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ABPsi President's Articles |
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These articles can be found in issues of the Psychdiscourse | 
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President's Message- 2010 Conference
- Posted July 14, 2010
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Benson George Cooke, Ed.D. President 2009-2011
Greetings to The Association of Black Psychologists (ABPsi) Family, Special Guests and Friends. We also extend thanks to the City of Chicago, the State of Illinois, vendors, supporters and area psychologists who have helped to make this convention an unqualified success. On behalf of The Association of Black Psychologists' Board of Directors, we would like to welcome you to Chicago, Illinois the site of our 42nd International Annual Convention and the 6th Congress on Licensure, Certification, and Proficiency in Black Psychology (LCPP). As a 501(c) 3 organization, it is ABPsi's mission to aid in the liberation of people of African ancestry throughout the world, with active participation from members in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, Africa and Europe.
As we celebrate our 42 Annual International Convention it is awe-inspiring to contemplate that approximately thirty-four years ago in 1976, that Chicago hosted its first ABPsi's 9th Annual Convention at the McCormick Inn Hotel. And again fourteen years ago, in 1996, Chicago hosted the 28th Annual Convention at the Ambassador West Hotel. Between the period of 1976 and 1996 up through 2010 the city of Chicago, as well as the nation and The ABPsi have each experienced tremendous social, cultural, political and economic changes. Depending on your point of view, some of these changes can be regarded as an improvement while others as a setback. Whichever point of view you adhere to it is clear that the role of Black/African Psychologists is growing. Since our founding in 1968, there continues to be a growing need for culturally sensitive and competently trained Clinical Psychologists, Health Psychologists, Neuropsychologists, Geropsychologists, Counseling Psychologists, School Psychologists, Industrial-Organizational psychologists, Developmental Psychologists, Social Psychologists, Experimental or Research Psychologists, and Forensic Psychologists. The problems affecting people of the African Diaspora continue to affect our way of life with a wide-reaching and even more problematic affect resulting from national as well as international ecological, environmental, political and man-made adversity.
Consequently, the theme of our 42nd Annual International Convention reflects The ABPsi's recognition of the critical need of Black/African Psychologists to attend to the unremitting challenges, continuing troubles and long-term struggles that must be managed on a scale that affects change nationally and internationally. This year's convention theme is "Serudj ta: Transformative Approaches toward Repairing, Restoring, and Renewing the Afrikan Spirit through Fulfilling the Mission of The ABPsi". The concept of "Serudj ta" reflects what Dr. Maulana Karenga has identified as a "a major ancient source for our self-understanding and self-assertion" taken from "the Husia, the sacred text of ancient Egypt." The use of this concept as a part of our theme reflects The ABPsi's mission to be committed to being a "constant soldier in a struggle." "The struggle is one to secure and sustain the good and right in the world which begins with ourselves in an ongoing effort to prefigure the good world we went to bring into being, but ultimately it involves struggle for that good world. Thus, The Husia assigns us to the ongoing task and struggle of Serudj-ta: to repair, renew and transform the world, making it more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it."1 Therefore, The ABPsi recognizes that we must reflect in our behavior, our thoughts and choices the healthy change we are seeking. The ABPsi has represented our community for the past 42 years as a beacon of social and psychological justice. The ABPsi has also continued to place a spotlight on those psychological issues in which the historical experiences of group trauma and re-traumatization, and the ongoing issue of mental health disparities/inequities, have served to only deepen the generational experience caused by the historical affects of the Maafa or Great Suffering. Whether people of the African Diaspora are seeking mental health support following the Gulf of Mexico oil spill , an ecological disaster now identified as the greatest oil spill disaster to occur in world or continuing to rebuild a country following the Haitian Earthquake of 2010, each of these populations remain underserved and requiring transformative approaches toward repairing, restoring, and renewing the African Spirit through fulfilling the psychological mission of The ABPsi.
The ABPsi has a longstanding legacy of psychological advocacy for Black/African American people. From the 1970's Larry P Case establishing fairness with regards to educational/psychological testing, to the efforts of ABPsi members in establishing seminal theoretical and applied models for improving culturally appropriate therapeutic responses to disaster relief following Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, The ABPsi has been committed to influencing necessary change and addressing significant social problems affecting the Black/African American community whose needs society has not fulfilled. Currently, The ABPsi has engaged in signature programs designed to impact the prison industrial complex. The ABPsi's African-Centered Re-entry Project (ACRE), is being designed to address inequities regarding the prison recidivism along with the Jim Crow Era-like practices afflicting African American youth within the criminal justice system. Additionally, The ABPsi continues to create a footprint in the conversation concerning Black/African American military personnel and the families of those deployed and returning from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.
