The Chicago School of Professional Psychology
E-Newsletter, May 2012 National President's Message
In This Issue TCSPP Named to 2012 President's Honor Roll Response to VA Announcement Architect of "Black Psychology" Presents NASP Approval Dr. DuBose Diveheart Partnership Newman Civic Fellows Award U.S. Army Scholarships President Joins Leadership Class
Mental Health Month Since 1949, May has been officially recognized as Mental Health Month. The focus for this year's awareness campaign is the mental health of young people. Mental disorders are common in the U.S. and internationally. An estimated 22.1% of Americans ages 18 and older-about 1 in 5 adults-suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year.
Dear Student, At TCSPP, we celebrate diversity--recognizing that the fabric of our society is woven from multicolored threads that are our similarities and differences. Diversity is our goal. It is one of our institutional learning goals and is an essential partner with scholarship, professional behavior, and professional practice. Our faculty strives to develop professionals who exemplify a commitment to understand and respect individual and cultural differences. We believe it is important that our graduates have the ability to combine and apply theoretical and practical knowledge about racial, gender, sexual, cultural and religious, age, and disability differences in their professional practice. Diversity is our commitment. We are dedicated to building an environment of mutual respect and inclusion, where all individuals are valued for who they are and what they contribute and, in turn, are expected to be active, participatory members of our learning community. Our learning community promotes cultural awareness, competence, and understanding of diversity. Whether our students are in the classroom or in the community helping those in need; the curriculum, the experience, the learning opportunity, is infused with the commitment to diversity and the understanding that we are not all the same. Recognizing differences, accepting them, and moving on to complete the task at hand is what sets our graduates, as well as our faculty, staff, and leadership, apart from their peers. We believe in the transformative power of diversity of thought, diversity of belief, and diversity of expression, and feel that conversations about diversity should be shared with the goal of sparking earnest thought and consideration of what it means to be accepting, understanding, patient, and tolerant. I hope these conversations continue in our classrooms, our hallways, our offices, and our communities.
Michele Nealon-Woods, Psy.D., National President