Congratulations to Joy J. Davis, Ed.D. , CPS adjunct faculty member, on becoming a National Board Certified Teacher, early childhood through young adulthood and school counseling.  This prestigious achievement was awarded by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. .

Shannon Ray, Ph.D., Assistant Professor presented “Enhancing Resiliency and Coping Skills in Displaced Youth and Their Families” at the 48th annual European Branch-American Counseling Association 2007 Conference. The conference on “Advocacy and Professional Counseling: Celebrating the Counseling Profession” was held November 1st through 4th Bad Herrenalb, Germany. The conference was attended by over 150 faculty and counselors from the United States and seven European countries; many attendees are currently working with our active military families and stationed oversees. Scott Poland, Ph.D., Associate Professor also contributed to the design of the presentation.

CPS Associate Professor Scott Poland, Ed.D., and Robin D’Antona, Ed.D.,  gave a keynote address at the Fourth Annual International Bullying Prevention Association Conference on Best Practices in Bullying and School Violence Prevention that took place in Hollywood, Florida November 5-8, 2007. The topic of their address was Bullying, Suicide, and Crisis Intervention.

CPS Professor Participates in NSU/Broward Sheriff’s Office Conference

Vincent Van Hasselt, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology at the Center for Psychological Studies and Director of the Family Violence Program, was a participant in a conference co-sponsored by NSU and the Broward Sheriff’s Office entitled:  “Encountering and Surviving the Threat.”  The purpose of the conference was to provide law enforcement personnel with strategies and information useful for increasing physical and emotional resiliency following lethal encounters.   Dr. Van Hasselt’s presentation, “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder:  Facts and Risk Factors” covered signs and symptoms of this problem in police officers exposed to critical incidents, and reviewed coping methods that have proven effective in preventing stress-related disorders in law enforcement professionals.  He was also part of an expert panel on police trauma which included stress expert Donald Sheehan  (FBI, ret.) and Judy Couwels, Program Coordinator of the Employee Assistance Program for the Broward Sheriff’s Office. 

Lenore Walker, Ph.D. was re-elected to another three year term to the Council of Representatives from Division 46, Media Psychology

Doctoral students completing practicum in the Healthy Lifestyles: Guided Self Change Clinic, under the direction of Professors Mark and Linda Sobell, are continuing to provide services to NSU to support employees working to improve their health. In addition, they are providing psychoeducational training on smoking cessation to the City of Miramar. 

Associate Professor Stephen Campbell and 8 CPS doctoral student volunteers traveled to South Africa and Swaziland on a humanitarian mission.  The mission was part of the Seeds of Hope Outreach (SOHO), a U.S. based nonprofit organization.  Along with Dr. Campbell, the students spent three days in Johannesburg, South Africa and twelve days in Swaziland delivering training on crisis intervention, substance abuse counseling, stress management, stigmatization, and suicide prevention. While in Swaziland, the team traveled to various towns and communities throughout the nation, visiting community centers, orphanages, churches, and schools. The team met with numerous groups addressing issues of orphan relief, HIV/AIDs, and substance abuse.

CPS partnered with the American Red Cross to provide training to mental health professionals on “Disaster Mental Health”. The purpose was to prepare professionals to respond to the psychological needs of individuals across the continuum of disaster preparedness, response and recovery. The partnership has included CPS Associate Professors Dr. Sarah Valley Gray and Gene Cash, CPS Alumni Ron and Marty Ellis. Numerous doctoral students have received this training.

Doctoral students Jessica Foley and Lindsay Shaw with Professors Charles Golden, Edward Simco, Barry Schneider, and Adjunct Professor Robert McCue co-authored an article, Pattern of memory compromise in chronic geriatric schizophrenia, frontotemporal dementia, and normal controls published in Acta Neuropsychiatrica.

Assistant Professor Shannon Ray co-authored, Building caring schools: Implications for professional school counselors, which appeared in the Journal of School Counseling, 5 (14).

Associate Professor Jeffrey Kibler co-authored an article, The feasibility of modified directly observed therapy for HIV seropositive African American substance users, Aids patient Care and STDs (in press).

