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Mental Health Professionals (MHP) Special Interest Group (SIG): We are looking for new members!

MHP SIG was created in December 2023.

Goals in Progress:

  1. Continue to identify MHPs in SIO and outside SIO who may be interested in joining SIO and the SIG. Consider professional relationships as well as networking during annual conferences.
  2. Continue to build presence and community for MHPs.
  3. Continue collaborations within the SIG to highlight areas of expertise and ways to provide education to SIO membership.
  4. Submit commentary for JICM on the role of mental health professionals in integrative oncology. Tentative due date is August 2016. Michelle Ferretti is lead.
  5. Potentially change meeting time to increase attendance.
  6. Potential for collaboration with other SIGs and Committees.
    • Communications Committee needs social media content. SIG members can share their publications with 1-2 sentences
  7. Create webinar and role of MHPs in Integrative Oncology.

Activities to Date:

  1. Increase presence of MHPs within SIO during annual conferences. For 2025 conference in Boston we have several members presenting their work via invited plenary, workshops, and posters/talks.
  2. Worked with Communications Committee to create two Instagram posts:
    • Benefits of Addressing Emotional Well-Being While Managing Cancer
    • Benefits of Incorporating a Licensed Mental Health Provider While Managing Cancer
  3. Worked with Communications Committee to create an Educational Video. Addressed the following questions:
    • Who are we talking about when we talk about mental health professionals?
    • Why should you have a mental health professional on your care team?
    • How can a mental health professional help with making healthy lifestyle changes?
    • How can a mental health professional be helpful on an interdisciplinary team?
    • What physical side effects can be affected by emotional concerns? AND
    • What interventions can be helpful can be helpful for both emotional and physical concerns?
    • What does being an SIO member mean to you?
  1. Added MHP SIG to the website with correct co-chair information.
  2. Updated membership registration to include Psychologist as a role option and MSW as a degree option.
  3. Created a succession plan. Terms are 2 years with one chair (chair-elect) opening in December 2025. Other chair with continue for one more year and then transition. Rotation of one new chair-elect will happen annually. Looking to maintain professional diversity (psychologist (clinical, research), LCSW, LPC, MD) in co-chairs.
  4. Created a folder system for all SIG members for conference submissions, publications, agendas and minutes to help facilitate collaborations.
  5. Collaborated with Health Coaching SIG to create a survey assessing how providers work to address several important themes. Approximately 31 people participated. Learned that membership wide surveys were not effective at gathering data of interest. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SIOSIG
    • Examined following themes: Emotional concerns, Developing a healthy lifestyle, Relationships to self and others, Managing symptoms, Reset/Recovery-integrating cancer into my life
    • In each theme, asked the frequency of discussion during patient consultations, the level of importance patients place on the theme, how well your practice is doing to support patients in each theme, what are the top two professionals you refer to for that theme, top two barriers to support patients in that theme
  6. SIG members (Kim Lowery Walker and Lindsey Wamsley) completed chapters for the SIO textbook on Stress. Linda Carlson completed chapter on Mindfulness.
  7. SIG Members continue to contribute to the psychosocial literature in integrative oncology.

Current Members = 12

Meetings are bimonthly.

PLEASE CONTACT US IF YOU’RE INTERESTED!

Co-Chairs:

Michelle Ferretti, MSW, LCSW
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
Inova Peterson Life with Cancer and Providence Cancer Institute
Michelle.Ferretti@providence.org

Aimee J. Christie, Ph.D.
Licensed Psychologist
The University of Texas at MD Anderson Cancer Center
ajchristie@mdanderson.org

Liaison to the Executive Committee / Advisor: 

Linda Carlson, Ph.D.
Licensed Psychologist
University of Calgary