Society of Indian Psychologists
Winter 2010 Newsletter
Society of Indian Psychologists Executive Committee
President: Pamela D. Deters, Ph.D. (Cherokee/Choctaw)
President‐Elect: Jacqueline S. Gray, Ph.D. (Choctaw/Cherokee)
Past President: Mark Daniels, Ph.D. (Winnebago/Navajo/Ute)
Secretary: Tamera Newcomb, Ph.D. (Cherokee)
Treasurer: Patricia Alexander, M.A.
APA Council Observer: Doug McDonald, Ph.D. (Oglala Lakota)
Gayle Morse, Ph.D. (Mohawk)
Student Representatives: Kyle Hill, M.S. (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa)
Angela Enno,
Past Presidents:
John Peregoy, EdD (Flathead)
Rebecca Foster, Ph.D. (Blackfeet)
Carolyn Barcus, Ph.D. (Blackfeet)
John Chaney, Ph.D. (Muscokee Creek)
Mary ClearingSky, Ph.D. (Odawa)
Doug McDonald, Ph.D. (Oglala Lakota)
Robin LaDue, Ph.D. (Cowlitz/Chinook)
Sandra Bennett, Ph.D. (Comanche)
Paul Dauphinais, Ph.D. (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa)
Candace Fleming, Ph.D. (Cherokee/Oneida/Kickapoo)
Dan Foster, Ph.D. (Cherokee)
Dolores Subia BigFoot, Ph.D. (Caddo)
Teresa LaFromboise, Ph.D. (Miami)
Arthur Blue, Ph.D. (Northern Diné)
Carolyn Atteneave, Ph.D. (Delaware/Cherokee)
SIP Website: http://www.aiansip.org
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SIP President’s Letter
Greetings to All My Relatives:
We have been very busy in SIP over the past couple of years and the end of my term as president is
rapidly approaching. We continue to increase in numbers and initiatives.
We have participated in an initiative to increase the number of Indians into Psychology (INPsych)
programs, from the three programs that are currently funded to nine funded programs. We are working
with Rose Weahkee, Director of Behavioral Health for IHS, on President Obama’s Initiative on Tribal
Consultation. We have formed a Technology Committee, chaired by Jacque Gray (Cherokee/Choctaw),
to work on our listserv, website, Facebook page, archiving important SIP documents, and plans for a
regularly published newsletter. Another new initiative is our SIP Chapters. We have one pilot SIP Chapter
at the University of North Dakota, with other possible Chapters indicating interest in participation. Our
Finance Committee is chaired by Steve James (Muscogee Creek) and is investigating various funding
sources for SIP, such as applying for grants and listing SIP as a non‐profit on the Guidestar website to
attract potential donors. Another very important initiative is a seat for SIP on the APA Council. We were
initially given an observer seat, which was then changed to a delegate seat, and we are actively pursuing
a full seat on the Council, with voting privileges for SIP. Look for your chance to vote in support of SIP’s
seat on the APA Council through various APA Divisions, State Chapters, and other voting organizations
within APA. Gayle Morse (Mohawk) will begin serving as our new APA Delegate on January 1, 2011,
while our former delegate, Doug McDonald (Oglala Lakota), moves on to become the President of
Division 45 – The Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues. In other good news,
Division 35 (Society for the Psychology of Women) has voted to add an Indigenous Women’s Section.
Our best regards to Dr. Bertha Holliday, who recently retired as the Director of the Office of Ethnic
Minority Affairs (OEMA) within APA. She was a staunch supporter and ally of SIP for many years.
