2023 KPA Fall Conference

8:30-10:00 - A Vision for the Future of APA and Psychology, presented by Arthur C Evans Jr PhD- CEO, American Psychological Association

This presentation will provide an overview of APA’s strategic goals and share examples of work that the association is doing to advance each of these goals: Applying psychological knowledge to critical societal issues; Elevating the public’s understanding and use of psychology; Strengthening APA’s standing as an authoritative voice for the field; and Preparing the discipline and the profession of psychology for the future. As part of APA’s work on the latter goal, this presentation will explore the reasons why our nation needs to expand our paradigm to a population-based approach to behavioral health and, importantly, why psychology and psychologists need to be leaders in this movement. From scaling up evidence-informed approaches across systems, to using strategies to reach people before they are in crisis in the places where they live, work, play and pray, to shaping public policy, examples will be shared that make clear how psychological practice and research are essential to advancing this framework, ultimately better addressing the nation’s needs across the continuum of health and achieving greater health equity.

At the conclusion, participants will be able to:

• Describe how APA’s strategic priorities can shape the future of psychology;
• Determine ways in which psychological science and practice can contribute to a population health approach;
• Describe how a population-based framework enables behavioral health professionals to reach diverse, underserved populations.

Arthur C. Evans, Jr., PhD- Clinical and community psychologist, policymaker, and health care innovator Arthur C. Evans Jr., PhD, is CEO of the American Psychological Association, the leading scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States. Evans previously served in public policy positions in Philadelphia and Connecticut, where he led the transformation of their behavioral health systems and their approaches to serving a wide range of individuals with complex needs. An unconventional leader, Evans has employed science, research, community activism, spirituality, traditional clinical care, policy and cross-system collaborations to change the status quo around behavioral health.

Evans has also held faculty appointments at Yale University’s and the University of Pennsylvania’s Schools of Medicine, and he has been the author or co-author of over 60 peer-reviewed research articles and of numerous chapters, reviews and editorials. Over the years he has received national and international recognition, including the American Medical Association’s top government service award in healthcare, the Lisa Mojer-Torres Award from Faces and Voices of Recovery, and the Visionary Leadership Award from the National Council of Behavioral Health, as well as being named as an “Advocate for Action” by the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy. A major emphasis of his career has been equity and social justice and he has received multiple awards named for Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. for this work.

10:30-12:00 - Multicultural Psychology in Organized Psychology and in Theory and Practice- , presented by Cynthia de las Fuentes, PhD

Attendees will be able to:

• Learn a brief history of multiculturalism in psychology
• Be able to describe multiculturalism as a "Fourth Force" in psychotherapy
• Through the presentation of a case study, understand how multiculturalism and intersectionality can be used in a therapeutic relationship.

During her graduate school training, Cynthia de las Fuentes was awarded a United States Congressional Fellowship through the Women’s Research and Education Institute and another fellowship with the Women’s Program Office of the Public Interest Directorate at the American Psychological Association (APA). She earned a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin in 1994 and subsequently became licensed by the State of Texas in 1996. From 1993-2007, she was a tenured associate professor of psychology at Our Lady of the Lake University, an APA accredited doctoral program, and held numerous leadership positions within the university and department including serving as Training Director. Since 2007, she has worked in private practice offering sliding-scale consultation, psychotherapy, and forensic evaluations focusing her expert testimony on the victims of hate crimes, racial, gender, and sexual orientation discrimination and immigration evaluations. Her pro bono work includes training bilingual psychologists in her community on the cultural and linguistic competent delivery of forensic evaluation services to the Latiné immigrant community and delivering self-care and stress management workshops to immigration lawyers and their staff. She has dozens of presentations and publications in her areas of scholarship: ethics in psychology, feminist psychology, multicultural and Latiné psychologies. She is active in governance of the APA where, among other positions, she served as president of the Society for the Psychology of Women, was a member of the Board of Education Affairs, was chair of the Committee for Women in Psychology, served on the APA Council of Representatives representing Division 45, the Society for the Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity and Race, was chair of the Council Leadership Team, and as a member of the Policy and Planning Board. She is a founding member of National Latinx Psychological Association and was elected a member and secretary of the Board of Trustees for the Texas Psychological Association. She is currently the 2024 President of the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Association Services Inc.

