NOTEBOOK - New York State Psychological Association

A PUBLICATION OF THE NEW YORK STATE PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION ~ www.NYSPA.org Vol. 24 No. 2 

The New York State Psychological Association’s 

NOTEBOOK 

September 2012 

Building a Leadership Culture at NYSPA

www.NYSPA.org 

A Message from NYSPA President 

Richard Juman, PsyD 

NYSPA Member Since 1996 

I hope that you all had a wonderful summer. This year has been an extremely 

active year at NYSPA, and we still have many months to accomplish more. 

As you read this edition of the Notebook, you'll notice many important happenings. 

 

There is tremendous momentum in Legislative arena and we have an energetic new 

lobbyist. (Page 24) 

We (finally) have a Director of Professional Affairs, Jerry Grodin, PhD. (Page 4) 

 

 

 

The Psychologically Healthy Workplace Committee is running smoothly under the 

stewardship of Mark Edison, PhD. (Page 20) 

We are hard at work, in collaboration with OMH, on a Suicide Prevention grant led by 

Shane Owens, PhD. (Page 21) 

The 2012 Convention in Saratoga was a fascinating and rewarding experience, and 

we're already hard at work planning for NYSPA 2013 in Manhattan. (Page 8) 

Also working hard behind the scenes are members and Chairpersons of three Task Forces that were 

appointed following our last Council meeting: 

Lenore Strocchia-Rivera, the Chair of NYSPA's Task Force on Health Care and Reimbursement 

Reform, which is charged with making sure that NYSPA membership is wellinformed 

about the changes in the health care and reimbursement systems that are occurring 

as a result of Health Care Reform on federal and state levels. 

Roy Aranda, the Chair of NYSPA's Task Force on Strategic Planning, designed to make 

suggestions regarding global changes to NYSPA structure, leadership and activities that will 

keep NYSPA responsive to the needs of membership over the coming years. 

Larry Baker, the Chair of NYSPA's Task Force on Telepsychology, Telemedicine and the 

Use of Technology in Psychology Practice, which is charged with keeping members up to 

date regarding licensing, legislative and reimbursement issues connected to the use of various 

technologies in psychology practice. 

Thanks to these Chairs and many others who have volunteered for these Task Forces as members. 

If you are interested in joining a Task Force, please contact the appropriate Chairperson. Let me know if 

you have suggestions for making NYSPA more relevant to your career and goals as a psychologist. 

All referenced links in this edition can be accessed on the e-copy at www.nyspa.org/Notebook0812 

3

NYSPA’s Director of Professional Affairs 

Jerry M. Grodin, PhD 


In January, NYSPA’s Council of representatives 

approved for NYSPA to contract a 

Director of Professional Affairs (DPA). 

After a thoughtful and detailed search and 

interview process, the hiring committee 

selected Dr. Jerry Grodin to serve in this 

position. The Director of Professional 

Affairs is a psychologist on the staff of 

NYSPA that will address professional 

concerns and be the representative in 

Albany with legislators and regulators on 

a consistent basis. 

Membership will get a regular update in 

the NYSPA Friday Flash on issues and 

activities that the DPA is addressing. You 

can also contact Dr. Jerry Grodin at 

jgrodin@nyspa.org. 

_______________________________ 

It is quite an honor to be serving as 

the first Director of Professional 

Affairs (DPA) for NSYPA. What an 

opportunity for me to both represent 

professional psychology in the legal 

and regulatory world as well as to 

move the NYSPA agenda forward for 

our profession. 

It is reassuring to know that there 

is a lot of support for this position 

from APA through a network of DPAs 

across the nation. In filling this 

position for New York all of the very 

large states, 15 in total (State 

Psychological Associations with more 

than 2,500 psychologist members and 

a budget of more than $500,000 

annually) are now represented with 

a DPA. APA provides funding for the 

DPAs to attend the State Leadership 

Conference in the spring and 

supports communications between 

the DPAs with a private listserve and 

conference calls. This is a valuable 

resource as we move into a more 

global professional climate. 

July 1 st was my official first day that I 

began serving NYSPA members in this 

role. I met with the 14 DPA's from the 

other states on a phone conference 

to discuss the issues around the 

Affordable Care Act Implementation 

along with staff from APAPO. This 

issue is being discussed in great detail 

among the states. We are able to 

share resources and work together to 

bring back to our respective associations 

valuable information. I will keep 

you abreast of these discussions and 

provide information as it develops. 

As I became acclimated to the position 

in July it immediately became 

evident that there is a lot of work to 

do and this is a much needed position 

within our Association. In the first 

month, working with our Executive 

Director, Tracy Russell, I met with 

several committees of NYSPA, state 

agency representatives, and our 

lobbyist. We have also developed a 

plan of action for continued relationship 

building with the regulatory 

agencies and our state legislators. I 

will work closely with June Feder, PhD 

NYSPA’s Legislative Committee chair, 

as well as, other committees in 

NYSPA. 

NYSPA will have a seat at many tables. 

I will report back to membership the 

activities and discussions from these 

meetings. Under President Richard 

Juman’s leadership, we are reaching 

out to professional groups who we 

have not reached out to before, we 

are building relationship and giving 

voice to psychology. 

It will be my goal to improve the 

communication of professional issues 

to NYSPA members and to reach out 

to non-members. I will embrace all 

means of communication to accomplish 

this goal. If you are a user of 

social media, I encourage you to 

follow NYSPA on Twitter @NYSPA and 

join the NYSPA group on LinkedIn. 

If you are signed up to receive 

NYSPA’s weekly e-news the Friday 

Flash I will have a regular update on 

issues and will send special bulletins 

when the need arises. 

You can reach me via email anytime 

at jgrodin@nyspa.org. 

SEEKING CANDIDATES 

2013 NYSPA PRESIDENT-ELECT and DIVISION OFFICERS 

Members who wish to be nominated for the NYSPA-wide office of President-Elect must 

submit to the Nominations and Elections Committee Chair, at drrasinwaters@aol.com, 

a statement signed no later than September 17, 2012, indicating the member's 

willingness to serve if nominated and elected to that office, along with 78 names of NYSPA members endorsing 

your candidacy. Download and complete this document. 

DIVISION OFFICES: Download the list of open Division positions at this link. If you are interested in selfnominating 

or nominating a colleague for any of these positions, contact the Division Past-President to submit 

your name. 

4

2012 Calendar of Events 

Select the link to each of the programs below for more details and to register. 

Genesee Valley Psychological Association 

Meeting with NYSPA Leadership 

September 28th, Rochester, NY 

NYSPA Council Meeting 

September 22, 1:00pm—6:00pm 

November 10, 1:00pm—6:00pm 

780 Third Avenue, New York, NY 

Division of Adult Development and Aging’s 

Paths To Psychological Treatment of Older Adults: 

Traversing Medicare Mine Fields and Finding 

Alternative Routes 

September 23rd 

Empire State University, Manhattan Campus 

NYSPA Forensic Division 

Forensic Conference 

September 29th 

St John’s University, Manhattan Campus, Murray St 

Nassau County Psychological Association 

Providing Dignity for All Students 

September 30th 

NYSPA’s Annual Externship Fair 

October 14th 

St Francis College, Brooklyn Heights, NY 

Division of Women’s Issues 

Fall Open House 

How to Beat Procrastination in the Digital Age 

October 21st 

Pulse Restaurant, Rockefeller Plaza 

DOWI Holiday Brunch 

December 2nd 

Pulse Restaurant, Rockefeller Plaza 

Division of Psychoanalysis 

Annual Fall Conference 

Man Up! The Male Body & Masculinity in Transition 

October 21st, NYU, New York, New York 

Independent Practice Division 

Open House 

Understanding the Brain Behavior Relationship to 

Enhance Psychotherapy Outcomes 

October 28th, Pulse Restaurant, Rockefeller Plaza 

Division on Addictions 

Psychological Treatments for Addictive Disorders: A 

One-Day Conference 

October 12th 

Jacobi Medical Center, Bronx, NY 

Division on Adult Development and Aging Program 

November 11th 

National Psychotherapy Day 

September 25, 2012 

Several psychology graduate students and a psychologist have organized a campaign to promote psychotherapy that 

you might want to know more about. Adrienne Meier, MA, Jenna Wierenga, MA, Barbod Salimi, MA, and Ryan 

Howes, PhD are the founding team for National Psychotherapy Day. They invite you to join them on Sept 25, 2012, 

the first annual National Psychotherapy Day to promote the practice of psychotherapy to the public. Some ways in 

which you can participate are the following: mention National Psychotherapy Day on your mailing list, be a guest 

blogger, involve yourself on Sept 25 by writing op-ed pieces, giving community talks, etc. If you are interested in this 

project you will find more information on their website: www.nationalpsychotherapyday.com. 