There are several other new initiatives underway in SIP including the Leadership Development Institute,
the Journal of Indigenous Research, and scheduled monthly or bi‐monthly conference calls among SIP
members in current or past leadership positions, to keep us connected and moving forward in a positive
direction. If you have information to share, an initiative that needs our support, or other news, please
forward your information to the newsletter staff so that we can include it in the next publication. Finally,
I would like to thank each of you for allowing me the privilege to serve as SIP’s president. It has been a
positive and fulfilling experience for me. I invite you to look for information on the initiatives listed
above, as well as other new initiatives, and get involved! Our numbers are few but we are strong and
resourceful! Take care and walk in peace. Pam Deters
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Report of the Society of Indian Psychologists Representative to the American Psychological
Association Council of Representatives Meeting in San Diego
August, 2010
Sekon and Toska, Brothers and Sisters! This year the Council of Representatives meeting was
attended by two representatives of the Society of Indian Psychologists. Dr. Doug McDonald, who
attended as an SIP Observer and Dr. Gayle Skawennio Morse, who attended as an observer of the
observer. This was done in an effort to make the transition of representatives a smooth process. Dr.
Morse will officially take Dr. McDonalds seat at the Council of Representatives in February, 2011. At
that time Dr. McDonald will take the reins, as President‐Elect, of Division 45, the Society for the
Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues.
Onen and Mitakuye Oyasin,
J. Doug McDonald
Gayle Skawennio Morse
Indians into Psychology Programs
Oklahoma State University
The American Indians into Psychology program, which is based in the department of psychology at
Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, has a 6‐week long Summer Enrichment Program for American
Indian psychology students who are interested in graduate study in psychology. Students participate in
research projects and shadow psychologists, social workers, and other professionals who provide direct
services to Indian people. Students also attend weekly seminars on topics relevant to American Indian
psychology.
John Chaney, PhD (Mvskoke Creek)
Director, American Indians into Psychology
The OSU American Indians Into Psychology Program (AIIP) is off to a good start this fall semester. We are
starting our fourteenth year of the program and we just received IHS grant funding for four more years.
As part of the AIIP program, we administer undergraduate scholarships to junior‐senior level students
and graduate scholarships to students pursuing a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. Another part of the
program is to host a six‐week summer enrichment program to undergraduate students planning to
pursue graduate studies in Psychology. The 2010‐2011 AIIP scholarship recipients are: Elizabeth
Thompson (Chickasaw), Sean Seabridge (Osage), Jenifer VanSchuyver (Choctaw), Lucinda Chee (Navajo),
and Sarah Rhoades‐Kerswill (Kiowa).
This past year the AIIP had a successful 2010 summer enrichment program. We had 8 students
participate in the program; five nations/tribes were represented. Five of the students were from the
State of Oklahoma and 3 were from outside of Oklahoma.
The Psychology Program at OSU is looking for Native American students to apply to the Ph.D. Clinical
Psychology Doctoral Program. The application deadline is December 1, 2010. The application can be
downloaded from our web site at http://pscyhology.okstate.edu .
The Summer Enrichment Program application for 2011 is also available on the web. It can be
downloaded at http://psychology.okstate.edu. Select “Special Programs” from the menu and look for
the American Indians Into Psychology Program. For inquiries or additional information, contact us at
aiip@okstate.edu.
University of Montana
A two‐week long summer program is available for up to 10 undergraduate American Indian students
who are interested in a career in clinical psychology. Students attend research and clinical presentations
given by American Indian graduate students in clinical psychology. Activities are organized around such
topics as depression, suicide, and fetal alcohol syndrome. Emphasis is placed on preparing for the
Graduate Record Examination and developing a successful application to graduate school. Graduate
programs in psychology differ greatly, so Gyda Swaney, Flathead, PhD, Director of the INPSYCH program
says, “We try to help students become good consumers of education. We ask them, ‘What are your
goals? Do your goals match with the program you’re applying to?’ Without a good match students aren’t
going to succeed. Swaney says that all of the INPSYCH summer programs are different, so students can
benefit from attending more than one summer program.
As part of a Bridges to Baccalaureate Program, every summer two tribal college students work with
Swaney in her lab.