Assistant Professor Christian DeLucia is co-author of an article, Individual growth curves of sexual intercourse behavior among urban, adolescent, African American youth: Results from the CHAMP basic study, Social Work in Mental Health (in press).

CPS Professors Mark and Linda Sobell and Kenneth Johnson of the Health Professions Division (HPD) coauthored an article in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine entitled, Preventing alcohol-exposed pregnancies: A randomized controlled trial.

Professor Robert Lane authored a book, A Developmental Perspective on the Life Cycle and Treatment Process, Trafford Publishers, Victoria, B.C., Canada.

Professor Lenore Walker and CPS Alumna Rachel Needle co-authored a book, Abortion Counseling: Psychology, Legislation, Politics, and Competency, published by Springer Publications, NY.

Professor John Lewis gave a presentation entitled, The construction and validation of intellectual assessments in the Caribbean, at the  31st Inter-American Congress of Psychology held in Mexico City in July 2007.

Professor Charles Golden and CPS doctoral students co-authored nine presentations on neuropsychology at the Annual APA Convention in San Francisco, California in August 2007.

Associate Professor Jeffrey Kibler participated in a symposium entitled, Why Trauma Makes People Sick: The Role of Traumatic Stress in the Pathogenesis of Cardiovascular Disease, Metabolic Syndrome and Neurodegenerative Disease, in August 2007 at the Annual APA Convention in San Francisco.

Professor Steven Gold chaired a symposium at the APA Convention in San Francisco, California in August entitled, Prostitution, Trafficking, Sexual Compulsivity and Trauma.  Additionally, Dr. Gold was on a symposium panel entitled, The Many Faces of Trauma in Private Practice.

CPS Professors David Shapiro and Lenore Walker and Dr. James Pann from the Fischler Center for Education and Human Services, along with CPS alumni Drs. Allison Schwartz, Justin Rigsbee and Lauren Katchen, presented on their research in treating mentally ill in the jail at the APA Convention in San Francisco, California in August 2007.

Professor Lenore Walker and CPS doctoral students and alumni presented on their research on battered women at the American Psychological Association (APA) Annual Convention in San Francisco, California in August. 

Associate Professor Scott Poland, a national expert on school crises, presented training on Crisis Intervention for the school resource officers in Broward County. The session was focused on lessons learned from school violence and was hosted at the South Florida State Hospital. Professor Poland also presented in Asuncion, Paraguay on school safety that was attended by staff from ten private schools. While in Paraguay, Dr. Poland was interviewed by the Telefuturo television station in Asuncion.

Professors Lenore Walker and David Shapiro presented on their research to the School of Public Health in Madrid, Spain. While in Spain Drs. Walker and Shapiro visited the University of Barcelona where they met with psychologists and researchers to discuss their research in the area of forensic psychology, domestic violence and other gender violence.

CPS Professor Scott Poland and Dr. Richard Lieberman, presented a program on Suicide and Self-Mutilation fro mental health and school professionals at both the NSU Orlando and Fort Lauderdale-Davie main campus.

Associate Professor Mercedes ter Maat presented a paper on school strategies for immigrant students at the American School Counselor Association Annual Conference in Denver, Colorado in June.

Professor Robert Lane has been re-appointed to the Editorial Board of Psychoanalytic Psychology.

CPS Professors Vincent Van Hasselt, William Dorfman, Scott Poland, Lenore Walker, and Dr. Jose Rey from the Health Professions Division (HPD) presented as part of a Crisis/Hostage Negotiations Advance Course at a seminar hosted by CPS, the FBI Miami Field Office, and the City of Plantation Police Department. Law enforcement hostage negotiators from across South Florida received training in a number of areas considered crucial to the peaceful resolution of high-risk and often volatile events.

Professor Lenore Walker has been re-elected for a three-year term to the APA Counsel of Representatives from the Division of Media Psychology.

Professor Steven Gold has been elected president of the APA Division of Trauma Psychology.