As I have stated before, it is my sincere hope that if you have not become a ABPsi member that you will seize this opportunity to become a part of an association made up of members who have the courage to continue defining a cultural reality of best practices and scholarship committed to eradicating disparities and empowering the mind and spirit of members of the African Diaspora both in the United States and Internationally. If you are a member, it is my hope that you will stay involved and committed to the vision and mission of The ABPsi. It is only through commitment, dedication and hard work that The ABPsi can and will become what we desire it to be. If our vision for The ABPsi is unlimited, the possibilities of what membership can mean becomes immeasurable. Again, I welcome you to our 42nd Annual International Convention and invite your continued participation with The ABPsi.
1 Karenga, M. (2007). The Sacred Narrative of Africans: A Chosen and Challenged People. Los Angeles Sentinel, p.A-7. Retrieved November 1, 2008 from http://www.us-organization.org/position/documents/SacredNarrativeofAfricans.pdf
President's Message
- Posted February 1, 2010
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Addressing Multiple Issues on Multiple Fronts: The ABPsi’s National and International Mental Health Initiatives.
Benson George Cooke, Ed.D., ABPsi National President 2009/2011
Since August 1, 2009, The Association of Black Psychologists, guided by the Board of Directors, has been engaged in a number of mental health initiatives designed to aggressively engage our association’s attention to longstanding mental health issues and emergency relief efforts affecting the Black community nationally and internationally. The two initiatives I would like to discuss at this time include:
(1) The African Centered Re-Entry Project (ACRE) and
(2) The newly appointed ABPsi Disaster Relief Task Force established to administer and manage short and long-term mental health interventions for Haitian earthquake survivors. Each of these initiatives provides an opportunity for our association to engage in pertinent issues that significantly impact the livelihood of African American’s and Haitians.
Over the past 41 years, our association has been known for its influential pioneering and ground-breaking commitment toward establishing rigorous theoretical perspectives and foundational themes, as well as culturally significant applications of Black/African psychology. Our association’s history is also replete with evidence-based reports pointing to seminal culturally competent assessment paradigms diverse enough to include a class action suit (i.e., 1971 Larry P Case), which addressed constitutional guarantees of equal protection for African Americans concerning biased psychological testing. With this rich psychological legacy, our association is now on the brink of embarking upon a new series of program initiatives.
Overview of the African Centered Re-Entry Project (ACRE) Initiative
As each generation ofABPsi membership continues to step-up and identify new initiatives critical to our community’s healthy growth and development, Dr. Cheryl Grills’ contribution on this front is The African Centered Re-Entry Project (ACRE). Since August 2009, Dr. Grills has been working tirelessly with Drs. Mark A. Bolden; Deanna Cooke; and Michelle Anderson to establish our footprint in an area that continues to require our full attention, i.e., the excessive incarceration of African American women, men, and children. To date their working efforts have included establishing partnerships with the California Institution for Women (CIW) in order to as Dr. Grills reported, "decrease recidivism among formerly incarcerated African Americans starting first with incarcerated African American women from South Los Angeles using African Centered, community-based pre and post release programming.
Ultimately the project would expand to include African American men, youth, and communities across the US." Working efforts on this project have also included establishing relationships with relevant state and federal grant agencies to secure funding support for addressing recidivism. Any research on the subject of incarceration among African Americans will clearly reveal the disproportionate numbers caught-up within the U.S. prison industrial complex, which has sorrowfully become a profitable investment for a growing number of private prison companies and their financial stock market investments on Wall Street, e.g., Corrections Corp. of America, The GEO Group, and Cornell Cos. The myriad of circumstances e.g., oppression, poverty, crime, unemployment and failing educational systems that contribute to incarceration and work against successful re-entry among incarcerated women and men must be addressed by psychologists. The ABPsi is now poised to address this issue with ACRE. The recent January 2010 convening General Assembly that included a national ACRE convening or ‘Think Tank’ as I would like to identify it helped to secure our serious trajectory to address this national crisis.
