We have elected to participate in a National Dissemination and Implementation grant for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia. Support for this project is pending with the federal government (NIH/NHLBI). As part of the bid for funding we need to have therapists in our association complete a brief 9 item survey. If you have an interest in Insomnia and acquiring CBT skills to treat this disorder, please complete the questionnaire located at www.cbt‐i.com (Login). The Username and Password are Therapist and Survey, respectively. Please note that the survey is for research purposes and is voluntary. Additional information may be found at the above web site or by Contacting the study PI, Michael Perlis (mperlis@upenn.edu).

I have been in talks with Dr. Perlis re: this study and if we have enough therapists complete the survey and express an interest in participating, there is an opportunity to receive free supervised training as well as free manuals associated with CBT-I.  I know that in my practice insomnia is very prevalent and a recent article from the American Journal of Public Health entitled "The medicalization of sleeplessness: a public health concern" discussed how the diagnosis of insomnia has increased from 1993-2007 and how people are being overtreated with "marginally effective, expensive medications with nontrivial side effects".  Link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21680913

PLEASE NOTE THAT INVOLVEMENT IN THIS STUDY IS ONLY OPEN TO MOPA MEMBERS.

Congratulations to Brick Johnstone, Ph.D., new MOPA representative on APA's Council of Representatives (COR). 


The APA sent ballots to all Missouri Psychological Association members who are members of APA on November 18.  The election closed January 3.  The ballots have been counted and the Election Committee has certified the election.  On behalf of Garnett Coad & the APA Election Committee we are pleased to announce that Brick Johnstone, Ph.D., has been elected. as MOPA's Representative to the COR. Dr. Johnstone’s term will begin immediately.  Dr. Johnstone is preceeded by Ken Bohm, Ph.D., who served in the role of COR Representative for the previous 6 years.  We are thankful for the outstanding work that Dr. Bohm has done for MOPA and for all the psychologists in Missouri. Dr. Bohm will continue to consult with MOPA Board members as needed

Congratulations to Denise H. Bike, MS from the University of Missouri who is the South Central Regional Advocacy Coordinator for the APAGS ACT (Advocacy Coordinating Team).  She is MOPA's former Student Coordinator and is currently an officer in APAGs who is being funded by APA to attend and participate in the 2012 State Leadership Conference in Washington, DC. Also, your President and Early Career Psychology Chair has been granted funding to attend and participate in the 2012 SLC as an Early Career Psychologist Delegate.  I look forward to reporting back to MOPA on my experience in DC.  

Follow the link below to check out Missouri's Efforts re: Evidence-Based Interventions for Autism Spectrum Disorders. From the website: The Missouri Autism Guidelines Initiative is now  focused on developing the first comprehensive guide to evidence-based Interventions. Building on the success of its first publication on Screening, diagnosis, and assessment for intervention planning, An advisory committee of parents, health care professionals, anIndividual with ASD, educators and service providers is working to Summarize the latest evidence-based and peer-reviewed research to helpMake information on interventions more understandable. The documentWill provide the tools for making decisions about selection, implementation,and evaluation of interventions. 

It will be published in Summer 2012.MOPA's own Dr. Janet Farmer, Dr. Micah Mazurek and Dr. Dawn Huber are all involved in this much-needed project.  www.autismguidelines.dmh.mo.gov 

Though MOPA is not officially endorsing this petition, other Divisions of APA and other various practitioner-related associations seem to be supporting it. It is primarily supported through the Society for Humanistic Psychology, Division 32 of the American Psychological Association. The link is posted for people to research and decide if they would like to sign the petition or not.  Click here for the website for the petition.  

If you are also a member of APA, you should have ready received or will receive in the mail shortly your apportionment ballot from APA.  As I've mentioned in previous emails, by allotting all 10 of your votes to MOPA, you will give MOPA the greatest voice possible on APA's Council of Representatives.  If you've ever asked yourself what actions you can take that will have a direct impact on your daily practice, this is one of those actions. As we've seen with the BCBS KC rate cuts, at times we need APA to fight on our behalf. Also, a majority of MOPA's budget comes directly from CAPP grants which have recently been threatened. By voting all 10 votes to MOPA you will help sway budgetary decisions like this in the future and MOPA will be in a better position to remain financially solvent in order to serve our members better.   VOTE 10 for MOPA!!! 

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Dear members, you can now follow me on Twitter and receive a tweet every time I update the blog. This is an easy way to stay informed of current MOPA activities and calls to action.
-Rich
MOPA President

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