Griffin, Ga. – The University of Georgia Griffin campus will present a day of sessions devoted to the field of psychology April 25 in Room 104 of the Student Learning Center.
Morning sessions on “Psych Day at UGA: Future Trends Today” are open to the public. The afternoon psychopharmacology workshop for mental healthcare professionals satisfies the biannual continuing education requirements for psychologists licensed in Georgia. There is a charge for the continuing education session.
The morning sessions will cover topics that include the future of psychopharmacology and the evolution of correctional mental health. The final morning session, “Narcissism in Contemporary Culture,” will feature Keith Campbell, a noted expert, professor and head of the department of psychology in the UGA Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. Other presenters include Jim DeGroot, head of mental health for the Georgia Department of Corrections; Andrea Kozak Miller, president of the Georgia Psychological Association; and Willa Presmanes, creator of the Daily Living Activities-20, or DLA-20, a functional assessment that tracks 20 everyday tasks impacted by mental illness or disability that is now used in 40 states.
The afternoon continuing education workshop will cover “Minimizing Psychopharmacological Errors: A Proactive Approach for Mental Health Providers.” The scope of psychopharmacological and other medication errors is an often-underappreciated subarea in the total domain of medical mistakes. By some estimates, the number of medication errors harms 1.5 million people each year at a conservative cost of $3.5 billion a year.
“Professionals and practitioners who choose to participate in the entire day will be up-to-date with current issues and problems facing the mental health sector,” said Perry Buffington, lecturer in the Franklin College department of psychology at UGA-Griffin. “They will have opportunities to interact with our excellent presenters and their colleagues, receive the latest information, establish additional contacts within the profession and find ways to improve, if necessary, any current practices.”
Psych Day at UGA grew out of a degree program UGA began offering on its Griffin campus in fall 2013. The new bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies has concentrations in psychology and sociology.
“Our new interdisciplinary degree program’s psychology concentration prepares students to work effectively in the mental health field,” said Faye Chatman, program coordinator for the Franklin College at UGA-Griffin. “In conjunction with our psychology concentration, we hope to serve as a resource for current professionals who desire to enhance their practice by offering future Psych Day at UGA programs. This year’s morning sessions in particular are a rare opportunity to explore leading-edge topics for mental healthcare providers.”
Registration for Psych Day at UGA is available at http://www.ugagriffincontinuinged.com/. For more information on UGA-Griffin, see http://uga.edu/griffin.
