Allison N. Ponce

Experience of maltreatment as a child and acceptance of violence in adult intimate relationships: mediating effects of distortions in cognitive schemas

Links exist between being subjected to maltreatment as a child and tendencies to accept violence as normative in adult relationships. Constructivist Self Development Theory suggests that such relationships may be affected by “cognitive disruptions” in “self” and “other” schemas. Mediating effects of distorted cognitive schemas on the association between history of child maltreatment and the acceptance of violence in intimate interpersonal relationships were investigated among 433 men and women. Outcomes indicated that individuals who reported childhood maltreatment were more likely to display distortions in their cognitive schemas and those individuals with disrupted schemas were more likely to accept relationship violence. Least-square multiple regression analyses revealed that distorted beliefs fully mediated the relationship between reporting childhood maltreatment and acceptance of violence, for both men and women. Subsidiary analyses suggested that this full mediation was replicated for schemas involving the self but not for schemas about others.

Supervision in Public Sector Behavioral Health: A Review

Supervision plays a key role in the provision of health and human services. An extensive literature exists on supervision as an element of professional development in behavioral health care. However, much less attention has been given to the practice of supervision in publicly funded systems of care for persons with mental and substance use conditions. This article provides a comprehensive review of the literature on supervision in the public sector, highlighting its current status, definition, functions, competencies, applicable standards and requirements, training approaches, and outcomes. Recommended strategies for restoring and advancing supervision as an essential practice in systems of care are discussed.

Homelessness, Behavioral Health Disorders and Intimate Partner Violence: Barriers to Services for Women

Homeless women comprise a significant portion of the homeless population and may encounter multiple life stressors including mental illness, substance abuse, and trauma. Women who are homeless may experience difficulty gaining access to resources such as shelter and health care. In addition, the interaction of behavioral health problems with intimate partner violence (IPV) may create extraordinary barriers to their engagement in services. This paper explores the co-occurrence of homelessness, behavioral health problems, and IPV and lessons learned through a gender-specific homeless services program designed to reach women who are unengaged in traditional services. Recommendations for providing gender-responsive services are discussed.

Teaching an interdisciplinary approach to the treatment of chronic mental illness: challenges and rewards.

ObjectiveNational policy makers and psychiatric educators have established the goals of teaching and promoting interdisciplinary care as high priorities. This article describes the implementation of an interprofessional seminar for which the dual aims were to provide a knowledge base for treating individuals with serious mental illness and to teach how to work collaboratively with other disciplines.MethodA seminar, the “Treatment of chronic or recurrent mental illness: recovery, rehabilitation and interdisciplinary collaboration,” was developed in an academic community mental health center. Pre- and postseminar surveys were administered in order to test the hypothesis that the seminar would have a positive impact on trainees’ attitudes about working with the seriously mentally ill and within an interdisciplinary team. A combination of 5-point Likert scales and open-ended questions were used to gather the data. Paired samples t tests were conducted to test for significant differences between the pre- and postmeasures.ResultsThe seminar participants included 24 students from psychiatry, nursing, social work, and psychology with a wide range of experience. Complete pre- and postseminar data were obtained from 14 participants. Although participants valued the seminar experience, they reported that the actual interdisciplinary work with the seriously mentally ill was less gratifying than expected. They described several advantages and challenges of care-oriented collaboration and shared learning.ConclusionBringing together a diverse group of graduate and postgraduate trainees to learn together and to learn about each other’s disciplines appeared to be a successful venture, but the authors were not able to detect a positive impact on their actual work life during the course of the year. Further development of strategies to inspire professionals to engage in and promote interdisciplinary care of the seriously mentally ill is needed.

Training in Mental Health Recovery and Social Justice in the Public Sector

Individuals who experience serious mental illness (SMI) frequently encounter stigma and disenfranchisement. Attention to this concern necessitates a social justice focus within the mental health field. This article explores the significance and critical foundations of a psychology training experience grounded in a social justice and recovery-oriented perspective to answer the call for a focus on social justice and empowerment for individuals with SMI in mental health recovery. A specific training program is highlighted as an example of how social justice and recovery-oriented psychology training can be conducted. It includes theoretical foundations, trainee and supervision factors, a training model, and a description of didactic, clinical, consultation, interdisciplinary, and recovery-initiative training experiences. Last, specific successes and challenges of this type of training experience, as well as recommendations for future program development, are shared.

