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The American Psychological Association (APA) has honored Dr. Diana Prescott, PhD, a dedicated Maine psychologist, with the prestigious Heiser Award for her nearly three decades of advocating for rural and underserved communities.

The Heiser Award recognizes Dr. Prescott’s exceptional commitment to leadership and improving access to mental health services for these populations.

Dr. Prescott, a longtime advocate for equitable healthcare, draws on firsthand experience growing up on a farm and practicing in rural Hampden, Maine. Her deep understanding of the challenges faced by rural communities fuels her dedication to expanding access to quality mental health services.

“Growing up on a farm, I witnessed the challenges of rural life, including suicide and teen pregnancy,” Dr. Prescott said. “I vowed to tirelessly advocate for the psychological health of rural and underserved populations.”

As the Federal Advocacy Coordinator for the Maine Psychological Association (MePA), Dr. Prescott has helped shape national policies to address the needs of marginalized populations. “Diana is a born leader,” said Jeff Matranga, MePA Board President. Dr. Prescott also served on the APA Board of Directors and chaired the APA Committee on Rural Health, further demonstrating her extensive expertise.

Dr. Prescott’s advocacy has also earned her international recognition. She has presented on rural integrated care at major conferences worldwide, addressing professional audiences in Slovenia, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Portugal, the Netherlands, and Canada. Her efforts have played a crucial role in raising awareness of rural health issues and promoting equity in mental health services.

“The Heiser Award honors Dr. Prescott’s lifelong dedication to improving mental health care for rural populations,” Matranga added. In addition to this award, Dr. Prescott has received numerous accolades, including the APA Practice Organization’s Federal Advocacy Award and a 2023 APA Presidential Citation for her contributions to psychology.

“I am deeply grateful to Dr. Mayra Zoe Ortiz and APA’s Division 31 for recognizing my work championing legislation to meet the needs of rural people,” Prescott said, adding, “It is such an honor to join my esteemed colleagues who have received the Karl F. Heiser APA Presidential Award.”

Dr. Prescott earned her BA in Psychology and Spanish from Butler University and her MA and PhD in Psychology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, specializing in rural community psychology. She has held many leadership roles at both APA and MePA, garnering several awards, including the 2023 APA Presidential Citation and the APA Practice Organization’s Federal Advocacy Award.

About the Heiser Award

The Heiser Award is presented annually to individuals who demonstrate outstanding leadership and advocacy in psychology. It honors those who contribute significantly to advancing the profession and improving mental health care, particularly for underserved populations. Recipients are acknowledged for their dedication and impact at both national and international levels.

About the Maine Psychological Association

The Maine Psychological Association’s mission is to advance psychology as a science, as a profession, and as a means of promoting human welfare. The organization’s membership consists of psychologists, academicians, researchers, students, and other professionals committed to the practice of psychology. MePA helps consumers identify psychologists around the state for referral and provides a searchable online database at no charge. For more information about MePA and its mission, please visit mepa.org.

This June the Maine Psychological Association (MePA) shares our PRIDE by showing our support and celebrating the LGBTQIA+ community across the state of Maine!

The Pride celebration tradition originated as a way to commemorate the 1969 Stonewall Uprising, a pivotal moment that catalyzed the modern gay liberation movement in the United States. The events at the Stonewall Inn ignited a series of protests and demonstrations that brought attention to the fight for LGBTQIA+ rights and equality. Pride celebrations now also honor the work of Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, trans women of color who created safe havens for trans youth and fought for the inclusion of trans people in the gay liberation movement. Maine’s first Pride parade was in 1987; and June has been the official Pride month in the United States since 1999.

In the past several years, we have seen unprecedented attacks on people who identify as LGBTQIA+, particularly on transgender and gender diverse youth. Psychologists’ allyship and commitment to affirming care for all is more important than ever before, as research continues to show that when LGBTQIA+ youth feel recognized, supported and valued by their communities their mental health improves and suicide risk decreases.

This year the American Psychological Association (APA) and MePA have enacted research-based policies and position statements supporting the LGBTQIA+ community (https://mepa.org/mission-leadership/). In February 2024, APA joined other major medical organizations by affirming psychologists’ support for access to quality health care for all regardless of their gender identity.

As an organization, MePA is proud to stand with the LGBTQIA+ community, during Pride month and throughout the year. Throughout the state, psychologists will be participating in Pride-related events, showing our support for our communities and our commitment to LGBTQIA+-affirming care. We hope you will join us!

To learn more about MePA or to find a psychologist near you, please visit: https://mepa.org/

Jeff Matranga
Maine Psychological Association Board President

By Mary P. Donahue, Ph.D.

COR Representative – Maine 

The Second Amendment – The Right to Bear Arms – just reading those words can elicit a myriad of thoughts and feelings; some logical, some less so, and all nuanced. The fact remains, however, that the right to own firearms is an important part of American culture and, for many, critical to individual identity. Here in Maine, the nation’s most rural state, gun ownership is highly personal to individuals concerned with safety, sports, hunting, and collecting. Regardless of current debates, firearms are here to stay.

Mental health needs are also not going away but, rather, increasing almost exponentially. More than 1 in 5 people nationwide are experiencing mental health issues, with Maine’s population landing in the higher-than-average category at 25% of our population having a mental health condition¹. The suicide rate here is also higher than average: 18.1% vs the national average of 14%^2,3. It is the second leading cause of death for young people. Suicide is indeed a public health crisis.

