Dear HNS Members:
I have greatly enjoyed my two years in office. In this time the organization has more than doubled in size, developed new projects, had its first conference, and gained wider recognition. I personally have received a lot of credit for this which feels undeserved because it really has been the work of many people that has produced these results. And that work has been spurred on by a spirit of collaboration, solidarity, and amigismo that has been a joy to participate in. It has not been without its frictions and even sleepless nights, but good will has prevailed. I’m looking forward to the new advances we will see under the Renteria administration and to some relative rest but continued participation in my new role as Immediate Past President.
During this past year Heather Rodas Romero rotated off the Board as (non-voting) student representative and Pedro Saez advanced from student rep. elect to student rep. Both of them have brought valued enthusiasm, perspective, hard work, and technical skills to the board. We are grateful for their contributions and look forward to their continued HNS participation and to delighting in their career development. (Full disclosure, Heather was once my practicum student.)
I also want to take this opportunity to thank Gina Navarrete for her many years of dedicated service to HNS as she rotates off the Board from her position of Immediate Past President. We are all most grateful to her for more services than I can enumerate here. It seems that every time I poke into another corner I find out something she has done for HNS, such as writing the by-laws. We know that she will continue to stay active in her committee work and we will count on her continued sage advice.
In the final days of my term, I will be presiding over the HNS meeting in Vancouver. We hope you will put it on your calendar and plan to be there Saturday, October 16 11:30-1:15. Lunch will be provided so that you don’t have to miss out on anything at NAN (and there will be time to make it to the HNS workshop at 1:30). This will be a very important meeting as we will be hosting elections for the next President Elect. Nominations for elections are now closed. We have two candidates for President-Elect and two candidates for Student Representative Elect. Details will be forthcoming shortly. You will be able to vote either in person at the meeting or electronically until Saturday, 10/30/10. You will also be asked to vote on a by-laws change to shorten the presidential term to 1 year.
I look forward to seeing many of you there!
Below is outlined the News – more detail of what we have been up to over the past year or so.
NEWS ITEMS
What a busy term! So much has been accomplished!
- Education Paper: In January, 2009, After more than 5 years of hard work, we published theHNS/NAN Education Paper: Professional Considerations for Improving the Neuropsychological Evaluation of Hispanics., in the Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology (also available through our website www.hnps.org). Many thanks to all involved! Many of us are finding this to be a useful tool to improve and promote our own practices, to educate others about what is needed, and, most importantly, to improve the general quality and accessibility of neuropsychological services for Hispanics in the U.S.
- The Education Paper was featured in a 2009 NAN workshop in New Orleans on Legal, ethical, and empirical guidance in providing competent neuropsychological services to Hispanics.There were about 50 in attendance, and there was a lively discussion.
- It will be featured in a 2010 HNS workshop at NAN in Vancouver, BC, on Saturday, October 16, 1:30-4:30 on Emerging Practice Patterns and Guidelines for Spanish Speakers.
- First Conference: We had our first conference ever in Acapulco on February 2, 2010, Próximos Pasos: The Next Steps in Hispanic Neuropsychology. There were 3 themes to the conference: Mexico, Assessment, and the Neuropsi family of tests. We are working on a plan to publish some of the proceedings and/or post them on the website. With about 40 in attendance, it was an academic, organizational, and social success. There were 10 informative presentations, 3 panels, and lots of networking (whew!). We would venture to guess that everyone in attendance learned somethingimportant to their work, often something they didn’t expect to learn, and met someone for the first time with important shared interests. A special thanks to all who participated, especially to our Latin American guest presenters, Feggy Ostrosky-Solis, Esmeralda Matute, and Jacqueline Abrisqueta.
- HNS was also well-represented in the INS meeting that followed. There were at least 42 papers and posters on Hispanic themes and HNS members were authors of at least 13 of those.
b. HNS also sponsored a symposium in INS on The Non-Mexican Neuropsychologist’s Guide to Mexico, with well over 100 in attendance. Our featured guest was Rolando Diaz-Loving, Mexican social psychologist, who summarized several decades of research on a Historic-Psycho-Social-Cultural view of Mexican character, values, and families. Thanks, also, to guest presenter Teresita Villaseñor of Guadalajara who presented the history ofneuropsychology in Mexico.
c. Finally, at the end of the INS conference HNS held a meeting, with 11 in attendance, to discuss the future of HNS and of Hispanic neuropsychology in the U.S. Early-career people were well-represented, with many innovative ideas about research, training, and practice collaboration. You can expect to see developments in the Spanish test database; in research and data sharing; in expansion of the roles of mentoring to include distance supervision, translation and interpretation resources, and research mentoring; and an expanded HNS role in promoting Hispanic neuropsychology and educational resources. There were also proposals for a research committee, database, and wiki, and for an education and advocacy committee.
d. We must be honest with you that the conference posted a loss to HNS of $2168. The Board had anticipated this, we felt that it was well worth it for what was accomplished, and our budget was able to absorb the loss without distress.