Professor Vincent Van Hasselt has been appointed to the NSU-BSO Board of Advisors. The charge of the Board is to provide the planning, oversight and evaluation functions for existing and future BSO/NSU activities. Professor Van Hasselt’s appointment is for one year and is renewable on an annual basis. Dr. van Hasselt recently received an Outstanding Presenter Award at the Florida Association of Hostage Negotiators Conference.

Professors Mark and Linda Sobell received funding from the University of Virginia in support of their collaborative research project entitled, How Does Motivational Interviewing Work? Mechanisms of Action in Project Choices.

CPS Associate Professor David Reitman with Tom Kennedy and Alex Edmonds from Fischler received $700,000 of funding from the Children’s Trust for Project Rise, for after school program evaluation and training.

Professors Mark and Linda Sobell will collaborate with HPD on the AHEC Health Professions Tobacco Cessation Training Initiative. The purpose of this agreement is to support the delivery of training curricula, instruction, and materials designed to educate health professions students in medicine, nursing, dentistry, pharmacy, and other allied health disciplines on tobacco cessation throughout the NSU AHEC 19-county South and Central Florida service area.

Stacey Lambert, Psy.D. and doctoral student Abigail Patterson will present on “Caring for the Caregiver”. at the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) State conference in Tampa on November 16.

Students and faculty from the School Guidance and Counseling Program have been busy working in the schools of Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties, and presenting at state and national conferences.

Mercedes ter Maat, Ph.D., Associate Professor at the Center for Psychological Studies  presented an advanced practice course on cultural identity development and a workshop on ethics at the American Art Therapy Association Annual Conference in Atlanta, Georgia and a workshop on multicultural counseling for the Florida School Counselor Association.  Dr. ter Maat also presented paper on school strategies for immigrant students at the American School Counselor Association Annual Conference in Denver, Colorado. 

Janier Sideregts, a masters student in the School Guidance & Counseling Program presented a workshop on pregnancy and parenting teens at the Joining Hands: Engaging Families Conference at the West Palm Beach Convention Center

Vincent Van Hasselt, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology and Director of the Family Violence Program at the Center for Psychological Studies, recently received an “Outstanding Presenter Award” at the Florida Association of Hostage Negotiators (FAHN) Annual Conference. Dr. Van Hasselt’s presentation, Personality Disorders: Crisis Intervention and Negotiation Strategies, was one of many seminars offered at the conference to the nearly 300 police hostage negotiators from across the State who were in attendance.  In addition to his work at CPS, Van Hasselt is a certified police officer working part time with the City of Plantation Police Department where he serves as Training Coordinator for their Crisis Response Team.

Hostage-taking is the holding of one or more persons against their will with the actual or implied use of force.  Recently, the Center for Psychological Studies, FBI Miami Field Office, and City of Plantation Police Department co-hosted “Crisis/Hostage Negotiations Advance Course” where law enforcement hostage negotiators from across South Florida received training in a number of areas considered crucial to the peaceful resolution of high-risk and often volatile events, such as domestic, workplace, and school violence situations, prison riots, and terroristic acts.  Several NSU faculty provided training in the Course, including:  Dr. William Dorfman (Serious Mental Illness and Crisis Intervention), Dr. Scott Poland (Crisis Intervention in School Settings), Dr. Jose Rey (Psychopharmacology for Hostage Negotiators), Dr. Vincent Van Hasselt (Critical Incident Stress Management for Negotiators), and Dr. Lenore Walker (Crisis Intervention in Domestic Violence Situations).  Police and FBI Instructors also offered a variety of topics, such as the tactical role of the negotiator, media coverage of ongoing incidents, use of interpreters, and technology updates.

Professor Vince Van Hasselt is working with the Broward Sheriff’s Office (BSO), instructing officers on the topic of Critical Incidents Stress Management for Law Enforcement Professionals.

Dr. Van Hasselt, as a sworn police offer working part-time with the City of Plantation Police Department, is the founder and coordinator of their Crisis Response Team.