Now, putting together firearms and mental health, one no doubt sees a strong connection. Research does, in fact, demonstrate that access to firearms is associated with increased suicide risk and that handguns especially elevate that risk⁴, as does keeping handguns loaded when not in use and the use of alcohol in coping⁵. Firearms availability indeed contributes significantly to suicide deaths; there is a positive correlation between ease of access and suicide attempts.

Nationally, firearms are used in more than half of suicide deaths³, and in more than three-quarters of suicide deaths in Maine⁶. Unfortunately, the stigma attached to suicide, and the politics surrounding guns, makes it difficult for many to discuss the issue, even when it pertains to healthy living. Indeed, mental and medical health can talk about smoking, mindfulness, exercise and other beneficial decisions. As mental health professionals, we likely have talked with someone about self-harm and suicidal ideation. We may make safety plans. We are mandated to report. We may have talked about locking up medications or knives, read about bridge barriers, given helpline information…but many hesitate to screen for or specifically discuss suicide and firearms. One reason for this is that many practitioners lack knowledge about how to have such polarizing conversations without putting rapport at risk.

Nevertheless, research demonstrates that having those conversations about suicide and firearms safety can cause actions that directly intervene between the time one decides to act, and the attempt. This is important because we know that this interval can be as short as 5 or 10 minutes⁷. We also know that the method by which one decides to act typically doesn’t change, even when that means is restricted⁸. Finally, studies demonstrate a significant reduction in attempts and deaths when practitioners discuss access to firearms⁹. Thus, practitioners may hold crucial, lifesaving roles when properly educated and informed about safe storage. I wish I had known this myself a few years ago when my own practice was affected by a firearms-related suicide loss.

In the February 2024 APA Council of Representatives meeting, a resolution was adopted entitled, “RESOLUTION ON THE SECURE STORAGE OF FIREARMS AND LETHAL MEANS SAFETY STRATEGIES TO PREVENT SUICIDES.” This resolution calls upon psychologists to seek training in and to promote safe storage of firearms. Note that this is a resolution to encourage, not mandate (as was a concern during debate.) It is, nonetheless, an important consideration in suicide prevention. You can read the entire resolution here:

APA Resolution on the Secure Storage of Firearms and Lethal Means Safety Strategies to Prevent Suicides

Training is affordable, and practitioners are not required to own or advocate for ownership of guns. We need only to know if guns are available to the at-risk client and how we might become more comfortable in discussing safe storage. This can lead to an increase in time between planning and acting. It can save a life.

There are several programs wherein psychologists can find training. For example, the Veterans Affairs office has both written and video trainings available, as well as an online toolkit for use in the community. Additionally, CALMAmerica is an organization based out of New Hampshire, offering both online and in-person training to mental health providers. It addresses how to work collaboratively with at-risk clients and their families on methods for reducing access to firearms and other lethal means. These trainings can take between 1 and 3 hours, and include familiarization with gun safes or lock boxes, biometric storage, and trigger and barrel locks. They discuss reasoning for storing ammunition separately from the firearm as well as how to address off-site storage. Specific aspects of safety plans may also be discussed. In short, it might take very little to make a considerable difference.

To recap, Maine has high firearms ownership and high mental illness rates. Access to firearms increases the risk of suicide deaths. The more time elapsing between suicide plans and suicide actions, the greater chance of an intervention (time, interruption, impulsivity quelled, re-thinking, and reaching out for help, for example) that can save a life. Psychologists have a distinctive opportunity to contribute to that time and space. Training in that area is available and readily accessible.

Mary P. Donahue, Ph.D.
COR Representative – Maine 

References

1. Mental Health in Maine – NAMI Maine Stats and Facts
2. Amid national increase in suicide deaths, Maine sees decline | Maine Public
3. Suicide Data and Statistics | Suicide Prevention | CDC
4. Studdert DM, Zhang Y, Swanson SA, et al. Handgun ownership and suicide in California. N Engl J Med2020;382:2220-2229
5. Army Suicide Prevention Activities Focus on Reducing Lethal Means | Article | The United States Army
6. Report: Maine’s proportion of firearm deaths by suicide is significantly higher than the nation | Maine Public
7. Paashaus L, Forkmann T, Glaesmer H, Juckel G, Rath D, Schönfelder A, Teismann T. From decision to action: Suicidal history and time between decision to die and actual suicide attempt. Clin Psychol Psychother. 2021 Nov;28(6):1427-1434. doi: 10.1002/cpp.2580. Epub 2021 Mar 16. PMID: 33687121.
8. Yip PS, Caine E, Yousuf S, Chang SS, Wu KC, Chen YY. Means Restriction for Suicide Prevention. Lancet. 2012;379(9834):2393-2399.
9. Boggs, J. M., Beck, A., Ritzwoller, D. P., Battaglia, C., Anderson, H. D., & Lindrooth, R. C. (2020). A 62 Quasi-Experimental Analysis of Lethal Means Assessment and Risk for Subsequent 63 Suicide Attempts and Deaths. Journal of general internal medicine, 35(6), 1709–1714. 64 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-020-05641-4
10. Sale E, Hendricks M, Weil V, Miller C, Perkins S, McCudden S. Counseling on Access to Lethal Means (CALM): An Evaluation of a Suicide Prevention Means Restriction Training Program for Mental Health Providers. Community Ment Health J. 2018;54(3):293-301.