5

NYSPA Notebook ~ September 2012 

From the Column Editor: 

The Research Digest 

This issue of the NYSPA Notebook features the third installment of The Research Digest column, aimed at 

translating research into practice, thereby hopefully at least partially bridging the often-cited gap between 

research and practice. 

David Glenwick, PhD, NYSPA Member since 1983 

Practice Implications of Sociocultural Factors in Neurocognitive 

Assessment of Racial/Ethnic Minority Clients 

Monica Rivera Mindt, PhD 

6 

As the U.S. becomes ever more 

diverse, psychologists are being 

increasingly called upon to provide 

assessment and treatment services for 

racially/ethnically minority (REM) 

populations. Evolving research in 

clinical neuropsychology highlights the 

challenges of the assessment of 

neurocognitive functioning in such 

populations and points to the 

importance of understanding the role 

of sociocultural factors in such 

assessments. This research also has 

important practice implications for 

psychologists conducting such 

assessments. 

Extensive research (e.g., Norman 

et al., 2000; Taylor & Heaton, 2001) 

indicates that the use of traditional 

cognitive (i.e., the Wechsler scales) 

and neuropsychology measures yields 

disproportionate rates of false-positive 

errors for cognitive impairment among 

healthy (i.e., “normal”) African American 

and Latino populations compared 

to non-Hispanic whites. This finding is 

particularly notable when reported 

from data collected on carefully 

evaluated, neurologically normal samples 

(Heaton et al., 2006). Thus, 

although the sensitivity (i.e., the proportion 

of people correctly identified 

as having cognitive impairment) of our 

cognitive and neuropsychological 

measures is good across populations, 

they lack specificity (i.e., the proportion 

of people correctly identified as 

not having cognitive impairment) for 

REM populations. This lack of specificity 

puts psychologists at a great disadvantage 

with respect to providing 

accurate and valid assessments and 

diagnoses for their REM clients. 

One remedy for this serious problem 

has been the emergence of 

normative data that provide demographic 

corrections for certain REM 

and linguistic groups (e.g., Artiola i 

Fortuni, 1999; Heaton et al., 2004; 

Mungas et al., 2004). Although race/ 

ethnicity-based corrections significantly 

improve the diagnostic utility of our 

measures for particular REM groups 

(primarily African Americans and 

Spanish-speaking Latinas/os), these 

norms do not address other problems 

with these measures. First, relying 

exclusively on racial/ethnic normative 

corrections fails to take into account 

the role of sociocultural factors in explaining 

performance differences between 

racial/ethnic groups (Bialystok, 

2007; Gasquione, Croyle, Cavazos- 

Gonzalez, & Sandoval, 2007) and thus 

may inadvertently leave unexplained 

racial/ethnic differences in test 

performance open to harmful misinterpretation 

(Manly, 2005; Rivera 

Mindt et al., 2010). Second, this 

approach negates the need to rigorously 

investigate the construct validity 

of these measures within and across 

groups. In doing so, this keeps our 

field marred in entrenched models of 

neurocognitive functioning that may 

have little empirical support or 

relevance for REM populations. 

Increasing the diagnostic specificity 

of neuropsychological assessment 

instruments is critical to improving the 

standard of neuropsychological care 

for ethnic minorities. Given the 

heterogeneity of Hispanic/Latino, 

Asian, and other groups, obtaining 

normative samples representative of 

these groups has proven implausible 

and does little to help us understand 

factors underlying between-group 

differences in test performance. Thus, 

research aimed at understanding the 

relationship of sociocultural factors to 

neuropsychological test performance 

may provide a viable alternative for 

improving the specificity of current 

neuropsychological tests with racial/ 

ethnic minority and other similarly 

disenfranchised/underserved groups 

(e.g., rural populations, other 

immigrant populations). 

Although sociocultural research in 

neuropsychology is still an emerging 

area, the available research points to 

the need to thoughtfully consider 

sociocultural factors in the selection 

and interpretation of cognitive test 

performance. First, a relatively robust 

literature suggests that lower education 

and quality of education (based 

on single-word reading tests such as 

the Wide Range Achievement Test-- 

Reading subtest) are associated with 

poorer cognitive test performance in 

both English- and non-English speaking 

populations (e.g., Byrd, Jacobs,

www.NYSPA.org 

Hilton, Stern, & Manly, 2005; de Ronchi 

et al., 2002). Second, language is 

a major factor involved in test performance. 

As expected, extensive research 

shows that individuals perform 

best in their dominant (primary) language; 

however, research also indicates 

that being bilingual is associated 

with significant changes at the neuroanatomic 

level and on cognitive test 

performance. Specifically, current 

research indicates the existence of 

bilingual disadvantages on verbal 

tasks (i.e., naming and fluency 

measures) and more subtle bilingual 

advantages on some measures of executive 

functioning, specifically cognitive 

control (Rivera Mindt et al., 

2008). Third, acculturation (i.e., the 

process by which individuals are influenced 

and changed through exposure 

to another culture) is another factor 

associated with test performance. 

Specifically, greater acculturation to 

majority (i.e., U.S.) culture among 

African Americans, Asian Americans, 

and Latinas/o has been significantly 

associated with better test performance 

in a number of cognitive 

domains (i.e., executive function, 

attention/working memory, verbal 

fluency, learning, memory, and 

processing speed; Boone et al., 2007; 

Coffey, Marmol, Schock, & Adams, 

2005). Fourth and finally, relatively 

recent research indicates that lower 

socioeconomic status is also associated 

with poorer cognitive test performance 

(e.g., Schwartz et al., 2004). 

My own work is dedicated to 

understanding the role of sociocultural 

factors at the intersection of neurological 

disease and health disparities 

and improving the standard of care 

and outcomes for undeserved and 

vulnerable populations. The research 

(Rivera Mindt et al., 2008) of myself 

and my collaborators indicates that 

quality of education completely attenuates 

ethnic minority (Latina/o vs. 

non-Hispanic white) between-group 

performance differences in global 

neuropsychological functioning and 

the domains of learning and attention/working 

memory. Our more 

recent research (Arentoft et al., in 

press) also supports prior work on the 

important association between acculturation 

and test performance. 

In summary, psychologists are 

being increasingly called upon to 

evaluate and serve individuals from 

diverse backgrounds. The literature 

on the role of sociocultural factors in 

neuropsychological test performance 

clearly indicates that clinicians and 

researchers alike should take these 

factors into account when evaluating 

racial/ethnic minority individuals and 

likely others from nontraditional and 

underserved backgrounds (e.g., rural 

populations, immigrants who may not 

count as “racial/ethnic” minority 

based on current classifications). 

Psychologists may increase cultural 

competence for conducting evaluations 

with racial/ethnic minority 

clients by seeking specialty training, 

continuing education, and mentorship 

opportunities and through involvement 

in professional organizations. 

Although current guidelines (see Rivera 

Mindt et al., 2010) for conducting 

neuropsychological evaluations with 

ethnic minorities are limited and in 

need of revision, they should serve as 

an indispensable resource for neuropsychologists 

who work with ethnic 

minority clients. 