Overview of The ABPsi Disaster Relief Task Force Initiative
Secondly, I recently made the appointments of Drs. Gislene C. Mariette, Wade W. Nobles and Mary Hargrow to serve as Co-Chairs of The ABPsi Disaster Relief Task Force. Their leadership will help to ensure that we design and deliver culturally congruent (African Centered mental health services and programming to victims of natural and/or man-made disasters to people of African ancestry and communities in need through the world). To accomplish this they have been charged with coordinating and committing relevant resources, expertise and skill sets to address local, national and international disasters. Following the 2005 Hurricane Katrina, Drs. Kevin Cokley, Wade W. Nobles and I authored a seminal document titled: Guidelines for Providing Culturally Appropriate Services for People of African Ancestry Exposed to Trauma of Hurricane Katrina. While this document set the stage for the journal article by: Cooke, B.G., Cokley, K., Moon, L.T., Webb, S.C. (2007). Therapeutic Cultural Competence in Theory and Practice
Following Hurricane Katrina: Culturally Appropriate Therapeutic Responses to Disaster Relief.Journal of Race and Policy, Volume 3, Number 1, 141-165, the need for a task force capable of addressing current and future needs remained vital to ensure the delivery of culturally competent mental health services both nationally and internationally. The ABPsi is now positioned institutionally to begin drawing from our deep reservoir of scholarship/research and clinical practice in coordinating and committing relevant mental health services to Haitians.
This effort to launch vital initiatives that address the long-term mental health needs of our community e.g., prison recidivism and disaster relief speaks to our psychological and cultural capacity to address what The ABPsi is best suited to deal with. Again, I invite the next generation of ABPsi membership to participate in the generational work required to ensure our successful engagement of vital initiatives that enrich and productively transform our community.
Below, I provide an overview of the impressive program that took place on January 14th—16th in Los Angeles, California.
The African Centered Re-Entry Project (ACRE) Convening
During the week of January 14—16th the 2nd Quarter Board of Directors (BOD) meeting and joint General Assembly (GA) meeting was held in Los Angeles, California hosted by Loyola Marymount University . The highlight of the General Assembly meeting was The African Centered Re-Entry Project (ACRE) Convening. Thanks to the convening facilitators that included ABPsi members: Cheryl Grills, Ph.D.; Mark A. Bolden, Ph.D.; Deanna Cooke, Ph.D.; and Michelle Anderson, Ph.D. the three-day event provided exceptional opportunities for collaboration between expert panels, members and guests. Panel discussions were convened throughout the three-day period with contributions from the following:
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James R. Lanier, Ph.D., Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency’s Re-Entry and Sanctions Center (RSC)—Topic: LOCKDOWN: The Race to Incarcerate African Americans;
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Danielle M. Steffey, M.S., RTI International , Crime, Violence, and Justice Research Program—Topic: Characteristics, Service Receipt, and Outcomes of Women in the SVORI Multisite Evaluation;
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Carl Leukefeld, Ph.D., University of Kentucky School of Medicine—Topic: HIV and Community Re-entry from Prison;
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Christine E. Grella, Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles—Topic: Treatment Needs and Outcomes of Substance-Abusing Women in the Criminal Justice System;
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Honorable Mark Ridley-Thomas, Supervisor, Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, Second District—Topic: Welcome and Remarks on Incarceration and Re-entry;
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Cheryl Grills, Ph.D., President-Elect The Association of Black Psychologists—Topic: The ABPsi ACRE Project;
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Marguerita Lightfoot, Ph.D., Center for AIDS Prevention Studies (CAPS) University of California, San Francisco—Topic: Health Needs of Young Women Post-Release;
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Imani Walker, Co-Founder and Director of Rebecca Project for Human Rights—Topic: Maternal Addiction, Incarceration & Recovery;
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Debra Furr-Holden, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University—Topic: Environmental Approaches to Prevent and Reduce Recidivism and Improve Health;
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Cynthia Davis, M.A., Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science—Topic: HIV/STI Community Mobilization Efforts in South Central Los Angeles;
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Deanna Cooke, Ph.D., Georgetown University—Topic: Dialog with South Los Angeles Service Providers;
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Michelle Anderson, Ph.D., Loyola Marymount University—Topic: Dialog with South Los Angeles Service Providers;