Mentoring is a key source of support for undergraduate and graduate psychology students in the
INPSYCH program. Swaney says, “Our research lab follows the mentorship model. Native undergraduate
students, Native graduate students, and I, a Native faculty member, work together on projects. Outside
of the lab we also meet together. We also travel together to events such as the meeting of the Society
of Indian Psychologists.”
As of the summer of 2007, four American Indian students have earned their PhDs in clinical psychology:
Darren Calhoun, Shoshone and Arapahoe; Billie Joe Kipp, Blackfeet; Annie Belcourt‐Dittloff, Blackfeet;
and Jera Stewart, Flathead. Dr. Stewart is currently in a post‐doctoral program in neuropsychology.
Upon completing the program, she might be the first Native neuropsychologist. Five other American
Indian graduate students at the University of Montana will soon earn PhDs.
Gyda Swaney, PhD (Flathead)
Director, INPSYCH Program
University of North Dakota
Established in 1992, the primary goals of Indians into Psychology Doctoral Education (INPSYDE) at the
University of North Dakota are to increase the number of American Indians with doctoral degrees in
psychology and enhance the cross‐cultural understandings and competencies of all psychology students
regarding mental health care for Indian people.
The two‐week long INPSYDE Summer Institute is an enrichment program for American Indian junior and
senior high school students who are considering a career in psychology or a related discipline. The
program focuses on helping students learn to build a strong academic foundation in psychology and
related sciences. Students live in a dormitory at UND under the supervision of counselors.
The Psychology Department at UND currently dedicates two slots each year to incoming Native
American graduate students. The INPSYDE provides academic assistance, career preparation and social
and cultural support to both undergraduate and graduate students. Financial assistance is given when
possible. Some services are provided through cooperative agreements with other American Indian
support programs at UND. UND’s psychology department dedicates two slots each year to incoming
Native American graduates students.
Clinical placements are available in American Indian communities: the Circle of Life School at White
Earth, Minnesota; the school system in Belcourt, North Dakota, and the Little Voices Group Home in
Sisseton, South Dakota.
Doug McDonald, PhD, the director of INPSYDE, reports that to date, 14 INPSYDE students have earned
their PhDs and more than 25 INPSYDE students have earned MAs. The graduates are all working with
Native communities. Several of them are back on their home reservations. Most graduates are with the
Indian Health Service (IHS), the primary funding source for the program.
Doug McDonald, PhD (Oglala Lakota Nation)
Director, Indians Into Psychology Doctoral Education (INPSYDE)
The Indians into Psychology Doctoral Education (INPSYDE) program at UND has been very busy and
successful over the past year. We would like to briefly share with you some of our recent
accomplishments. We currently have a graduate student, Jeri Ann Azure, out on internship at Northern
Oklahoma Psychology Internship Program in Tulsa, OK. She will graduate next December and will be the
14th Ph.D graduate of the INPSYDE program. We have three students currently applying for internship
and welcomed two new first year graduate students into our Ph.D program, Wanmdiwi Rose and
Heather Crothers. We have also added several new undergraduates to our program who have been very
helpful as research assistants for our graduate research projects. Kaylee Trottier, a fifth year student
presented her research this summer in Logan, UT at the SIP conference and Samantha Chase, another
fifth year student was awarded an APA Minority Fellowship. Kyle Hill and Stephanie Parisien have also
both defended their theses and are working on their dissertations. We would like to congratulate and
thank all of our students for all their successes and hard work.
Our summer institute for American Indian high school students was another success. We had a great
group of thirteen students from surrounding reservations who worked hard and played hard for two
weeks. Every year the selection for summer institute is more competitive and we look forward to more
outstanding applications this year. We have been updating our website and will be joining facebook
soon, so keep on the lookout for us! We would like to wish everyone a great year!
