Education Advocacy Legislative Updates
Training Grants and Funds:

Graduate Psychology Education (GPE) Program
Geropsychology Training Grants
VA Funds for GPE
SAMHSA Reauthorization Campus Suicide Prevention Program

Editor's note:
In recent years, efforts and advocacy from APA have resulted in the Graduate Psychology Education training grants, inclusion for psychologists in the National Health Service Corps, and funding for increased campus mental health services. But more congressional support is needed. "Garnering champions in Congress is critical but extremely difficult," says Dr. Cynthia Belar, APA Executive Director for Education. Below are some of the successes and ongoing struggles for support for graduate clinical psychology training.

On a personal note, I have been part of a GPE project since it's inception in 2003. Despite grants being awarded for 3 years, each year has proved a struggle to obtain the allotted funding, and, as you can see below, the program has gotten cut rather than strengthened. Efforts at the Congressional level are needed to keep this and other initiatives alive. For further information, please visit http://www.apa.org/ppo/education.
Phyllis Terry Friedman

Graduate Psychology Education (GPE) Program

This most recent competition resulted in 18 grants being awarded for three years under the Graduate Psychology Education Program totaling $1.8 million. 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

GPE Funding Cuts

It should be noted that the highest level of funding for GPE was $4.5 million for FY 2003, 2004, and 2005. In FY 2006 $1.6 billion was cut and it has been very difficult for Congress to restore those funds. Nevertheless, for FY 2008 the GPE Program once again had broad, bipartisan support although there was no "die-hard" champion for a funding increase. Consequently, there was another across the board cut and the 2009 program was funded at $1.9 million.

Geropsychology Training Grants

For FY 2009 Education Government Relations Office (GRO staff) is again seeking $7 million to reinstate the geropsychology training grants, to restore funding for each grant from an average of $75,000 back to over $150,000 and to increase the number of overall grants to allow for more of the remaining 900 eligible programs to apply.

VA Funds for GPE

A big coup for the GPE Program was a result of a last minute Education Government Relations Office (GRO) advocacy effort. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) successfully offered an amendment 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. [To date, the VA-GPE funds have not yet been released.]

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 college counseling centers 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