rouge Area Society of Psychologists and student member of the Louisiana Academy of Medical Psychologists.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 16. Source pages: 13.
Dr. Sarah Gray has joined the Tulane faculty as Assistant Professor. She obtained her doctorate in 2013 in Clinical Psychology from the University of Massachusetts Boston, with a post-doctoral Fellowship at the Yale Child Study Center, according to Tulane news.
Dr. Gray’s Dr. Gray's research focuses on early childhood mental health, trauma, and psychosocial and school readiness outcomes. Her work has appeared in Developmental Psychology and the Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology. She is teaching and also recruiting students for her lab.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 16. Source pages: 5.
The Advocate reported November 24 that the Jindal administration will not be renewing its contract with Magellan of Louisiana. Magellan came under fire from legislative audits about its failure to meet requirements, wrote Advocate reporter Marsha Shuler.
In a press release November 19 the Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH) announced that it plans to integrate specialized behavioral health services into the benefits coordinated by Bayou Health.
According to the announcement, DHH will integrate specialized behavioral health services into the benefits coordinated by Bayou Health plans for Medicaid recipients. Currently, these services are provided separately in a program called the Louisiana Behavioral Health Partnership. The Department will work with the five managed care organizations contracted to provide care to Louisiana's Medicaid recipients, as well as providers, recipients and stakeholders on the transition set for implementation on Dec. 1, 2015.
"Integrating behavioral health care into the acute medical care for Medicaid recipients is the best way for us to serve Louisiana residents. We have to care for the individual as a whole person rather than compartmentalizing types of services by the provider type," said DHH Office of Behavioral Health Assistant Secretary Dr. Rochelle Head-Dunham said. "With careful planning and by working closely with our providers and advocacy organizations, I believe that coordinating care for primary, acute and behavioral health care needs of our residents will help us improve outcomes."
The Advocate reported that the companies will be paid a “capitated” rate to provide care for about two thirds of Louisiana’s 1.4 Medicaid recipients.
The announcement also said that over the next few weeks, DHH will name an advisory group to partner state agencies, local governing entities, providers, advocates, and others to give ideas for the addition of behavioral health services to Bayou Health as things develop.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 16. Source pages: 14.
The Brain and Behavior Conference, and the 19th Robert G. Heath, MD Lecture, will be held this year on Friday and Saturday, December 12 and 13 at the Westin Canal Place in New Orleans. The title is “Back to Our Roots: Neuropsychiatry,” presented by Tulane University School of Medicine and the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.
“Our intent with this year's meeting was to revisit and review neuropsychiatric disorders as these often pose some of the biggest challenges to clinicians,” conference organizer and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Dr. Maryellen Romero, told the Times.
“Our slate of speakers is outstanding,” she said, “with local, national and international experts discussing psychiatric issues in Parkinson's Disease, epilepsy, and multiple sclerosis.”
Curt LaFrance, MD, of the Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University will present on assessment and management of psychogenic seizures and conversion.
“This year's Heath Lecture will be delivered by Lucia Braga, Ph.D., of the SARAH Hospital Network in Brasilia, Brazil, whose work on neural circuits and neuroplasticity has been widely published–including in Science,” said Romero. “This is complemented by a lecture by Ben Sheldon, MD, of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, on the frontal lobes and executive function.”
“In addition, we are very pleased to have Robert Garry, Ph.D., Tulane professor of Microbiology & Immunology and internationally-recognized expert on Ebola virus, provide the most up-to-date information on the war against this deadly disease.”
In addition to the conference, the Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences as well as Neurology will be hosting a holiday reception on Friday night, at 7pm, also at the Westin Canal Place, and all registered attendees are welcome said Dr. Romero.
For anyone interested in registration, please visit the online registration portal at http://tulane.edu/cce/
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 16. Source pages: 5.
The Licensed Professional Counseling Board of Examiners published an Emergency Rule on November 20 outlining the required continuing education in diagnosis for Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists.
“A licensee must accrue six clock hours of training in diagnosis every renewal period that specifically addresses the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of clinical conditions under the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), as published by the American Psychiatric Association on May 18, 2013. This required training may be specific to the diagnosis, assessment, and treatment of a particular condition and/or may be general training in diagnosis, assessment, and treatment under the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Edition (DSM-5), published on May 18, 2013.”
Other conditions are listed in the Rule which can be reviewed at the Louisiana Register.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 16. Source pages: 14.
The Louisiana Association for Marriage and Family Therapy will host award- winning author and science writer, Robert Whitaker at its Annual Conference, February 19- 21, 2015.
Whitaker will speak on “Psychotherapeutic Alternatives to Medications,” at the event to be held in Baton Rouge at the Renaissance Hotel.
Whitaker is a journalist who has specialized in reporting on medical science. He has won the George Polk Award and a National Association of Science writers’ Award for his work reporting on psychiatry and the pharmaceutical industry.
He has written about abuses in psychiatric research and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Public Service. He is author of four books, including Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America.
Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine, and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill.
For more information, visit the
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 16. Source pages: 6.
The psychology board will propose guidelines for the practice of telepsychology, to conform to Act 442 on telehealth that took effect in August.