Recommended Reading 

Llorente, A. M. (2008). Principles of 

neuropsychological assessment with 

Hispanics: Theoretical foundations 

and clinical practice. New York: 

Springer Science Business Media, LLC. 

Manly, J. J., & Jacobs, D. (2002). 

Future directions in neuropsychological 

assessment with African 

Americans. In R. Ferraro (Ed.), Minority 

and cross-cultural aspects of neuropsychological 

assessment (pp. 79-96). 

Lisse, the Netherlands. Swets & 

Zeitlinger. 

Reynolds, C. R., Fletcher-Janzen, E., & 

Strickland, T. L. (Eds.). (2000). 

Handbook of cross-cultural neuropsychology. 

Dordrecht, the Netherlands: 

Kluwer Academic Publishers. 

References are available on request. 

Monica Rivera Mindt, Ph.D., is a 

Professor of Psychology at Fordham 

University with a joint appointment in 

the Departments of Neurology and 

Psychiatry at the Mount Sinai School 

of Medicine. She can be contacted at 

rivermindt@fordham.edu. 

7


NYSPA’s 75th Annual Convention 

NYSPA President Richard Juman, PsyD 

(Center) with artist presenters John 

Berenzy (left) & Paul Kwiecinski (right). 

Special Movie Screening by Lucy Winer, 

Producer and Director, Kings Park: 

Stories from an 

American Mental Institution 

NYSPA’s 75th Annual Convention was held 

in Saratoga Springs, NY from June 8 - 10, 

2012. The event boasted an appropriate 

theme for the weekend "Arts and 

Psychology." Saratoga Springs hosted the 

Annual Saratoga Arts Fest the same weekend, 

allowing participants to be fully 

immersed in art and reflect upon the natural 

relationship to psychology. 

Participants had the opportunity to 

explore the interplay between psychology 

and art in a forum where psychologists 

and artists cross defined boundaries 

between disciplines and explored the 

ingredients of personhood. Great artists 

are not content to entertain, they aspire 

to foster, through their craft, an enhanced 

understanding of the human condition. In 

this way they share a tradition with the 

field of psychology, whose practitioners 

strive on different scales to accomplish 

similar goals to filter individual, community, 

cultural and global experience into a 

product that shines a light on humanity 

and often, provides healing through 

insight and kinship. 

The weekend events featured a well 

attended Exhibit Hall with 22 supporting 

exhibitors and sponsors, 23 presentations, 

2 movie screenings, 14 posters presented, 

awards ceremony (see award winners on 

pages 10 –12), NYSPA Leadership Institute 

graduation and introduction of the new 

class. Several networking events offered 

opportunities to renew and build 

connections. 

Download the full program at this link. 

Exhibit Hall 

NYSPA Short Story Contest Winners 

Remember the joke about how many psychologists it takes to change a light bulb? One to review the literature, 

one to design the experiment, a statistics consultant, one to run the subjects, one to write up the results, and, of 

course, several more to call for further research. It turns out that judging a short story contest is less labor 

intensive, although some corners were cut. We decided to skip reviewing the literature (start with Homer? 

Mahabharata? Genesis?), but we can discuss Methodology and Results. All identifying information was removed 

from the submissions before they were forwarded to the judge George Northrup, who, although blind, was able 

to read them easily. As a check, NYSPA President Richard Juman also read the submissions, and these two judges 

agreed on the top three entries. Winners received a certificate testifying to these results. 

Congratulations to: 

1 st Place: Ellen Luborsky, PhD, for "Heaven" 

2 nd Place: Ellen Luborsky, PhD, for "Milk and Poison" 

3 rd Place: Sheldon Siporin, for "Self-fulfilling Prophecy" 

Thanks to all the contest entrants for your participation! 

8


SAVE THE DATE 

for the 

NYSPA 76th Annual Convention 

June 1 –2, 2013 

Fashion Institute of Technology 

West 28th Street, between 7th & 8th Avenue, New York, New York 

“Psychology Works: Essential knowledge 

to serve your patients, practice and the profession” 

KEYNOTE ADDRESS 

Allen J. Frances , MD 

"DSM 5- The Uses and Misuses of Psychiatric Diagnosis" 

Saturday, June 1, 2013 

Allen Frances, M.D., was chair of the DSM-IV Task Force and of the department 

of psychiatry at Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC. He 

is currently professor emeritus at Duke. Additionally, he is author of two 

books related to DSM 5: "Saving Normal" and "Essentials of Psychiatric 

Diagnosis". 

In his keynote address to NYSPA, Dr Frances will speak on topics related to diagnoses and 

diagnostic system in psychiatry, focusing on the work on the new DSM V manual, to be released 

May 2013. Dr Frances led the work on the previous DSM IV manual and has been central in the 

discussion about new diagnoses. 

Other guest presenters include 

Barry Anton, PhD, ABPP—”Building a Collaborative Practice” 

David Ballard, PhD, MBA—”Using Social Media to Market your Practice” 

Michael Schoppmann, Esq—”Starting a Private Practice” 

NYSPA Suicide Prevention Grant Presentation 

Additional programs will be solicited, reviewed and announced later. If you are interested in 

submitting a presentation for the convention look for he call for presentations next week. 

Topics that will be considered for the NYSPA 76 th Annual Convention include practice 

development—covering all areas of practice, evidence-based and best practice approaches. 

The convention objective is to broadly cover practice issues that will assist professionals in 

NY to grow with changing models, maintain success and continue to treat their patients 

utilizing the most current resources available. 

9


NYSPA Awards and Recognitions 

Allen V Williams Memorial Award 

Dianne Polowczyk, PhD 


The Allen V. Williams Award is NYSPA's highest honor and is 

given on the basis of any one, or more, of the following criteria: 

sustained service to the profession; significant involvement 

in the broad issue of the profession; a unique contribution 

to the profession; and a unique contribution to NYSPA. 

Acceptance speech for the Allen V. 

Williams Memorial Award 

Select this link for the full speech 

Thank you. I am thrilled and honored 

to receive the Allen V. Williams Award. 

As a candidate for this award I was 

honored as well, to be in the company 

of such esteemed colleagues, Maury 

Lacher and Jerry Grodin, each of 

whom has contributed greatly to 

NYSPA and the profession of psychology. 

My heartfelt thanks goes to the 

awards committee for putting my 

name forward, to George Northrup for 

nominating me, to the council of 

representatives who voted on the 

award and to the many wonderful 

psychologists that I’ve had the good 

fortune to work with over the years. 

I’d like to share with you briefly some 

of my experiences with NYSPA since I 

hope to communicate how we as an 

organization have progressed over the 

years and to give hope to those new to 

NYSPA, students, early career psychologists 

and others who may 

encounter some bumps in the road as 

they become more involved in NYSPA 

activities and governance. 

I have memories of my managed care 

task force days, as chair and co-chair 

of that task force and the outstanding 

advocacy work we did and of the 

wonderful meetings at Cathy 

Masterson’s apartment with highly 

motivated and talented people 

producing an incredible amount of 

important work. Suddenly out of the 

blue we were summoned to appear 

before the Executive Committee of 

NYSPA (never a good sign back then). 

When we met with the EC we were 

told.. if you could believe it.. that we 

were doing too much and that we 

should reign ourselves in and that we 

were in danger of taking over NYSPA. 

Though disappointed in the reaction 

we received for all our hard work, 

many of us continued on the managed 

care task force. Eventually we became 

involved in the establishment of 

the Psychologically Healthy Workplace 

Award project. With Sharon Brennan 

as my co-chair we began organizing 

this project in June 2001 with a deadline 

for an awards ceremony in June of 

2002. However, another major obstacle 

surfaced - 9/11. Most of us were in 

one way or another involved with this 

crisis, either working at ground zero or 

elsewhere in the city with survivors of 

the disaster. We postponed our work 

to January 2002 when we began working 

feverishly, almost round the clock, 

cold calling companies, soliciting their 

applications, setting up training 

programs for site evaluations etc. The 

work of so many talented and 

committed psychologists (35 in all 

from various parts of the state) resulted 

in a spectacular award ceremony in 

June at the beautiful Harmonie Club in 

Manhattan where we awarded not 

only Psychologically Healthy Workplace 

winners but special awards for 

companies that treated their employees 

well during the 9/11 crisis. 

