GRADUATE PSYCHOLOGY EDUCATION (GPE) PROGRAM
The Graduate Psychology Education (GPE) Program is the only federal program dedicated solely to psychology education and training. Established in 2002 and administered by the Bureau of Health Professions (BHPr), the GPE Program provides grants to APA-accredited doctoral, internship and postdoctoral programs in support of interdisciplinary training of psychology students for the provision of psychological services to underserved populations (i.e., older adults, children, chronically ill, and victims of abuse and trauma, including returning military), especially in rural and urban communities. Funds may be used for student stipends, faculty and clinical teaching psychologists, curriculum development, model demonstration programs and technical assistance.

*FY 2009 GPE FUNDING - Since the FY 2006 cut of $1.6 billion from the Labor-Health & Human Services-Education in which over 50% of the Bureau of Health Professions (BHPr) funding was eliminated. Congress has been trying to restore those funds. Nevertheless, for FY 2008 the GPE Program once again had broad, bipartisan support that resulted in Report Language for a funding level of $2 million in both the House and Senate appropriations bills. Unfortunately there was no "die-hard" champion for a significant funding increase. Consequently, there was another across the board cut and the program was funded at $1.9 million. [The highest level of funding for GPE was $4.5 million for FY 2003, 2004, and 2005.]

For FY 2009 Education Government Relations Office (GRO) staff is again seeking $7 million to: 1) reinstate the geropsychology training grants, 2) restore funding for each grant from an average of $75,000 back to over $150,000, and 3) increase the number of overall grants to allow for more of the remaining 900 eligible programs to apply. So far this year, a number of GPE grantees have made hill visits, as have some geropsychologists and other APA members including Dr. Alan Kazdin, APA President. All have urged Members of their delegation who are appropriators to specifically request an increase for GPE: http://www.apa.org/ppo/gpe/briefingfy09.html

*18 NEW GPE GRANTS - Last fall the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) announced the 2007 recipients of the Graduate Psychology Education Program (GPE) grants, which are administered by HRSA's Bureau of Health Professions (BHPr). This most recent competition resulted in 18 grants (totaling $1.8 million) being awarded for three years under the Graduate Psychology Education Program. These grants went to universities and medical institutions to train psychologists in mental and behavioral health to work with underserved persons in medically underserved areas. A complete listing of the FY 2007 GPE Grantee abstracts can be found at http://bhpr.hrsa.gov/medicine-dentistry/07abstracts/gradpsyched.htm Also a summary of each new grant can be found at http://www.apa.org/ppo/gpe/fy07grants.html

*VA FUNDS FOR GPE - A big coup for the GPE Program was a result of a last minute Education GRO advocacy effort and the support of Senator Patty Murray (D-WA). On September 5, 2007 Senator successfully offered an amendment to the Senate Military Construction VA Appropriations bill on the Senate Floor to allow the transfer of up to $5 million to HRSA for the GPE Program for a focus on returning military personnel with PTSD, TBI or post-deployment readjustment problems. The House also included Report Language in its Military Construction VA Appropriations bill. Congressmen Sam Farr (D-CA) and Bill Young (R-FL) and Congresswomen Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Nita Lowey (D-NY) all expressed support to the subcommittee chairman. A subsequent meeting with Toni Zeiss, PhD, Deputy Director, VA Mental Health, was held to discuss a Memorandum of Understanding between the two agencies on use of funds. [To date, the VA-GPE funds have not yet been released.]

*BHPr CONFERENCE & HILL VISITS - A number of recent GPE grant recipients traveled to Washington, DC to attend the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Bureau of Health Professions (BHPr) 2008 All Programs Conference held February 25-28. The conference, which focused on "Envisioning the Future of Health Professions," included many national health care leaders who spoke on a variety of topics related to the health professions workforce. The GPE grantees also had the opportunity to meet with Jerilyn Glass, M.D., PhD., Medical Officer in the Division of Medicine and Dentistry at BHPr and Project Officer for the GPE Program. While in Washington, the GPE grantees also journeyed to Capitol Hill to meet with staff of their Congressional Delegation to urge support of $7 million FY 2009 for the GPE Program: http://www.apa.org/ppo/gpe/grantees08.html

SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES ADMINISTRATION (SAMHSA)

*SAMHSA REAUTHORIZATION CAMPUS SUICIDE PREVENTION PROGRAM - Authorized first as part of the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act and housed at SAMHSA, the Campus Suicide Prevention program is a small but effective competitive grant program that makes funds available to institutions of higher education to enhance services for students with mental and behavioral health problems, such as depression, substance abuse, and suicide attempts.