3. Test Database: The Test Database listing over 170 neuropsychology-related tests in Spanish is now public [https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Ap8VzYUhvxGZcGVWMkRqYUd6OWlpMUkwNnlDLURuZkE&hl=en#gid=0]. We have plans to migrate it to a wiki-based system so that people may add their knowledge in a collective fashion. The test database has been critical to two major recent research projects by HNS members concerning current Spanishneuropsychological test use in the U.S. The HNS membership has been critical to this research, with 72% participation in one survey! Look for more on this at the HNS workshop at NAN.
4. Mentoring: The Mentoring committee has launched the training databasehttps://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Ap8VzYUhvxGZdEQzTGtiZFZpYUFFVEM4T0pkeF9rV2c&hl=en#gid=0. This database can help link those interested in learning about neuropsychological work with Spanish-speakers to those able to offer training. We’re hoping that this will also facilitate creative arrangements to allow training sites with significant Spanish-speaking populations to improve the training they offer. The Mentoring Committee is also coordinating with the APA Div. 40 Ethnic and Minority Affairs Committee’s mentoring efforts. HNS member David Lechuga is spearheading some mentoring events at NAN in Vancouver—keep an eye out for them. The Mentoring Committee is also working on facilitating distance supervision, consultation, and mentoring, and supporting members in their efforts to achieve board certification. A future goal is to encourage greater prominence of cultural competence objectives at all levels of neuropsychological training.
5. Listserve: The HNS member listserve has been very active this past year. There have been scholarly and practical discussions of testing and research issues, case consultations, referrals, ethics discussions, announcements of jobs and training opportunities, research collaborations and jobs, and some celebrations of the achievements of our members. For us it has created a stronger sense of organizational identity and community.
6. Website: Our website contains not only the HNS/NAN education paper and information about the organization, but also links to other organizations and other clinical resources. We welcome further contributions, including more client handouts and forms in Spanish, links, and bibliography. Our website has become the central place to link to our other resources such as the test database, the training site database, the listserve, the membership directory, and on-line dues paying.
7. Membership: We now have 102 members, significantly more than 40 or so members we had 2 years ago. Seventy-four members have chosen to be listed on the public membership directory [https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Ap8VzYUhvxGZck54WC1wU252cFdSTk5rRFQ4YWdVcVE&hl=en], which makes it much easier for us to remember and find each other and for the public to access appropriate services.
a. This letter also serves as the recruitment letter for our annual membership drive. We now stand at about 100 members. The NAN membership directory lists about 120 NAN members who indicate that they speak Spanish (and/or serve Spanish speakers). There are many potential members who are not listed there for various reasons. HNS is clearly the place to be for supporting neuropsychological work with Hispanics. We think that there is a clear and important role for us as an independent organization that maintains friendly and mutually beneficial relationships with NAN, INS, APA Div. 40, Latin American neuropsychologicalsocieties, and other groups. Please renew your membership and encourage others to join. Here are the benefits of membership:
i. Being part of the community that is paving the way for improved access and quality of neuropsychological services for Hispanics in the U.S.
ii. Being listed in the Public directory
iii. Receiving the journal, Applied Neuropsychology
iv. Participating in the member list serve
v. Mentoring service
b. Plans for the future include development of a Fellowship status. Requirements for becoming a Fellow of HNS will include having made a significant contribution to the field and a minimum of 5 consecutive years of membership. We expect to be ready for the 2013 membership year.
c. As I hope my presidency has come to symbolize, HNS membership is not just for Hispanicneuropsychologists and students. It is for all neuropsychologists—Hispanic or not, Spanish-speaking or not—who are concerned with neuropsychological services to Hispanics. Please keep this in mind in your membership recruiting.
We look forward to enjoying more scholarly, clinical, and cultural exchanges with you through the listserve, conferences, and other channels. As the bicultural organization that we are, we try to maintain in these exchanges high scientific standards in the context of a warm and supportive organizational culture.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the Board of Directors,
Tedd Judd, Ph.D., Outgoing President
HNS Board of Directors:
Tedd Judd, PhD, President
M. Gina Navarette, PhD, Past President
Laura Renteria, PhD, President Elect
Shelley Peery, PhD, Secretary
Leo Shea, PhD, Treasurer
Pedro Saez, MA, Student Representative