Select this link to read the rest of the speech 

Award on Diversity 

Ruth Ochroch, PhD 


The NYSPA Diversity Award will be presented annually to a psychologist 

who has demonstrated an unusually strong commitment to diversity and 

inclusion through NYSPA's programs and goals. The award recognizes the 

service and passion related to issues of diversity by sustained dedication 

and involvement in NYSPA. 

10

www.NYSPA.org 

Distinguished Service Awards 

Ann Altoonian, PhD (NYSPA Member Since 1996) 

Peter Kanaris, PhD (NYSPA Member Since 1989) 

George Northrup, PhD (NYSPA Member Since 1988) 

This award is presented to psychologists who 

have demonstrated an unusually strong 

commitment to NYSPA‘s program and goals. 

Ann Altoonian, PhD 

Peter Kanaris, PhD 

George Northrup, PhD 

Sydney A. (Bud) Orgel Memorial Award 

Abigail Batchelder, MA 


Inaugurated at the 2005 Annual Convention, 

this award is presented to an early career 

psychologist. 

Foundation of NYSPA Award 

Joanne Lifshin Mentorship Award 

Jerry Grodin, PhD 


The Leadership Institute of the Foundation of NYSPA would like 

to recognize others that exemplify the incredible ability to 

mentor early career psychologist and students to become 

leaders, like the late Dr. Joanne Lifshin. The award will be 

presented annually in conjunction with the annual Leadership 

Institute graduation ceremony. 

11


IPD Lifetime Achievement Award 

Gabrielle Stutman, PhD 


Division Awards 

Independent Practice Division Awards 

Presented for her dedication and outstanding 

leadership to the Independent Practice Division. 

Dorothy Maizel Award 

Frank J. Corigliano, PhD 


Presented by IPD for Dissertation 

Research and includes a $500 

Award for Dr. Corigliano’s 

dissertation research on 

Community Violence Exposure 

and Behavioral and Emotional 

Functioning Among African American and Latino Children 

and Adolescents in a Non-psychiatric Inpatient Sample. 

Grace Lauro Awards 

Autumn Kuklinski (NYSPA Member Since 2012) 

Rebekah L. Layton, PhD (NYSPA Member Since 2012) 

Presented by the Independent Practice Division, 

these awards recognize winners of the student 

poster competition. 

Autumn Kuklinski and Rebekah L. Layton, PhD 

Division of Women’s Interest Awards 

Doctoral Student Awards 

Outstanding Dissertation Award: 

Adriana DiMatteo, PsyD 


(pictured left) 

Honorable Mention: Jessica Houser, PhD 

Julie Taub, PhD 

12


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13


Building a Leadership Culture 

The NYSPA Leadership Institute was an initiative of 2010 President Jerold Grodin in fulfilling his commitment to foster 

new leaders and supporting early career psychologists. The mission of the Institute is to develop leadership within the 

profession to carry out ongoing efforts and develop new initiatives as the profession changes. Click here to learn more 

about the Leadership Institute. 

In 2010, the Inaugural class was selected by the committee and mentored through the programs development. This 

class was an integral part of the success of future leadership classes as they assisted in the evolution of the experience 

and then as alumni of the program recruit nominees for leadership candidates. Each class thereafter have completed 

an application process, including an interview, once chosen they have to agree to the demands of the program. 

This year we have a strong alumni base and we are excited as the fellows progress and grow after graduation. NYSPA 

has benefited by gaining division and regional leaders, council representatives, committee members and subcommittee 

chairs. Another benefit is the class project, each class completes a project that will benefit the association, 

the profession and can be replicated by Division, Regions or other state psychological associations. Please take a 

moment to review each class project in these articles and at the links in each article. 

14 

Above (l to r) Alyson Skinner, BA, Nick Tolchin, 

PhD, Alexa Polverino, PhD 

The Inaugural Class of NYSPA’s 

Leadership Institute 

Below (l to r) Alexis Kahan, PsyD, Smith 

Kidkarndee, MA, Hilary Bertisch, PhD 

A Fellow’s Reflection on the 

2010-2011 Leadership 

Institute Project 

Alyson Skinner, BA 


In aiming to construct a meaningful and useful project to leave behind as a 

representation of the 2010-11 class of the Leadership Institute, we were 

particularly inspired by NYSPA’s ongoing efforts to attract involvement from 

students and early career psychologists. Each Leadership Institute 

candidate had personally and professionally benefitted from NYSPA 

participation, which allowed us to put our heads together in designing practical 

tools for outreach and recruitment within this particular population. 

The principal element of the project was to create an informational presentation 

that could be modified to appeal to various demographic groups. As 

our primary motivation was to generate interest among students and early 

career psychologists, we designed our model presentation and collateral 

materials in a way that was geared specifically towards these target groups. 

We began by distributing semi-structured surveys to our NYSPA colleagues 

in order to identify the most salient advantages of NYSPA membership for 

the student and early career groups. Based on the feedback, additional 

components included in our presentation consisted of customized 

brochures, social media resources (e.g., “NYSPA Newbie” Facebook page), 

and info sheets to provide a quick snapshot of NYSPA benefits. Before our 

Leadership Institute year came to a close, we held a demonstration presentation 

to which we invited NYSPA leadership, the incoming Leadership class, 

and NYSPA staff. We hope to have left behind a number of valuable tools for 

increasing student and early career presence in NYSPA, along with the 

overarching atmosphere of enthusiasm, commitment, and support that 

characterized the Leadership Institute’s inaugural class. 

Download the Program here. 

Download the brochure here.


A Fellow’s Reflection on the 2011-12 Leadership Institute Project 

Daniel Kaplin, MA, CASAC 


This article focuses on our year as leadership 

fellows and well as reflects on 

different leadership styles. Leadership 

refers to the ability to collaborate with 

others towards a common goal (Chermers, 

1997; Cohen, Lee, & McIlwraith, 2012). Whenever 

a person commits to being in a 

position of leadership, it comes with both 

opportunity and responsibility (Cohen et 

al., 2012). 

The 2011-12 Leadership Institute Class 

The Leadership Institute is no different in 

this respect. As fellows, we were provided 

the opportunity to be exposed to 

NYSPA council, which is responsible for 

determining the direction of our profession 

in New York State. Moreover, we 

had the opportunity to interact and build 

relationships with the current leadership 

of NYSPA. This is an invaluable 

opportunity for those whom wish to 

assume leadership positions in the future. 

Fellows of the program, are responsible 

for developing a product that would 

contribute to NYSPA and the field of 

psychology. Each fellow is assigned a 

mentor, but are encouraged to be as 

autonomous as possible. 

Our group decided to create a promotional 

video that could be disseminated 

to politicians, psychology students, and 

the layperson to increase awareness 

about psychology (Kaplin, 2012). We 

utilized the strength of NYSPA, being its 

divisions, regional affiliates, and 

members, as a source of funding and 

representation. We were fortunate 

enough to have the following divisions 

represented in the video: Academic, 

Addictions, Adult Development and 

Aging, Clinical, the Division of Race, 

Culture and Ethnicity), Early Career 

Psychologists, Forensic, Independent 

Practice, Psychoanalysis, Public Sector, 

School Psychology, Social Issues and the 

Division of Women’s issues. We would 

like to thank all of the contributors and 

supports of the project. 

Video’s will be available 

October 1, 2012. 

As research suggests, the process of 

breaking a large task down into smaller 

concrete tasks can help eliminate the 

problem of planning fallacy (Koole & Spijker, 

2000). Being cognizant of this, our team 

set the direction of our project at our first 

meeting at the 2011 NYSPA Convention, 

developed a fundraising campaign in September 

2011, started interviewing in 

February 2012, started editing in April 

2012, and showcased our promotional 

video at the June 2012 NYSPA Convention. 