As part of its reauthorization efforts, Education GRO is seeking an expansion of the "uses of funds" under the Campus Suicide Prevention program to include "strengthening and expanding mental and behavioral health training opportunities in internship and residency programs, such as psychology doctoral and post-doctoral training." This change would address a serious concern that APA has raised since 2004; the sharp increase in demand for counseling services as reported by college and university counseling centers. Sixty percent of senior student affairs officers surveyed reported that a record number of students are using campus counseling services for longer periods of time than ever before. Regarding funding, APA is also seeking an increase authorization appropriation of $10 million for the Campus Suicide Prevention program: http://www.apa.org/ppo/education/glsactreauth.html

*SAMHSA REAUTHORIZATION WORKFORCE INITIATIVE - Education GRO staff have taken the lead for the field in the area of workforce development. There are no provisions on workforce development in the current statute even though the agency was originally mandated with both mental health service delivery and training. Moreover, there are documented shortages in underserved areas, inadequate training, lack of diversity and pipeline issues as documented by the Annapolis Coalition Report (2007), two Institute of Medicine Reports (2006, 2001) and the findings of President's (Bush) New Freedom Commission (2002) and the Surgeon General's Report on Mental Health under President Clinton (1999). ED GRO took the lead in the field for the reauthorization on workforce development and got the Senate to address this issue. A new training provision was seriously considered as a result of ED GRO efforts; however, there was some opposition by minority members of the committee and considering the fragile balance of power in the Senate, the provision was dropped. The ED GRO also advocated for a specific authority for the Minority Fellowship Program and an expansion of SAMSHA data collection and analysis function to include information on providers.

After nine months of deliberation, the Senate drafted a bipartisan bill with the hope that the House would accept it. Fortunately it is stalled in the Senate which gives Education GRO an opportunity to continue to advocate for our workforce development recommendations

GARRET LEE SMITH MEMORIAL ACT - FUNDING FOR THE CAMPUS SUICIDE PREVENTION PROGRAM - The Campus Suicide Prevention program, which is included in the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act (GLSMA) and administered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), received $5 million in the Fiscal Year 2009 Consolidated Appropriations bill (P.L. 110-161).

This program is based largely on the Campus Care and Counseling Act (108th Congress - S.2215/HR3593) which was developed by members of the American Psychological Association with the Congressional leadership of Senators Reed (D-RI), DeWine (R-OH), Clinton (D-NY) and Smith (R-OR) and Representatives Davis (D-IL) and Osborne (R-NE). Working closely with APA members from college and university counseling centers and Congressional staff, Education GRO succeeded in having the Campus Care bill introduced with bi-partisan support in both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives. Elements of this APA crafted initiative were included in the Campus Suicide Prevention Program/Mental and Behavioral Health Services on Campus program authorized within the GLSMA.

The Campus Suicide Prevention program is a competitive grant program to institutions of higher education to enhance services to students with mental and behavioral health problems that can lead to school failure, such as depression, substance abuse, and suicide attempts so that students will successfully complete their studies. It was first funded in Fiscal Year 2005 and to date Congress has made approximately $21.3 million available to support the mental and behavioral health needs of students on campus through the program. New Campus Suicide Prevention Grants will be announced in September. Education Government Relations continues to monitor all aspect of advocacy related to this program including funding and authorization issues (see related section in SAMHSA Reauthorization).