Making Meaning of Citizenship: Mental Illness, Forensic Involvement, and Homelessness

Individuals with mental illness, substance use disorders, and criminal justice involvement who experience homelessness are often marginalized and have difficulty achieving community inclusion. A framework of citizenship provides a basis for understanding the components of integration necessary to achieve status as a member of ones community. A citizenship “map” was presented to focus groups of persons with mental illness and histories of criminal justice charges and of homelessness. Participants discussed the items most salient to them, and several themes emerged. These may inform interventions in community mental health systems and allow for further analysis of a citizenship measure derived from the citizenship map.

Citizenship and Community Mental Health Care

Citizenship is an approach to supporting the social inclusion and participation in society of people with mental illnesses. It is receiving greater attention in community mental health discourse and literature in parallel with increased awareness of social determinants of health and concern over the continued marginalization of persons with mental illness in the United States. In this article, we review the definition and principles of our citizenship framework with attention to social participation and access to resources as well as rights and responsibilities that society confers on its members. We then discuss our citizenship research at both individual and social-environmental levels, including previous, current, and planned efforts. We also discuss the role of community psychology and psychologists in advancing citizenship and other themes relevant to a citizenship perspective on mental health care and persons with mental illness.

Women and the Experience of Serious Mental Illness and Sexual Objectification: Multicultural Feminist Theoretical Frameworks and Therapy Recommendations

As Objectification Theory (Frederickson & Roberts, 1997) has advanced, the implications of the experience of sexual objectification of women have increasingly been identified. Objectification Theory provides a feminist theoretical framework for understanding the unique experiences of women who live in a culture that objectifies and sexualizes their bodies. This theory has now been linked to mental health problems such as depression, eating disorders, body shame, substance abuse, and sexual dysfunction (for a review, see Moradi & Huang, 2008). However, the intersections of sexual objectification and serious mental illness among women have not been sufficiently researched. This article will explore the intersections of the experience of sexual objectification and serious mental illness among women from a Multicultural Feminist Therapy framework, offering implications and recommendations for the therapeutic context.

Evaluation of a Comprehensive SAMHSA Service Program for Individuals Experiencing Chronic Homelessness

Chronic homelessness is an enduring condition experienced by more than 75,000 individual adults in the USA. An individual is considered chronically homeless if they have a disabling condition and has been residing on the street or in emergency shelters continuously for 12 months or on at least four separate occasions in 3 years. Qualifying disabilities include substance use disorders, serious mental illness, developmental disability, post-traumatic stress disorder, brain injury-induced cognitive impairments, and chronic physical disability or illness. Chronic homelessness is a significant challenge to address, as it is not generally the result of one illness, one missed rent payment, or one period of unemployment. Rather, it is often the result of interactions between societal factors, such as limited availability of affordable housing and personal vulnerabilities, making the task of exiting homelessness especially complex. Individuals experiencing chronic homelessness face many obstacles related to recovery and housing. These can include difficulty navigating complex service systems, low income, barriers to accessing affordable housing, limited educational attainment, an unstable job market, and chronic and untreated medical, mental health, and substance use issues. Given that chronic homelessness is defined, in part, by the presence of a disabling condition, it is crucial to identify mechanisms for supporting recovery from homelessness and its co-existing complications. A growing literature supports the notion that interventions providing permanent supportive housing (PSH) without sobriety or treatment requirements are effective in helping individuals who have experienced chronic homelessness achieve housing stability. Housing First is an evidencebased model of permanent housing with consumer-driven support services with promising outcomes including housing retention, improved quality of life, and decreased emergency service

Supporting accreditation for doctoral psychology internship programs: The APPIC Accreditation Readiness Project.

The national shortage of psychology doctoral internship positions, compared to the annual number of internship-ready doctoral students, has historically represented a critical issue for the psychology training community. While this imbalance has largely been ameliorated in recent years, the shortage of accredited positions remains an area of significant concern for the psychology training community. Data from 2018 demonstrate that while there is currently a surplus of available internship positions compared with the number of applicants, there continues to be a shortage of accredited positions. This article provides a summary of Phase II of the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Center’s Accreditation Readiness Project, which provided consultative support to 37 psychology internship programs seeking accreditation by the American Psychological Association. A total of 16 participant programs successfully submitted self-studies for accreditation prior to the end of the active project period, and 10 more submitted self-studies following the conclusion of the project. Twenty-three participant programs have since achieved accreditation. The design and outcomes of the project are described.