In sum, our success was predicated 

on the awareness that we had one year 

to complete our goals and there was 

minimal room for procrastination. NYSPA 

will display these full-length videos and 

the integrated promotional video on the 

NYSPA YouTube channel. 

Leadership Styles in Action 

Research suggests that there is a strong 

association between parenting and 

leadership styles (Ferguson, Hagaman, Grice, 

& Peng, 2006). There are four types 

parenting styles: authoritative, authoritarian, 

permissive and disengaged 

(Baumrind, 1996). I would suggest that a 

person could determine their leadership 

style, albeit imperfectly, by attending to 

their parenting style. 

Thus, an authoritative parent, who is very 

warm and compassionate, but has high 

expectations with their children will 

demonstrate a democratic leadership 

style (Baumrind, 1996; Ferguson et al., 2006). 

An authoritarian parent, who has high 

demands, but displays little warmth, will 

exhibit an autocratic leadership style 

(Baumrind, 1996; Ferguson et al., 2006). Lastly, 

a permissive parent, who is very warm, 

but has low demands on their child, will 

exhibit a laissez faire leadership style 

(Baumrind, 1996; Ferguson et al., 2006). My 

experience is that the disengaged parent 

generally does not seek to be in a 

position of leadership. 

A core component of the Leadership Institute 

is to help fellows develop greater 

self-awareness of their leadership style to 

put them in a position to assume leadership 

positions. This is accomplished by 

putting many highly ambitious individuals 

together to work on a project. Our group 

was extremely diverse and we were 

faced with experiences that encouraged 

us to balance our leadership style with 

the leadership style of our peers. I 

believe that the Leadership Institute is 

successful in accomplishing its goals as 

every member my class took advantage 

of the opportunities provided and have 

assumed positions within NYSPA and its 

regional affiliates. 

In conclusion, NYSPA invests considerable 

resources into the Leadership Institute to 

ensure that it is a meaningful experience 

for everyone involved. My observation 

was that, self-awareness, collaboration 

and effective time management are 

crucial elements to successful completion 

of the Leadership Institute. I would 

suggest that the Leadership Institute is a 

wonderful opportunity for an emerging 

leader to develop self-awareness, 

contribute to the field of psychology, and 

become more involved in leadership. 

References: 

Baumrind, D. (1996). The discipline 

controversy revisited. Family Relations, 45(4), 

405-414. 

Chemers M. (1997) An integrative theory of 

leadership. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum 

Associates Publishers. 

Cohen, K. R., Lee, C. M., & McIlwraith, R. 

(2012). The psychology of advocacy and the 

advocacy of psychology. Canadian Psychology, 

53(3), 151-158. doi:10.1037/a0027823 

Ferguson, E., Hagaman, J., Grice, J. W., & 

Peng, K. (2006). From leadership to 

parenthood: The applicability of leadership 

styles to parenting styles. Group Dynamics: 

Theory, Research, and Practice, 10(1), 43-56. 

doi:10.1037/1089-2699.10.1.43 

Kaplin, D. (2012, May). The adventures of 

being a Leadership Fellow from an experiential 

perspective. Clinical Perspectives, 12, 3-4. 

Koole, S., & Spijker, M. (2000). Overcoming 

the planning fallacy through willpower: Effects 

of implementation intentions on actual and 

predicted task-completion times. European 

Journal of Social Psychology, 30(6), 873- 

888. 15


Class of 2011-12 Graduation 

Adriana DiMatteo, PsyD with 

Jerry Grodin, PhD; mentor 

Valerie Abel, PhD 

(not pictured) 

Anu Raj, PsyD with mentor 

Mark Grey, PhD 

(l tor) Adriana DiMatteo, PsyD, Dan Kaplin, MA, 

Camille Sinclair, PhD, Jeanette Sawyer-Cohen, PhD, 

Kenya Malcolm, PhD, Anu Raj, PsyD 

Eric Neblung, PhD, mentor 

for fellow Dan Kaplin, MA 

Kenya Malcolm, PhD with 

mentor Christine Allen, PhD 

Camille Sinclair, PhD with 

mentor Lori Wagner, PhD 

Jeanette Sawyer-Cohen, PhD with 

mentor Jerry Grodin, PhD 

Introducing the 2012-2013 Class of the 

NYSPA LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE 

(L to R) Aviva Gaskill, PhD, Samantha Johnston, PsyD, MSEd, Lauren Kois, MA, Luba Roytburd, PhD, Megan Eliot, PhD 

16

www.NYSPA.org 

Megan Eliot, PhD 

Aviva Gaskill, PhD 

Dr. Eliot earned her PhD in Clinical and School Psychology from the University of Virginia in 2009. She is 

currently employed as a Staff Psychologist and Assistant Clinical Professor at the St. Lukes'-Roosevelt 

Hospital Center for Comprehensive Care, the largest HIV care clinic in New York State, where she 

provides services to children and adults in both English and Spanish. She recently completed a one-year 

program in psychodynamic psychotherapy at the National Institute of Psychotherapies and also 

volunteers as a psychological examiner for HealthRight International . Dr. Eliot's research interests 

include clinical applications of attachment theory and treatment interventions for chronic childhood 

trauma. She believes in the importance of political advocacy on behalf of the field of psychology in order 

to protect the future of the profession and to ensure that high quality services are available to underserved 

populations. Dr. Eliot is a member of NYSPA and APA. 

Dr. Gaskill earned a PhD from Yeshiva University in Clinical Psychology with Health Emphasis in 2011. 

Dr. Gaskill has a vested interest in healthcare reform and the role of psychologists in the primary care 

doctor’s office. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow providing psychotherapy to individuals and groups 

in assisted living facilities, nursing homes, and rehabilitation centers. She continues to pursue an interest 

in group psychotherapy planning to earn her Certification in Group Psychotherapy (CGP). She currently 

works as a consultant for Psych Internship Prep, assisting graduate students as they apply for APA accredited 

internships. Dr. Gaskill is a board member of the Westchester Group Psychotherapy Society and 

a member of NYSPA, APA, and the Westchester County Psychological Association. 

Lauren Kois, MA 

Lauren Kois is a PhD student focusing on Clinical Forensic Psychology with an anticipated graduation 

date of May 2016. She is working on research projects in conjunction with Mount Sinai School of 

Medicine and the Race and Community Effects Lab of John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Ms. Kois is 

the immediate past chair for the American Psychology – Law Society (AP-LS) Student Section and is the 

current student representative for the AP-LS Professional Development of Women Committee and is a 

student member of NYSPA. Ms. Kois believes that research, teaching, clinical work, and service to the 

profession are all integral to her development as a psychologist. 

Dr. Johnston earned her PsyD in School-Clinical Child Psychology from Pace University in 2010. She 

currently works as a psychologist in the Family Court Mental Health Services through the New York 

City Health and Hospitals Corporation. She completes court-ordered forensic evaluations for juvenile 

delinquency matters, child abuse and neglect proceedings, termination of parental rights proceedings, 

and emergency assessments. She is also an adjunct professor in Pace University's doctoral program. 

Dr. Johnston plans to continue working with underserved populations, providing direct clinical 

services, including individual, family, and group therapy, as well as assessments. Her long-term goal is 

to open a private practice working with adolescents and young adults. Dr. Johnston feels that having a 

Samantha Johnston, network of other mental health professionals is particularly important for continued growth and 

PsyD, MSEd development as a psychologist. Dr. Johnston is a member of NYSPA and APA. 

Luba Roytburd, PhD 

Dr. Roytburd is a psychologist with a PhD in Counseling Psychology from University at Albany, SUNY 

2005. She owns a private practice providing psychotherapy, assessment, and consultation including 

bilingual services (Russian) to children, adolescents, and adults in Manhattan and Queens. Dr. 

