ISPIC has been awarded a Mental Health Grant through West 40 and the U.S. Department of Education in the amount of $150,000/year for five years! The grant encompasses three broad areas as they relate to the practice of school psychology, including diversity, recruitment, and retention. These funds will help us increase intern stipends and retain interns in Illinois following successful completion of their internship. Please feel free to reach out to the Training Director with any questions about the grant!
Updated 10/25/24
OLD News…
ISPIC “Sweet Sixteen” Reunion
In conjunction with the occurrence of the NASP Convention in Chicago, ISPIC alumni and supervisors came together on February 13, 2018 to celebrate 16 years as a professional learning community.
Health Resource & Services Administration
We received a federal grant to expand ISPIC to the southern part of Illinois and provide additional training in evidence-based trauma treatments to our interns! The FY 2016 Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training (BHWET) grant aims to expand the behavioral health workforce serving children, adolescents, and transitional-age youth at risk for developing or who have a recognized behavioral health disorder. As a result of this grant, we recruited four new positions for 2017-2018. In 2017, we learned that our proposal for an additional four years of funding was recommended for funding, but no funds are currently available for award. Several additional sites in under-resourced communities are poised to join ISPIC if or when that proposal is selected for funding.
Integrated Behavioral Health Training Opportunities
The Illinois Children’s Healthcare Foundation has provided funding for the development of additional internship positions beginning fall of 2015. The new positions will be an excellent fit for students with a pediatric school psychology focus. Interns will spend half their time in schools and the other half of their time in primary care practices providing integrated behavioral health consultation to a wide variety of patients.
ISPIC Welcomes The Chicago School of Professional Psychology
Since 2002, the four sponsoring universities have included Illinois State University, Loyola University at Chicago, Northern Illinois University, and National-Louis University. As of July 1, 2013, National-Louis has discontinued its sponsorship and passed the baton to The Chicago School of Professional Psychology (TCS). TCS has developed a new doctoral program primarily for already credentialed school psychologists interested in a doctorate in school neuropsychology. The ISPIC Learning Community is pleased to welcome the financial and intellectual resources this collaborative will afford.
10th Anniversary Conference & Celebration: Stories of Innovation
On June 15, 2012, ISPIC celebrated it’s 10th anniversary on the campus of North Shore Academy. Tom Kratochwill, PhD (University of Wisconsin-Madison) conducted the keynote address followed by a series of presentations highlighting the unique and creative ways doctoral-level school psychologists are serving children, families, and the systems in which they reside. The event concluded with an evening of socializing and networking among members of the ISPIC Professional Learning Community.
Pictured below: Brenda Huber (ISPIC Director) presented Dr. Dennis Simon (Westbrook Training Supervisor) with an award for 10 years of service to the ISPIC Professional Learning Community.
Pictured below: ISPIC “foreparents” Bob Clark (The Chicago School), Mark Swerdlik (Illinois State University), Brenda Huber (ISPIC Director), Pam Fenning (Loyola University Chicago), & Nancy Scott (National Louis University)
Launch of the ISPIC Ning
In August 2009, the ISPIC Ning, a private social networking site, was launched. The Ning has a discussion group for early career ISPIC graduates, a discussion group for current interns, a diversity discussion group, as well as the official ISPIC calendar, training manual, reading binder, and diversity curriculum. Any member of the ISPIC learning community that is not a member, please contact Brenda to be invited.
ISPIC Diversity Training Days
On September, 7, 2007, Jessica Henderson-Daniel, Ph.D., ABPP, presented a keynote address, “Learning about human differences: The peculiar jigsaw of cognition and affect” at ISPIC’s first annual Diversity Training Day. She also participated in a panel with ISPIC’s own Diversity Mentors and conducted a skills-workshop to promote culturally competent service delivery to African-American youth and their families. Dr. Daniel has a faculty appointment at both Boston University and Harvard Medical School. Her duties include teaching, serving as adviser to the Boston University Minority Student Collective, co-directing an APA-approved pre-doctoral training program at The Children’s Hospital and Judge Baker Children’s Center, and helping to direct the Adolescent Health Training Program at Children’s Hospital. Her current research projects are: Black women in law school; music video messages; and the Black Church.
On September 5, 2008, the Diversity Training Day focused on culturally competent service delivery to LGBTQ youth. Constance Patterson, PhD, and Chavez Phelps led the group of interns and supervisors in discussing case studies and applying current research in the field. The presentation followed a panel discussion where ISPIC’s Diversity Mentors discussed the intersection between mental health service delivery in the schools, race/ethnicity, and sexual minority status.
ISPIC Recognizes Higher Education Cooperation Act
ISPIC would like to formally recognize the contribution of the Higher Education Cooperation Act (HECA) program for its support of innovative, cooperative projects, which address statewide goals and higher education priorities as articulated in The Illinois Commitment. The Illinois Board of Higher Education approved allocation of $38,000 (04-05), $35,340 (05-06), and $50,600 (06-07) to ISPIC to aid in providing training to interns and inevitably improving the educational and mental health services of children in Illinois.
Illinois Children’s Healthcare Foundation Contributes
ISPIC was granted $51,920 from the Illinois Children’s Healthcare Foundation in order to carry out its Diversity Plan and its Retention Plan. ISPIC has graduated 37 professional school psychologists (11% with racially/ethnically diverse backgrounds) since its inception in 2002. Over 75% have remained in Illinois, and many are practicing in rural or urban settings. ISPIC will employ these funds to increase the number of interns trained, specifically those with diverse backgrounds and those interested in working with underserved populations.