1:00-2:30 - The Joys and Challenges of Rural Practice, presented by Lindsay Oram, PhD, Gracie Ellis

This presentation will provide a structured forum to discuss the joys and challenges of practicing in the rural context. Discussion points will include, but will not be limited to, professional isolation, professional boundaries, clinical supervision, financial sustainability, professional competence and unique client needs. There will also be discussion of resources used to target some of the presented challenges.

At the conclusion, participants will be able to:

• Articulate several unique challenges associated with practice in the rural context;
• Articulate several unique benefits associated with practice in the rural context;
• Identify resources that might be useful when working to overcome some of the identified challenges.

Lindsay Oram, PhD received her license to practice psychology in the State of Missouri in 2016 and has a degree from the University of Missouri in School Psychology. She trained in both school settings and clinical placements including the Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopment. Dr. Oram is full time psychology faculty at North Central Missouri College and she owns and operates her private practice, North Central Missouri Psychological Services. She faces unique opportunities and challenges in this very rural context. Dr. Oram specializes in psychological evaluation and delivers school-based services, including consultation and on-site testing. Dr. Oram enjoys student supervision, public speaking, and offers education and consultation to community agencies.

Gracie Ellis is a 3rd year PsyD student at Kansas City University. She received her B.S. in Psychology/Criminal Justice from Northwest Missouri State University in 2021 and her M.A. in Clinical Psychology from Kansas City University in 2023. Gracie spent a year training with Dr. Oram in assessment, diagnostics, and report writing. Currently, she is completing a yearlong practicum with the Missouri Department of Corrections learning to conduct individual and group therapy for offenders. On top of her schooling, she manages a part-time job as a Qualified Mental Health Professional at a rural community mental health center. Gracie has made a point to center her training around various mental health opportunities in the rural community due to the lack of mental health resources in these areas. It is her goal to bring her training and learned skills back to her rural area to begin her career as a psychologist.

3:00-4:30 - Application of the MH Stepped Care Model at the Kansas City VA Medical Center, presented by Peter Jaberg, PhD

The Kansas City VA Medical Center, and surrounding Community Based Outpatient Clinics, apply a stepped care mental health model to meet the needs of our population. This presentation will include introduction and review of stepped models of care, how stepped care is implemented through the VA systems, and how a patient flows through different levels of VA mental health stepped care. The presentation will also include general information about VA systems and programs, general information about the Veterans that we serve, as well as many of the common advantages and challenges to serving as a Psychologist in VA mental health systems.

At the conclusion, participants will be able to:

• Describe at least one version of the implementation of stepped, population-based mental health care, including patient flow through different levels of the system (i.e., both “up” and “down” the steps);
• Know the variety of stepped care services available to Veterans (and their families) through Kansas City VA Medical Center systems;'
• Access national and local resources for connecting Veterans to VA services, including through the Kansas City VA Medical Center (i.e., including crisis resources);
• Understand and appreciate the relative challenges and benefits to service as a Psychologist for the VA (i.e., both more generally and in relation to the stepped-care context), including common ethical and professional considerations and conundrums.

Peter Jaberg started his career as a child/adolescent psychologist, having completed an APA-Accredited internship at the Forest Institute Clinic (associated with the Forest Institute of Professional Psychology) and his Ph.D. in Psychology (Clinical-Child, 2005) from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. He has been licensed since 2006 and has worked in a variety of training/academic, private practice, and VA/Veteran service contexts—re-specializing as a generalist provider, employing behavioral and cognitive-behavioral interventions. He has appreciated opportunities to mentor graduate students, pre-doctoral interns, and post-doctoral staff.  His scholarly/scientific interests include: body image, eating disorder, weight bias, size and shape diversity, mental health stigma, the impact of health information on health behaviors, and stepped systems of care. He started as a contract Compensation and Pension examiner for Veterans in 2012 and became a full-time Compensation and Pension examiner for the Veterans Health Administration in 2015. He has since served the VA and America’s Veterans through the roles of inpatient psychologist, triage psychologist, and Primary Care-Mental Health Integration psychologist. He currently serves as the Primary Care-Mental Health Integration Program Manager at the Kansas City VA Medical Center, and surrounding community-based clinics in western Missouri and eastern Kansas. He appreciates opportunities to educate Veterans, their families and communities, and his colleagues regarding the variety of health and mental health services available through the VA systems.