Roytburd is also an adjunct assistant professor at Manhattan College's Graduate Counseling programs. 

She has a career goal to head up a multidisciplinary innovative group private practice, which provides 

services to the community in the areas of assessment, individual, and group therapy. Dr. Roytburd 

would like to work towards encouraging more collaboration between psychologists and mental health 

professionals from different disciplines to ensure the best services possible are provided to clients. 

Dr. Roytburd is a member of NYSPA and APA’s Division 42. 

17


18

www.NYSPA.org 

APA Council Rep 

George Northrup, PhD 


Dianne Polowczyk, PhD 


New York is represented by two 

representatives to the APA Council of 

Representatives. These representatives 

meet two times a year to decide on 

policy for APA. This report is from the 

meeting held in conjunction with the 

APA Annual Convention, held in August 

in Orlando, FL this year. 

Wednesday began early with Caucus 

meetings starting at 7:00 am, an eighthour 

Council meeting, and then more 

caucus meetings. Besides being a 

mountain range in Asia, the Caucuses 

are various interest groups seeking to 

influence APA decision making. This 

day was the Association of Practicing 

Psychologists, which has begun a 

concerted effort to address the shortage 

of internship positions. We were 

impressed with its agenda, which also 

includes media campaigns on behalf 

of psychologists in private practice. 

Back to the Council meeting. Two 

very significant motions were 

approved. One was a resolution on 

the effectiveness of psychotherapy, 

which was overwhelmingly affirmed 

(153 Yes, 2 No, 1 Abstain). This 

resolution has been several years in 

the works, vetted and re-vetted obsessively. 

Though the acknowledgement 

by APA of psychotherapy’s value is 

absurdly overdue (say, 50 years or so), 

it is nonetheless a historic moment 

reflecting, we think, a shift in the right 

direction and away from the “better 

find another niche in which to 

practice” mentality. 

The second resolution was the 

Internship Stimulus Package, a threeyear, 

$3 million effort intended not to 

help create new internship positions 

per se, but perhaps several hundred 

newly accredited internship slots. 

Gaining accreditation by APA is 

expensive for programs sponsoring 

interns, and this package addresses 

that problem while also helping to 

build some momentum for practice 

issues. We both supported the package, 

George addressed the Council 

pointing out that much more needs to 

be done on behalf of newly minted 

psychologists burdened with historic 

levels of educational debt and facing 

1980s’ level managed care reimbursements 

as well as declining Medicare 

rates. 

Much of the afternoon on Wednesday 

was taken up with the Good Governance 

Project, an ambitious attempt to 

reform APA governance by making it 

more nimble and better able to prioritize 

its work. Council broke into 

small groups to discuss various reform 

scenarios (essentially incremental, 

moderate, and drastic), with an emerging 

consensus somewhere between 

moderate and drastic. Council members 

were clearly excited about the 

possibility of making meaningful 

changes that would allow the 

Association to focus more on “big 

ideas” and less on rubber stamping 

routine administrative issues. 

Budget and Finance. APA expects 

to spend about $116 million this year, 

with a $400 thousand budget surplus. 

It uses less than half of its real estate 

income of $8.6 million for operating 

expenses, with the bulk of this income 

going into the long term stock and 

bond investment portfolio, now worth 

about $67 million. Revenue is 

expected to grow next year, with 

another surplus likely. 

Public Education. APA is poised to 

publicize passage of the resolution on 

the effectiveness of psychotherapy 

with a press release next week and a 

five week campaign just before and 

during October, which is Depression 

Awareness month. Another initiative 

(“Psychology: Science in Action”) 

will promote our image as a hard 

science, trying to update the public’s 

impression that psychology is mainly 

a health service profession. APA 

pledges not to de-emphasize practice 

issues even as it raises the profile on 

scientific research. 

At Friday’s meeting, Council was 

briefed on the development of the 

World Health Organization’s ICD-11. 

Psychologists have been playing a 

major role in this revision, with active 

support by APA. One source indicated 

ICD-11 will displace DSM-V in 

2014. Presidential citations were 

awarded to two psychologists spearheading 

the effort. 

Council voted overwhelmingly to 

recommend changing APA bylaws to 

offer Council seats and voting 

privileges to the four ethnic minority 

psychological associations (Asian- 

American, Black, Indian [Native 

American], and Latina/o). Twice previously, 

the vote by APA membership 

has narrowly fallen short of the 2/3 

majority required to adopt this bylaws 

change. The problem may be with the 

“Pro” and “Con” statements that 

ordinarily must accompany a bylaws 

revision; these apparently suggest to 

the voting membership that an issue is 

hotly contested when that may not be 

the case at all. 

Once upon a time, Council attempted 

to amend the bylaws to delete the 

“Pro” ”Con” requirement. This change 

also had a “Pro” and “Con” statement 

attached to it and was, predictably, 

also defeated by the membership. 

Council received a lengthy Report on 

Educational Disparities from a Task 

Force that had been created by former 

APA President Melba Vasquez. 

19


Psychologically Healthy Workplace 

Mark Edison, PhD 


Psychology Workplace Network Representative to APA 

In the spring of 2012, NYSPA President 

Richard Juman decided to re-energize 

NYSPA's Psychologically Healthy Workplace 

Awards (PHWA) Committee. He 

asked if I would consider chairing the 

committee. Upon learning the details 

of the committee functions as presented 

by APA’s Jessica McKenzie 

Peterson, Operations Manager for 

Marketing & Business Development I 

agreed and became very exciting 

about this opportunity. The committee 

would have the opportunity to 

work with organizations of all types, 

from across the state of New York, 

who are implementing programs and 

policies that foster employee health 

and well-being while enhancing organizational 

performance. Our efforts 

would recognize and promote 

psychologically healthy workplaces 

and be a vehicle for educating communities 

on these practices. 

Anyone can nominate organizations 

that they feel meet the criteria to be 

awarded a psychologically healthy 

workplace. The committee will 

evaluate each nominated workplace in 

five areas: 

Employee involvement 

Work-life balance 

Employee recognition 

Health and safety 

Growth and development 

Awards will be given each year to 

three types of organizations: Forprofit 

companies, non-profits, and 

educational and military organizations. 

The goal is to promote concern for 

employees across New York State 

while also showing the public that psychologists 

perform valuable work in 

addition to treating mentally-troubled 

individuals. 

The PHWA initiative began in 1999 by 

the American Psychological Association 

(APA). States vary in the degree 

to which they participate, and every 

state winner is then considered for 

national recognition from APA. The 

leaders of the winning organizations 

Schizophrenic Insight 

Robert M. Lichtman , PhD 


are invited to Washington, DC for an 

awards ceremony each March and the 

state psychological association that 

represents these winners are honored 

hosts. Winning organizations in New 

York State will also receive awards and 

recognition with press coverage and 

distribution of their story throughout 

the state. 

The committee is currently accepting 

nominations for the 2013 award year. 

If you are aware of an organization 

that fits this description you can start 

the simple process of nominating 

them by sending an e-mail to PWN 

Representative and Committee Chair, 

Mark Edison. If you like where you 

work, you can nominate your own 

organization. The Committee will take 

it from there. 

For more information on the award 

and the criteria visit www.phwa.org. 

At this site you will also find resources 

for employers and tools for psychologists. 

This morning I was running my weekly “Stress Reduction Skills Group” along with my co-leader, Michael. One of 

the patients in the group was staring at Michael intently, without turning his head away. I pointed out to the 

patient that staring at people like he was doing makes the person being stared at very uncomfortable. The 

patient responded by saying, “I was not staring at him, I was only looking at him at the times that you chose to 

look in my direction.” 

The experience reminded me of my youngest son who began smoking when he was in high school, and it 

seemed that every time I was around him he had a lit cigarette in his mouth. My usual reaction was, “You are 

smoking far too much, and it is going to affect your health.” His rejoinder usually went something like this, 

“Dad, I am not smoking a lot, it’s just that whenever you see me, I had just lit one up.” Enough said! 