“It was our goal not to micromanage,” said Dr. Phil Griffin. “It was our goal to put the burden of almost everything on the individual psychologist, to make sure you’re practicing correctly, to make sure that you know your technology if you’re using technology, to make sure you know about consent forms, make sure you know about your backup plans in case your technology goes bad. That was our philosophy.”
The overview was provided to attendees at a November 21 planning meeting held in Baton Rouge. Griffin leads the board’s Telepsychology Task Force formed in July. Also in the task force are Dr. Joe Comaty, Dr. Anne Ciccone, Dr. Darlyne Nemeth, and Ms. Kelly Parker.
“ASPPB is working on a master plan to cover practice cross state lines and we just didn’t want to deal with that. We’ll deal with that when we get to it,” Griffin said.
The proposed guidelines include a definition of telepsychology, general guidelines for its appropriate use, and a reminder that all legal and ethical requirements are still in place with telecommunications.
The guidelines also include responsibilities for the verification of identity of both the psychologist and the client, verification of locations, use of secure HIPAA/HITECH compliant communications or issues for non- secured methods. Requirements for informed consent and efforts to maintain privacy were also outlined.
The psychologist should have plans for an emergency arising during the telepsychology session, aspects of recordkeeping, concerns for quality, validity and reliability of assessments, limitations, cultural competence, and complaints.
“We wanted to make it usable,” said Dr. Comaty. “Keep in mind that these are guidelines, so they are frameworks for people to use with guidance in regards to shaping their own practice with regard to telepsychology. That it is only for intrastate, not interstate.”
“So the intent was give the psychologist an awareness of the areas that are most critical in regard to understanding and added burdens in the practice of telepsychology, so they can take the appropriate steps to protect themselves, to protect the clients, and safeguard the public, with regard to this practice,” Comaty said.
“The idea of this is not to restrict services,” Griffin said, “but to be able to provide more services. We need to keep that in mind.”
“… there are some responsibilities that are attached to this,” Comaty said. “and therefore we want psychologists to be aware that this is not something to be entered into lightly and that they need to be aware of certain additional requirements that have federal rules attached to it, under HIPPA, high tech, and for which there is increasing liability.”
Additional discussion involved interstate issues. Each jurisdiction has its own definitions said Dr. Marc Zimmermann, Vice
Chair. Each may have different definitions about where the client resides and psychologists may have to know the laws in other states when working across state lines, he said. “I don’t care whether the psychologist is in Louisiana or the patient is in Louisiana, if somebody practices mal, we’re responsible for dealing with that,” Zimmermann said.
The discussion also touched on industrial- organization, research psychology, or forensic psychology, but these areas are not addressed in the guidelines.
“That seems to be a much thornier issue, for other specialties,” said Chair Dr. Rita Culross, “because as many of the IO people pointed out at ASPPB, you could be working for a company that has 12 plant sites across the country.”
The new telehealth law, Act 442, notes that location is irrelevant to providing service, as long as certain conditions are met. “A patient receiving telemedicine services may be in any location at the time that the telemedicine services are rendered. A physician practicing telemedicine may be in any location when providing telemedicine services to a patient,” is considered by the author, Representative Scott Simon, to be a cornerstone of the new law.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 16. Source pages: 14.
The Louisiana Chapter of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC-LA) will hold its 5th State Conference on January 30- 31 at the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at LSU in Baton Rouge.
The theme of this year’s conference is “Current Issues in Family Court: Interdisciplinary Perspectives.”
The conference will include a panel on “Improving the Parent Coordination Model.” Presenters are Renee McCarthy, LCSW, Leslie Todd, LCSW, Wendy Edwards, JD, and Lisa Mathews, JD.
Dr. Alyson McCain and Dr. Deann Johnson will present on “Relocation.”
“Supervised Visitation,” will be covered by presenters Yevonne Baran, LPC, Ladonna Ward, LPC, and Pam Guedry, LPC.
Todd Gaudin, JD, will present on “Extended Support Beyond 18 for Handicapped Children/Interdictions.”
Judge Pam Baker will present “What Do We Need from Each Other to Better Serve the Families We Work With?” as the final training on the first day.
On Saturday, Bob Lancaster, JD, will present on “Transformative, Facilitative, and Evaluative Styles of Mediation with Demonstrations of Each.”
A Panel Discussion on “Pros and Cons of the Types of Mediation in Family Divorce Situations,” will be offered by Lila Hogan, JD, Cinday Nassar, LPC, and Stacy Marcel, JD.
After a catered lunch the conference attendees will have the opportunity to engage in fishbowl/role play training.
The conference is limited to 90 attendees. In the February 2014 of the Times, past president and founder of the Louisiana Chapter Leslie Todd, said the group’s members are evenly split between legal and mental health professionals, with a few financial experts as well. “We have one of the highest percentages of judge members in the nation. Our Board is interdisciplinary; our second President was a judge, and our third is an attorney-mediator.” (See story, Feb 2014 Times.)
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 16. Source pages: 9.
The Livingworks education website www.livingworks.net is for those who want to know more about the many skill trainings in Louisiana that are suicide related for clinicians. There are new professional programs coming out each year.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 16. Source pages: 10.