Utah State University
The American Indian Support Project (AISP) based in the psychology department at Utah State
University was established in 1986 to address the shortage of American Indian mental health
professionals and school psychologists. The psychology department has remained committed to
graduating American Indian students with the master's degree in school psychology and the PhD in the
combined psychology program (Clinical/Counseling/School).
AISP recruits and provides support for not only American Indian students but other ethnic minority
students as well.
Every year students in AISP have the opportunity to meet American Indian, Alaska Native, and First
Nations psychologists and psychology graduate students as they help host the annual Convention of
American Indian Psychologists and Psychology Graduate Students. They can also participate in the
retreat that precedes the convention as well as the annual meeting of the Society of Indian
Psychologists that meets in Utah in conjunction with the convention.
From 1990 to 2009, 29 Native students have received one or more degrees. Fourteen students earned
the MS degree, primarily in school psychology. Seven of the 15 students who earned PhD degrees also
earned MS degrees on their way to their doctorate degree.
Carolyn Barcus, EdD (Blackfeet)
Gayle Skawennio Morse PhD (Mohawk)
Co‐Directors, The American Indian Support Project
SAVE THE DATE
2011 SIP Conference at USU
Retreat ‐‐June 24‐26, 2011
Conference‐ June 27‐28, 2011
www.aiansip.org
2011 Native Health Research Conference
Hosted by the Seneca Nation
Native Research Network
www.Nativeresearchnetwork.org
June 28‐30, 2011 Niagara Falls
2011 APA Conference ‐‐Washington, DC
August 4‐7, 2011
http://apa.org/convention/proposals.aspx
HONORS and AWARDS
Gerald Mohatt
Received the Distinguished Ancestor Award during the 2011 National Multicultural Conference and
Summit in Seattle, WA. Dr. Mohatt was the director of the Center for Alaska Native Health Research at
the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. He was a strong supporter of the Tribal College and University
system and a mentor to many.
Diane J. Willis
Received from Div. 45 (Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues) the Distinguished
Career Contributions to Service Award for her significant and outstanding services to ethnic minority
populations at the 2010 APA Convention in San Diego. Dr. J. Manuel Casas presented the award as past
president and awards chair of Div. 45. Dr. Willis is a Kiowa psychologist, retired from the University of
Oklahoma Health Sciences Center Child Study Center and doing private consulting in Indian Country.
Carolyn Barcus
Received the Distinguished Elder Award during the 2011 National Multicultural Conference and Summit in
Seattle, WA. Dr. Barcus is a Blackfeet psychologists and the semi-retired co-director of the American
Indian Support Project at Utah State University.
Dr. Barcus also received the Utah State University Women's Resource Center Lifetime Achievement Award
in 2010.
In February, Dr. Barcus will receive the 21st Annual Janet E. Helms Award for Mentoring and Scholarship
at the Winter Round Table on Cultural Psychology and Education at Columbia Teachers College in New
York City.
John Chaney
Named as an APA Division 54 (Society of Pediatric Psychology) Fellow in 2010. Dr. Chaney is director of
the American Indians into Psychology program at Oklahoma State University. He is Mvskoke Creek from
Oklahoma.
Dr. Chaney was also named the new Director of the Native American Studies at OSU
Tonie Quaintance
Tonie Marie Quaintance, PhD Candidate, whose Native name, Yethnhahnilats, means “makes her life
strong,” is an enrolled descendant in the Turtle Clan of the Oneida Tribe in Oneida, WI. Quaintance is a
fifth year doctoral student in the University of Alaska Joint PhD Program in Clinical-Community
Psychology with a rural and indigenous emphasis. Quaintance is an Andrew R. Mellon Dissertation Fellow,
and is currently writing her dissertation entitled: The Meaning in Life among rural American Indian/Alaska
Native University Students.
Sierra Abe Davis
Received the Alan J. Allery American Indian Health Researcher Award for Undergraduates at the 8th
Annual American Indian Health Research Conference, October 29, 2010 in Grand Forks, ND. Sierra is an
enrolled member of the Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara Nation and senior at the University of North Dakota
majoring in psychology and minoring in Indian Studies and Non-Profit Leadership. She is completing her
senior thesis on an evaluation of GoodHealth TV. Sierra plans to go to graduate school in Public Health.