CENTER FOR DEPLOYMENT PSYCHOLOGY
The Center for Deployment Psychology (CDP) is an innovative Department of Defense psychology training consortium that was established in the FY 2006 Defense Appropriations Bill. The CDP trains psychologists, psychology interns/residents, and other behavioral health professional from the Army, Navy, and Air Force, as well as civilian professionals to provide high quality deployment-related behavioral health services to military personnel and their families. Since its inception in January 2007, the CDP has trained over 100 military personnel and civilians at its core two-week training course held at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) in Bethesda, MD and over 500 military personnel and civilians at the ten participating Military Medical Centers across the country.

CDP FY 2009 FUNDING - The CDP was recently incorporated into the newly established Department of Defense Center of Excellence (DCoE) for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury to be the military arm for training health professionals for meeting the mental health needs of returning military personnel and their families. As an established permanent program, the CDP is expected to receive continued annual funding as part of the DCoE and will no longer need a separate Congressional appropriation each fiscal year.

CDP HILL BRIEFING - On February 13, a standing-room-only crowd gathered in the U.S. Capitol to hear an APA-sponsored briefing entitled, "PTSD, TBI & Post Deployment Adjustment: Addressing Challenges of Returning Military Personnel." The briefing was cosponsored by Congressman Bill Young (R-FL) and Congressman Sam Farr (D-CA) and included presentations by two Iraq war veterans, Captain Aaron Krenz (Minnesota National Guard) and Sergeant Patrick Campbell (Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America), who spoke about dealing with post traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, and issues in readjusting to civilian life following deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan. A third presenter, David Riggs, Ph.D. (Director of the Center for Deployment Psychology) , spoke about the work of the CDP and current approaches to training mental health professionals and other health specialists in meeting the mental health needs of returning service members: http://www.apa.org/ppo/education/cdphillbriefing.html

THE HIGHER EDUCATION ACT REAUTHORIZATION
The U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate are currently working to complete the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA) this Congress. This important federal law provides the framework for our national investment in post-secondary study. Last reauthorized in 1998, the higher education programs contained in the Act have been operating under an extension of the current law since the HEA expired in fiscal year 2003.

American Psychological Association first submitted recommendations for the reauthorization in December of 2003 and has been working since that time to have them incorporated into a newly revised version of HEA.

APA's recommendations are diverse and touch a variety of areas that are relevant and important to members represented by various Divisions within the Association. APA has placed a great emphasis on teacher quality and sought to draw upon psychological research in the area of teaching and learning to propose a new definition of the term "teaching skills." The APA definition has been adopted in both the House and Senate bills. In addition, APA's proposal to engage Departments of Psychology in the teacher education process had been accepted in both the House and Senate bills and Departments of Psychology are included as eligible partners under the Teacher Quality Grant program. APA's Office of Accreditation, working with Education GRO has been at the forefront of critical issues facing the accreditation community. APA has worked in coalition with other national education associations to educate Member of Congress and their staff about the accreditation process. APA has promoted the inclusion of a new program that provides loan relief for psychologists. APA has supported the adoption of "Loan Forgiveness in Areas of National Need," program that would make mental health professionals eligible for some loan forgiveness.

FAMILY EDUCATION RIGHTS AND PRIVACY ACT
The Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a federal law that protects the privacy of student's educational records for those students attending any school that receive funds from U.S. Department of Education programs. This law applies to elementary, secondary and post-secondary institutions.

On March 24th, the U.S. Department of Education proposed new regulations related to this important privacy law. Education GRO spearheaded a comprehensive, Association-wide effort to draw on the expertise of APA members to offer constructive comments to the Department of Education. Working closely with APA Division 15 - Educational Psychology; Division 16 -- School Psychology; Division 17 - Society of Counseling Psychology; and Division 17's Section on College and University Counseling Center, as well as leaders from the Association of Counseling Center Training Agencies (ACCTA) and the Association of University and College Counseling Center Directors (AUCCCD), APA submitted its letter to the U.S. Department of Education on May 8th. The Association's letter can be accessed at: http://www.apa.org/ppo/education/ferpa0508.html.

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