Career Paths in Telemental Health

Consultant, trainer, author and researcher, Marlene M.Maheu, Ph.D. is the Executive Director of the TeleMental HealthInstitute, Inc., where she has overseen the developmentand delivery of professional training in telemental health via an eLearningplatform that serves thousands of clinicians seeking professional training andconsultation from more than 39 countries worldwide.For more than twenty years, Dr. Maheu's focus has the legaland ethical risk management issues related to the use of technologies to betterserve behavioral health clients and patients. She has served on a dozenprofessional association committees and task forces related to¿establishing standards and guidelines ¿telehealth. Shehas written dozens of peer-reviewed articles and is lead author of multipletelehealth textbooks. ¿Dr. Maheu is a technology developer and lecturesinternationally on the subject of best practices in the use of varioustechnologies. She is a staunch advocate for technological change to reach morepeople, reduce health care costs and improve the quality of care via self-help,wireless technologies and telepractice.Kenneth Drude, Ph.D. has a doctorate in counseling psychology from theUniversity of Illinois. His telemental health interests include the ethics,standards, guidelines, policy and regulation of telemental health practice, andinterprofessional relations. He chaired an Ohio Psychological Association committeethat developed the first psychological association telepsychology guidelines inthe United States in 2008. Dr. Drude served on the Ohio PsychologicalAssociation governing board for 28 years in various capacities and as editor ofThe Ohio Psychologist. He currently isthe president of the Ohio Board of Psychology. He was a member of theAssociation for State and Provincial Psychology Board's Telepsychology TaskForce that developed an interstate psychology compact. He currently providesoutpatient psychological services in a general private practice in Dayton,Ohio.Dr. Shawna Wright is a licensedpsychologist in Kansas and Nebraska who works in private practice as atelepsychologist. She obtained her graduate training in clinicalpsychology from Texas Tech University specializing in child and familytreatment. She has worked for over a decade in community mental health insoutheastern Kansas as outpatient therapist. She is currently anoperations manager for two community mental health center offices. Through her experience in community mental health, Dr. Wright isacutely aware of the impact of the shortage of mental health providers inunderserved, rural areas, and she sees the promise of utilizing telehealth as amedium for providing mental health services to this population. In 2011,Dr. Wright completed a comprehensive telemental health certificate trainingprogram through the TeleMental Health Institute and initiated a privatepractice providing telepsychology services to residents of rural nursingfacilities. She is a member of the American Psychological Association(APA), the Kansas Psychological Association (KPA), and the AmericanTelemedicine Association. Dr. Wright has a keen interest in workingwithin these associations to develop standards, training, and resources toassist psychologist who are interested in telepsychology careers. She isthe membership chair for the Coalition of Technology in Behavioral Sciences(CTiBS) and maintains aspirationsof sharing her professional experience to help advanceprofessional resources for telepsychologist through educational endeavors andconsultation.