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Wades W. Nobles, Ph.D., Founder and Director Institute for the Advanced Study of Black Family, Life and Culture, Inc.—Topic: Re-birthing Community: From Auset to Asset;
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Erylene Piper-Mandy, Ph.D., Executive Director with The Southern California Foster Care Mentoring Network—Topic: Being in Community;
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Marimba Ani, Ph.D., Retired Afrikan Studies, Hunter College and Nkoniimfo Publications—Topic: Kuguusa Mtima: To Touch the Heart that Touches You;
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Huberta Jackson-Lowman, Ph.D., Department of Psychology at Florida A&M University—Topic: Reclaiming Our Traditional Greatness: Identity, Authenticity & Purpose and Definitions of Afrikan American Womanhood;
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Carl C. Bell, M.D., President & C.E.O. of Community Mental Health Council (CMHC) & Foundation, Inc. in Chicago—Topic: African-American Mechanisms of health Behavior Change;
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Roderick J. Watts, Ph.D., Department of Psychology at Georgia State University—Topic: Fostering Human and Sociopolitical Development Among Community Activists;
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Wizdom Powell Hammond, Ph.D., Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, Gillings School of Global Public Health, UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center—Topic: Focusing on the Positive: Harnessing Character Strengths, Values, and Virtues in the Aftermath of Incarceration;
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Jamila Codrington, Ph.D., Astor Child Guidance Center—Topic: Door of Return: African Dance as a Re-Entry Healing Ritual;
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Deidre Anglin, Ph.D., The City College of New York—Topic: Research Design Strategies for Testing Sustained Improvements in Outcomes in Community-Based Research;
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Shawn O. Utsey, Ph.D., Department of Psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University—Topic: Using Culture to Inform the Development and Validation of Measures for Use with Black Populations;
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Deanna Cooke, Ph.D., Georgetown University—Topic: ACRE’s Next Steps: Integrating Lessons Learned into Design and Delivery of Culturally Tailored Programming;
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Lewis King, Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles—Topic: Rebuilding the African Village: Culture in Search of Authentic Theory;
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Presentations also included a lunch-time panel discussion with the following professionals:
- Rev. Mark Crear, Ph.D., Chairman of the Black African American Christian Counselors (BAACC)—Topic: The Church’s Impact on Spirituality Among Returning Citizens;
- Christine Schweidler, M.A., M.P.H., Advancement Project Los Angeles, Senior Research Manager—Topic: GIS Mapping—A Tool for Re-entry and Recidivism;
- Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Executive Director, The Community Coalition —Topic: Community Organizing and Re-Entry
- Michael Crrington, Chief Operations Officer with The Careering Responsible Opportunity Programs Foundation (CROP)—Topic: Rethinking Reentry;
- Susan L. Taylor, Editor-in-Chief Emeritus of Essence Magazine and Founder of National Cares Mentoring Movement—Topic: The National Cares Mentoring Movement
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Daryl M. Rowe, Ph.D., Graduate School of Education and Psychology, Pepperdine University—Facilitator; African Centered Panel
- Thomas Parham, Ph.D., Assistant Vice-Chancellor, University of California, Irvine—Facilitator – Closing Session with Dr. Lewis King.
An additional opportunity afforded to ABPsi member’s, conveners, and participants was a tour and series of discussions at the California Institution for Women. This opportunity included a discussion with the CIW Warden and staff; a discussion with members of the women inmates Black Culture Group (formerly known as the African American Women Prisoners Association (AAWPA); and a tour and overview of CIW structure, programming, configuration of ACRE physical space and programming.
These are truly exciting times as we work on defining a reality for our association that will significantly impact the future of psychology, Black/African psychology, people of African ancestry, and our illustrious Association of Black Psychologists. I am very proud to continue in service as the 41st national president of The Association of Black Psychologist s and to work with a dedicated Board of Directors committed to these initiatives and to work across generations to ensure the realization of our "mission and destiny as the liberation of the African Mind, empowerment of the African Character, and enlivenment and illumination of the African Spirit."
Dr. Benson Cooke is the National President of The Association of Black Psychologists. He may be reached in care of the National Office. PO Box 55999, Washington, D. C. 20040-5999 - Phone: (202) 722-0808. |
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 14 July 2010 11:48 |
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