20 

Robert M. Lichtman is a specialist in the assessment and treatment of Co-Occurring Mental Health and Substance 

Use Disorders.

www.NYSPA.org 

Suicide Prevention Grant 

Shane Owens, PhD, Task Force Chair 


With the assistance of a mini-grant 

from the Mental Health Association of 

New York State, the NYSPA Suicide 

Prevention Task Force (SPTF) has been 

established. This is a group of NYSPA 

members who will be responsible for 

new efforts to educate psychologists, 

social workers, mental health 

counselors, and other healthcare 

providers about suicide prevention, 

assessment, and treatment. In service 

of this goal, the SPTF will be 

responsible for the production and 

dissemination of a video on suicidality 

that will feature NSYPA President Dr. 

Richard Juman and the Project Director 

of the National Suicide Pretention will assist the task force in the 

Lifeline, Dr. John Draper. The short production of the video. Another 

video will serve as an introduction to 

other resources and training that will 

cover issues including epidemiology, 

preventative and risk factors, methods 

of assessment, standards of care, and 

meeting with OMH is being arranged 

for early September, as is the next 

task force conference call. The task 

force plans to present the project at 

NYSPA’s Annual Convention and then 

evidence-based interventions for at the meetings of NYSPA divisions 

suicidal thinking and behavior. and regional psychological associations, 

Members of the nascent task force 

have met with Drs. Juman and Draper 

to discuss the video and other relevant 

activities, and Dr. Juman has 

and we plan for the video to be 

available online through the NYSPA 

website and through other social 

media. 

made contact with staff at the Office 

of Mental Health (OMH) and the 

Suicide Prevention Center of NY, that 

Download the grant proposal at this 

link. 

21


NYSPA’s Free Referral Service 

Would you like people looking for a psychologist to find you via the 

FIND A PSYCHOLOGIST link on the NYSPA website? The referral 

service has been revised to allow more search options and so that you 

can upload a photo and personal statement. As a NYSPA member you 

can list your practice information for free. Please complete the below 

outlined actions to participate in the referral service. 

Resource Details 

NYSPA is proud to offer the 

valuable, confidential Referral 

Services resource which helps 

consumers and professionals 

find conveniently located 

licensed psychologists who can 

resolve their problems. The 

Referral Service is a FREE 

MEMBER BENEFIT available 

to qualified* NYSPA 

members. 

*To qualify to receive this free 

member benefit you must meet 

the following criteria: 

 

Be a member in good standing 

with NYSPA 

 

Be properly licensed and eligible 

to practice psychology in the 

state of New York 

 

Hold professional liability 

insurance (at a minimum of $1M) 

 

Completion of a Referral 

Profile 

View policies and regulations 

Interested in Getting Involved? 

Take the below steps to register: 

 

 

 

 

Log in to the members section of the NYSPA website - www.nyspa.org. 

In the Membership Menu, located under NYSPA's logo, select the link 

to Create/Edit Referral Service Profile 

Complete the profile - you should allow 10 -15 minutes to complete the 

profile as you will want to carefully select the appropriate options. 

*Please be aware that once you begin to populate your profile, 

you cannot save and return; you must complete in one sitting. 

To review the listing of Insurance companies and the personal interest 

categories in advance select the links below to download the listing. 

Insurance Company listing-Click here to review 

Personal Interest listing- Click here to review 

As you complete the profile, if there are items that you do not see an option 

to list and would like it to be available on your profile add this is the Personal 

Statement and/or Comments section where appropriate. 

Your information will be searchable in the Referral database by the general 

public and other referring professionals. NYSPA actively recruits referral 

sources through physicians, attorneys and related agencies. NYSPA also 

conducts an active public awareness campaign to encourage members of 

the public to use this resource when looking for a psychologist. We have a 

good cross section of psychologists from all areas of the state and across 

the spectrum of practice areas so this referral source will be a valuable resource 

for those seeking psychological care. 

22 

If you have any trouble populating your information or have other 

questions, please feel free to contact a member of Central Office at 

nyspa@nyspa.org, or call 800-732-3933.


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23


Legislative Update 

June Feder, PhD 


Legislative Committee Chair 

Advocacy for psychology remains one 

of NYSPA’s primary roles for its members. 

To that end, we continually evaluate 

our agenda and what we need to 

move it forward. We consider the next 

couple of years as critical for the future 

of psychology in New York State. With 

health care reform on the horizon and 

ensuing changes in delivery of services 

and nature of practice, it is vital for us 

to have a strong presence and voice 

among legislators and other leaders in 

our state including agency officials and 

regulators. 

To that end, NYSPA’s Council of Representatives 

voted to retain the services 

of Meara, Avella and Dickinson to provide 

our lobbying representation. This 

is a very well connected lobby firm that 

has already helped us to take some 

important steps for connecting with 

legislators, introducing bills and assisting 

with developing strategy. With 

the addition of our new Director of Professional 

Affairs, Dr. Jerry Grodin, a 

crackerjack legislative committee and 

strong advocacy from our current and 

upcoming presidents, Dr. Richard Juman 

and Dr. Eric Neblung and our extremely 

hard-working executive director, 

Tracy Russell – we are poised to 

move ahead. 

The Legislative Committee meets 

throughout the year to address issues 

as they arise. Legislative Committee 

leadership members are in constant 

contact. The committee membership 

represents the Divisions of NYSPA and 

the Regional Psychological Associations 

throughout the state. The committee 

makes every effort to address 

compelling issues relevant to its 

members needs. 

PLLC Bill 

PLLC – Corporate Practice of Medicine 

Act: NYSPA has been working on 

changing the corporate practice of 

medicine law which currently precludes 

physicians from entering into legal 

partnerships (PLLCs) with psychologists. 

This is particularly critical for our 

interests. Our subcommittee on this 

issue has developed draft legislation. 

Great news - at the end of the 2011-12 

Legislative Session we were successful 

in obtaining a primary sponsor in both 

the Senate and the Assembly for our 

PLLC bill—S07460/SA10777. We are 

very grateful for the support of Senator 

Roy McDonald and Assemblyman David 

Weprin. This bill will be reintroduced in 

the 2013-14 Legislative Session and we 

will begin to actively seek co-sponsors 

with the goal of getting the bill passed 

as quickly as possible. 

Insurance Reform Law of 2011/ABA’s 

In 2011 autism advocates were successful 

in passing the Insurance Reform Law 

which mandates that insurance 

providers reimburse for autism 

treatment services including applied 

behavioral analysis. 

NYSPA’s legislative committee has met 

with NYS Education Department (SED) 

and are following up with the Department 

of Insurance (DOI) as these 

regulations are developed to ensure the 

implementation of these services in 

alignment with practice laws and safety 

for consumers of these services. We 

are also reviewing legislative initiatives 

that would facilitate provision of these 

services according to the highest 

standards of practice. Our plans will be 

discussed and reviewed at September’s 

Council Meeting. 

Sequence of Training 

NYSPA has been working on this issue 

for a few years. The goal is to change 

SED regulation to allow licensure 

eligible students in psychology to have 

the option to complete training 

requirement before graduation. 

The subcommittee has worked to clarify 

SED objections to this change, organize 

data and develop an advocacy strategy. 

Neuropsychology Technicians 

NYSPA continues to work toward a 

solution on this issue. Our goal is to 

implement a strategy for the use of 

neuropsychology technicians in line 

with terms of draft bill approved by 

NYSPA Council referred to as “Draft 

#11.” 

We will continue to advocate for SED 

administrative action in collaboration 

with NYSAN in accord with “draft #11” 

and plan a strategy for legislative 

solution. 

Anti-Torture Legislation 

An ongoing effort of NYSPA has to been 

to advocate for passage of a bill to 

prohibit abuse and torture of individuals 

under interrogation in NYS prisons. 

Assemblyman Gottfried and Senator 

Tom Duane have been the primary 

sponsors of this bill S06795/A5891-A. 