The task force established to study licensure for art therapists has distributed a draft of a report to task force members and others, in preparation for completing the final report by year end. But, the group did not reach agreement on the matter.
The task force was created by House Concurrent Resolution 159 during the 2014 legislation session. The group will finalize their report and provide it to the Health and Welfare legislative committees.
In the draft, chair Celeste Schexneydre and co-chair Hollie French indicate that the task force studied the profession of art therapy, training, and possible options for a regulating board. They also indicated that the group looked at scope of practice for art therapists.
In a introductory message to the draft, Schexneydre and French note that an agreement about a “baseline framework for licensure was not reached.”
Participants of the task force included representatives from the Louisiana Art Therapy Association, LPC Board, Louisiana Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, Louisiana Counseling Assn, Departments of Education, Health and Hospitals, Louisiana State Board of Examiners of Psychologists, Louisiana Psychological Association, Louisiana Association of Clinical Social Workers, and the Louisiana Hospital Association.
Several sources noted that the leaders in the Art Therapy community appear to be hoping for regulation under the LPC board.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 16. Source pages: 10.
The cigarette smoking rate among adults in the U.S. dropped from 20.9 percent in 2005 to 17.8 percent in 2013, according to new data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in today's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
That is the lowest prevalence of adult smoking since the CDC's National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) began keeping such records in 1965. The report also shows the number of cigarette smokers dropped from 45.1 million in 2005 to 42.1 million in 2013, despite the increasing population in the U.S.
While smoking rates have dropped, there is a significant need to help those who continue to smoke, said CDC. Cigarette smoking remains especially high among certain groups, most notably those below the poverty level, those who have less education, Americans of multiple race, American Indians/Alaska Natives, males, those who live in the South or Midwest, those who have a disability or limitation, and those who are lesbian/gay/bisexual. Data specific to sexual orientation were collected for the first time by the NHIS in 2013.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 16. Source pages: 11.
At a hefty 785 pages, the hardcover version of The Goldfinch: A Novel might not have been the smartest purchase to stick in my carry-on bag, but that’s the only strike I have against the book, so far. Although I am only halfway into the book, I highly recommend it if for the beautiful language and writing style of Donna Tartt. The Goldfinch is a story of a young boy, Theo, who tragically loses his mother in a terrorist attack, bounces from home to home, but never quite finds the solace and sanctuary he desperately seeks. The book’s title refers to a painting Theo steals from the museum in the confusing and heartbreaking moments following the attack. Tartt weaves a captivating tale of a young man who suffers greatly as he navigates the art world that his beloved mother treasured, eventually resorting to a life of crime that is, at least, well- intentioned.
The Goldfinch: A Novel was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, but was not popular among noted critics from The Washington Post, Vanity Fair, and several others, due to its unlikely plots, distracting turns, and mundane characters. I am not a trained critic, so I can only rely on the fact that once I had read twenty pages, I decided this book was so beautifully written that I wanted to read it every night before I fall asleep. I have maintained that pledge most nights and I have not been disappointed yet.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 16. Source pages: 11.
I read the most delightful book, The First Phone Call from Heaven by Mitch Albom. It is about a small town in which people begin receiving phone calls from their deceased loved ones.It is full of humor and pathos. He does a wonderful job of capturing human nature and the impact these calls have on the town and the country. For me, it was one of those books that I did not want to end.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 16. Source pages: 11.
Everyone talks about the much clichéd “thinking outside the box”. The last thing needed is another popular book for this gullible market. Think Like a Freak: The Authors of Freakonomics Offer to Retrain Your Brain seemed like it is titled to fill just this niche. However, this third volume from these wildly lauded and internationally acclaimed bestselling authors is genuinely helpful in encouraging readers to radically reconceptualize routine problems.
The strategy is simple. Look at problems differently and you may find solutions. The steps, if they can be reduced to simple formulas, are not at all hard to implement. Free yourself from the rigidities of expectations. Let your attention occasionally wander. Be open to novel, often very novel solutions. Look for solutions when you are not expecting them. Keep trying. Don't ever discount insight.
While these findings are nothing new, their emphasis on nonlinear thinking is something we need to hear about- constantly.
This is the third in a series from these authors. Steven Levitt, is a professor of economics at the University of Chicago. Stephen Dubner is a multi talented author, who makes complex ideas sound simple and almost whimsical. Their chapters resonate together and across each others’ mutual strengths, the way the best Lennon and McCartney songs did back in their most productive period.
To me, the real question is why these authors’ message, which is about psychology, is coming from an economist and his associate. Why not from one of us? This seems to be another example of how psychologists have typically failed to realize that we have something unique to contribute. For whatever reason, it seems if it is “psychological,” we often feel it is mired in the murky areas of untrustworthy. It is not applicable outside the clinic, and barely there, either.
Maybe it's time our profession starts thinking like a freak.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 15. Source pages: 4.
According to the September minutes of the psychology board, Executive Director Kelly Parker met with the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners and counsel. No other information was provided in the minutes or the agenda as to the specific purpose of the meeting.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.