December 1, 2012

From November 10-13, Veronica Carey, PhD, an assistant clinical professor and the Associate Director of the Saturday Scholars Program for the Behavioral Health Counseling Department, attended the World Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation’s (WAPR) conference, “Change Thinking, Change Practice, Change Services,” in Milan, Italy. There, she gave a presentation on the Certified Psychiatric Rehabilitation Practitioner, or CPRP, credential. Her 55-minute presentation with two colleagues from Pakistan and Nairobi was translated for the audience into Italian, French, Spanish, and English via translators and headphone sets. The CPRP credential is nationally recognized here in the United States, but Carey is making a concerted effort to make it more internationally accepted and promoted. 1500 attendees representing seven continents and 25 different countries were present at the conference.

Carey, who is also a commissioner and on the international committee for the United States Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association (USPRA), additionally co-published a poster presentation about the CPRP credential that was accepted by the WAPR for the conference. “I was very proud of the fact that they accepted the poster. It’s important because states are making it part of their regulations to have CPRP recognized. Many other countries don’t have this yet,” Carey explained. CPRP is currently recognized in Canada, Singapore, and Taiwan. However, Carey said, “We want to broaden that significantly.”

“The reason why my trip to Milan was important for the Behavioral Health Counseling Department is because it is my goal that Drexel become a recognized educator in psychiatric rehabilitation. Between Lisa Schmidt and me, we have the capacity to do that not just because of our credentialing but because of my tenure with the state and Lisa’s doctorate in psychiatric rehabilitation,” Carey said. “Drexel can be this training power because each state in the union is trying to figure out ways to meet new standards to have a minimum number of hours of annual psychiatric rehabilitation training.” Pennsylvania designates specific institutions approved to give psychiatric rehabilitation trainings for groups around the nation, not just in this state. If there’s not an approved training provider in another state, for example, Carey and Schmidt can conduct those required training hours either face-to-face via conferences and workshops or online through web trainings and webinars. “The world is our oyster for that!” Carey concluded.

She has been asked to be on a committee to help develop next year’s conference in Atlanta, Georgia. Carey is also cultivating international relationships with professionals in Pakistan and Korea, the two countries she hopes to travel to in the coming year to promote the CPRP credential.