Senator Duane is retiring from the NY 

Senate and will not seek re-election. 

The bill will have to be reintroduced in 

2013 with a new Senate sponsor. 

Concussion Management Law: 

In 2011 the Concussion Awareness and 

Management Act took effect July 2012. 

This law provided greatly needed 

guidelines for concussion management 

and education in school athletics. We 

were not successful in our efforts prior 

to passage to include psychologists as a 

mandated part of the concussion 

management team. We have continued 

to cite psychologists as among those 

providers able to make return to play 

decisions for student athletes who 

sustain head injuries. 

24


Why should I be involved with 

Political Action for Psychology? 

Select this link to learn 

“The Truth”… 

Select this link to get involved 

and support “The Truth”... 

25


26 

As we enter the fall of my 4th year as 

NYSPA’s Executive Director I can’t 

help but reflect on how busy and 

productive the last four years have 

been. Each year has had its challenges 

and each year has resulted in 

accomplishments that will benefit the 

association and the profession for 

years to come. 

These accomplishments are the result 

of great leaders coming together and 

making change happen. It is a result 

of volunteers not being afraid to take 

the risk that they may fail to get to 

the best solution. It is a result of great 

professionals doing great work. 

In 2009, under the leadership of Dr. 

George Northrup, NYSPA began a 

mission to reduce spending and begin 

to ensure that the organization would 

be solid for years to come. This effort 

does not happen over night and requires 

the acceptance of a lot of 

change. We moved Central Office to a 

new and more cost-effective space, 

changed our approach to spending 

and began to embrace technology so 

we could be more inclusive of 

members across the state. Now in 

2012 we are on track to balance the 

Association budget, producing regular 

webinars, successfully holding webbased 

committee meetings and 

reviewing the association structure to 

assure relevance for the future. 

Dr. Jerry Grodin, 2010 President, 

launched the Leadership Institute 

under the Foundation of NYSPA. The 

Institute has just graduated its 2nd 

class of fellows resulting in new 

leaders within regions, divisions, 

committees and on NYSPA’s Council. 

This effort has also stimulated a 

renewed interest and involvement in 

the association from the early and 

Message from 

NYSPA Executive Director 

Tracy Russell, CAE 

middle career base of psychologists. 

These energetic and forward thinking 

leaders will learn from the mentoring 

of our seasoned leaders and together 

will be the foundation for NYSPA’s 

sustainability and future relevance in 

a rapidly changing environment. 

In 2011, Dr. Donna Rasin-Waters led 

NYSPA to address the change in the 

healthcare delivery and payment systems. 

She took a hands-on, straightforward 

approach, leading the 

country with the first “think tank” to 

begin the dialog. NYSPA created a 

model that other states followed, asking 

the hard questions and being 

proactive in the effort to maintain 

psychology in the new structures. 

With involvement and input from all 

areas of psychology, NYSPA’s efforts 

stimulated committees and opened 

opportunities to get a “seat at the 

table” for psychology in New York. 

This year our President, Dr. Richard 

Juman, has created connections for 

psychology by building relations with 

other organizations with a similar or 

related focus. NYSPA members serve 

on committees that will influence the 

NYS Health Exchange, have built 

relationships with leaders of the 

Mental Health Association of NY, the 

NYS Psychiatric Association , NASW— 

NY Chapter and within several NYS 

agencies. The Foundation of NYSPA 

received a grant to educate and 

promote suicide prevention education 

to health professionals, working with 

OMH and the Suicide Prevention 

Council of NYS. NYSPA hired a 

Director of Professional Affairs and 

secured the services of a top-ranked 

lobby firm to build stronger 

relationships with state legislators. 

These efforts will continue to produce 

positive results over the coming years. 

NYSPA’s committees have also made 

many strides over the years. 

The Committee on Psychotherapy 

Practice (CPP), co-chaired by Drs. 

Barbara Fontana and Frank Goldberg, 

is seeing results of their “Working 

Together” campaign to promote 

psychologists working in private 

practice. They have established 

relationships with the NYS Academy 

of Family Physicians to encourage 

referrals to psychologists as an option 

in completing their patient’s care. CPP 

has been a major influence in the 

most recent APA Public Education 

campaign - “Psychotherapy Effectiveness: 

What Makes it Work?” 

NYSPA’s Legislative Committee has 

encourage participation from divisions 

and regions to build a representative 

committee with a wide-span of 

expertise. This year, assisted by our 

new lobbyist, NYSPA has had a very 

busy and successful year. See the report 

on page 24 for details. We will 

begin 2013 very strong with new 

relationships and legislative support. 

In 2013 it will be my honor to serve 

as the Chair of the Council of Executives 

of State and Provincial Psychological 

Associations (CESPPA) for APA. 

This position is elected by my peers 

and is an opportunity represent 

NYSPA on a national level. This will 

allow opportunities for NY to have 

representation on many national 

committees and to spotlight the great 

work happening in our state to 

advance psychology. 

As we move forward in 2013 under 

the leadership of Dr. Eric Neblung, we 

will continue to do great things and 

continue to set a positive example for 

psychology across the nation. 

Thank you for your confidence in me 

to serve as your Executive Director 

and for all of the hard work and commitment 

that is put forth by NYSPA 

volunteers. 

Please feel free to contact me anytime 

at trussell@nyspa.org.


Committee Service at NYSPA 

Are you interested in getting more involved with NYSPA. Consider serving on a committee. There are many 

opportunities that will allow you to share your expertise in a meaningful way. Committee’s that have current 

vacancies or will be recruiting for 2013 include: 

 

 

 

Continuing Education Committee—committee member reviews all programs applying for CE 

accreditation. Using the APA guidelines the committee determines the accreditation approval and 

oversees the certificate award process. All work is done online through a private list serve and 

conference calls where required 

Editorial Policy Committee— The committee is divided into subcommittees overseeing the 

publications and communications of NYSPA and the social media interaction. The committee 

maintains the rules of the list serve, selects editors for the NYS Psychologist (annual peer-review 

journal of NYSPA) 

Colleague Assistance Program—The committee needs to be reestablished to provide a state-wide 

peer support program to encourage rehabilitation for member psychologists who are impaired, assist 

in the rehabilitation process, and provide assistance to distressed members in obtaining optimal 

support and treatment. 

See a full list of committees at the NYSPA website—www.nyspa.org/committees. If you are interested in 

committee service send an email to trussell@nyspa.org and indicate the committee of interest. Or contact 

the chair of the committee, all contact information can be found at this link. 

Join a NYSPA Division 

Join with your membership renewal or 

online anytime throughout the year by logging 

in at www.nyspa.org, from the Member 

Menu select “Join a Division”, or call 

NYSPA’s Central office to process by 

phone, 800-732-3933. 

You must be a NYSPA member to join a 

division. Division memberships are FREE for 

student members. 

Academic ($10) 

Addictions ($15) 

Adult Development & Aging ($30) 

Clinical ($25) 

Culture, Race & Ethnicity ($25) 

Early Career Psychologists ($15) 

Forensic Division ($35) 

Group Practice ($10) 

Independent Practice ($30) 

Organizational, Consulting & Work ($15) 

Division of Psychoanalysis ($20) 

Psychologists in the Public Sector ($10) 

School ($10) 

Social Issues & Cross-Cultural ($10) 

Women’s Issues ($10) 

Division Membership 

The New York State Psychological Association has several special 

interest divisions that have been formed to address specific needs, 

education and issues of the different areas of psychological 

practice. Divisions are a vital part of NYSPA's energy and a very 

important member benefit. Each division has their own leadership 

board and dues structure allowing some autonomy under the 

umbrella of the association. If you are interested in more 

information on any of the divisions listed please visit our website 

www.nyspa.org, under the Association tab select Divisions to go to 

the Divisions home page. 

Check out the Division’s page on the NYSPA website. A complete 

list of Divisions can be found at this link. 

19

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