An article authored by David L. Shapiro, Ph.D., ABPP, Who Investigates the Licensing Boards and Their Investigators, appeared in the March/April edition of The National Psychologist.  A professor at the Center for Psychological Studies, Shapiro teaches courses in ethics, forensic assessment and criminal law and has served on the Ethics Committee of the American Board of Professional Psychology.

Scott Poland, Ed.D, Associate Professor at the Center for Psychological Studies recently provided a keynote address in Los Angeles at the Stepping In Conference hosted by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for Law Enforcement and Mental Health. Scott’s presentation was entitled, Youth Suicide and Self Injury: Critical Issues for Prevention and Intervention. The presentation was attended by over 600 members of law enforcement and mental health.

Three months ago NSU rolled out a new weight loss and fitness program for employees modeled after the Biggest Losers program on television. The Healthy Lifestyles Guided Self-Change (GSC) Clinic, part of the Center for Psychological Studies, and co-directed by Drs. Linda and Mark Sobell, worked with NSU’s 12 Biggest Loser Program (BLP) participants to help motivate them to achieve their goals of weight loss and lifestyle changes. The eight GSC psychology trainees who were called “motivational coaches” by.....(more)

CPS Professor Robert Lane & Associates authored two books, Developmental
Perspective on the Life Cycle and the Treatment Process and Envy,
Entitlement, Revenge, and Negativity, publisher: Trafford Publishers.

Professors William Dorfman and Lenore Walker co-authored A First
Responders: Guide to Abnormal Psychology, a book published by
Springer Publications. This text is the first of its kind in addressing the needs of first
responders who are faced daily with mental health crises and trauma situations.

Professors Mark and Linda Sobell are co-investigators on a grant, How
Does Motivational Interviewing Work? Mechanisms of Action in Project
CHOICES, submitted to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and
Alcoholism. Principal Investigator: Kaen Ingersoll (University of Virginia).

On April 27 Associate Professor Scott Poland was featured speaker at The
School Psychology Institute's research event for Illinois State
University. Dr. Poland who is a member of the Task Force on School
Violence and Victimization for the U. S. Departments of Education and
Criminal Justice spoke about recent events at Virginia Tech.

During recent sessions of the FBI National Academy's Behavioral
Science Unit, Quantico, Virginia, Professor Vincent Van Hasselt provided
instruction and consultation on Critical Incident Stress and its
management, as well as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Dr. Van Hasselt
received high compliments on the level of instruction he provided to the
National Academy students.

Associate Professor Scott Poland was a featured speaker at Leadership
Fort Lauderdale during Education Day. The event was organized by the Fort
Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce and included tours of NSU facilities and a
number of presentations for the business and community leaders who
participated. Dr. Poland's presentation was on preventing violence
and creating safer schools.

Ralph “Gene” Cash, Ph.D. NCSP, an associate professor at the Center for Psychological Studies (CPS), was elected President of the National Association for School Psychologists (NASP) for the 2007-2010 term.

Dr. Cash has been a member of the Florida Association of the School Psychologists (FASP) Executive Board for over 25 years. He served as FASP President-Elect, President, and Immediate Past President from 1995-1998 and is currently the Legislative Chair and a member of the critical Finance Work Group. Cash represents FASP on the Florida Governor’s Task Force on Suicide Prevention. He was a founding member of the FASP Children’s Services Fund, Inc., our state school psychology charity organization. He was recently honored for his dedication and leadership in our state with the rarely presented FASP Lifetime Achievement Award.

Dr. Cash has spearheaded the mental health initiative through NASP that will help to ensure that school psychologists are recognized as highly qualified mental health professionals in the schools. He has published and presented extensively on mental health issues throughout his career, demonstrating a special expertise in mood disorders and suicide prevention. The CPS students have honored him for two consecutive years by voting him “Professor of the Year.” His leadership and wisdom have contributed greatly to the ongoing development of our school psychology program here at NSU, as well as the progressive development of FASP, and his expertise will continue to benefit the field of psychology as he embarks on his next venture as President of NASP.

Congratulations to Assistant Professor, Dr. Shannon Ray, who was recently elected to serve on the Board of Directors (2007-2010) of the Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values in Counseling; a national division of the American Counseling Association