Brooke Hill
A senior in psychology at Oklahoma State University and AIIP summer student was named “Udall
Scholar” The Udall scholarship provides for educational eligible expenses: tuition, fees, books, and room
and board, up to a maximum of $5,000 per year to outstanding sophomores and juniors who are
studying the environment and related fields, or are Native Americans or Alaska Natives in fields related to
health care or tribal public policy.
PUBLICATIONS
BigFoot, D.S. and Funderburk, B.W.(2010, August). Honoring Children, Making Relatives: Indigenous
Traditional Parenting Practices Compatible with Evidence‐based Treatment. Communiqué:
Indigenous Peoples: Promoting psychological healing and well‐being, LX‐LXIII.
http://www.apa.org/pi/oema/resources/communique/2010/08/august‐special.pdf
Gray, J.S. and Muehlenkamp, J.J. (2010). Circle of Strength: Culturally Integrated Suicide Prevention.
Archives of Suicide Research, 14(2):182‐191. DOI: 10.1080/13811111003704852. Support for
this project was provided by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
Garrett Lee Smith Campus Suicide Prevention Grant SM57856.
Morse, G., Deters, P., and Gray. J.S. (2010, August). Society of Indian Psychologists. Communiqué:
Indigenous Peoples: Promoting psychological healing and well‐being, LXVIII‐LXXI.
http://www.apa.org/pi/oema/resources/communique/2010/08/august‐special.pdf
Muehlenkamp, J.J., Marrone, S., Gray, J.S., and Brown, D. (2009). A College Suicide Prevention Model for
American Indian Students. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 40(2): 134‐240.
Support for this project was provided by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration Garrett Lee Smith Campus Suicide Prevention Grant SM57856.
Rivkin, ID, Lopez, EDS, Quaintance, TM, Trimble, J, Hopkins, S, Fleming, C, Orr, E, & Mohatt, GV
(accepted). Value of community partnership for understanding stress and coping in rural
Yup’ik communities: The CANHR study. Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice.
Technology Committee
The newly appointed Technology Committee has been given several assignments to address this year.
We have made some progress and continue to work on the following list of technology related issues for
SIP. First of all, we have addressed the issue of only small attachments being accepted on the listerv.
We are now able to send attachments of up to 10MB on the list although it is strongly suggested that we
keep the attachments smaller to minimize the risk of viruses being distributed in documents trough the
listserv. The list continues to be sponsored by Michigan State University's Fred Ododa. We are
continuing to address the issues of making the website more user friendly and professional, keep things
updated on FaceBook, and establishing a dial in for regular conference calls for the Executive
Committee. We hope to have made progress in all these areas by next summer’s conference.
Jacque Gray, Chair
Technology Committee
SIP Chapters Report
The UND SIP Chapter met on November 19, 2010 to organize and elect officers. The following are the
new UND SIP Officers:
President
Vice President
Secretary
Treasurer
Advisor
We are completing the bylaws and also applying to be recognized as a student organization on campus.
We currently have ?? Members.
Journal of Indigenous Research needs reviewers and submissions. If you would be interested in
reviewing articles please send your name, e‐mail address, interests and current position or status (eg.
college junior, community member, graduate student in psychology, etc.) to Gayle.Morse@usu.edu.
Other items to add:
I’m waiting for the Minutes for the SIP Business Meeting and an article from the Maori attendees at last
summer’s conference.
Tamara Newcomb, SIP Secretary
Mauri honoring of Syd Davies at SIP (L to R): Awanui Te Huia, Pania Lee, Arama Rata, James Liu, Ph.D.,
Keri Lawson‐Te Aho, Syd Davies, Ph.D.
