The Department of Psychology’s doctoral program in clinical psychology received a generous donation this year to honor a remarkable alumna.
One of the first graduates of the clinical psychology doctoral program, Jane Haddad, BS ’82, MA ’84, PsyD ’86, has used her degrees to the extraordinary benefit of the community through her work in the field of mental health in correctional services. The National Institute of Corrections, U.S. Department of Justice, cites a Bureau of Justice Statistics report that found that in 2006, more than 700,000 mentally ill adults were incarcerated in state prisons, nearly 80,000 were in federal prisons, and almost 500,000 in local jails. Haddad’s professional career has been largely devoted to serving these people.
Haddad is the vice president of clinical operations with MHM Services Inc., which provides community-based and correctional mental health services to a number of institutions throughout the United States. MHM meets the needs of inmates and their communities. With scarce public mental health resources, the number of incarcerated people with serious mental illnesses has grown and presents a serious challenge. Improved mental health within prisons lowers rates of recidivism and its associated costs, as well as increases safety within prisons for inmates and correction offcers.
Perhaps the most meaningful impact of Haddad’s work is that inmates with access to mental health care are more likely to become productive members of society following their incarceration. In honor of the work she has done in an area of compelling—and largely underserved—need, MHM pledged $25,000 to serve graduate students and faculty working in this critical area.
June Tangney, director of the clinical psychology program, is enthusiastic about the donation. “We are enormously grateful for the MHM Services gift in honor of Dr. Haddad,” she says. “This annual support provides much needed funding for students and junior faculty conducting research on offender rehabilitation. Specifically, it will help them to obtain specialized training, to investigate novel points of intervention, and to share new findings at conferences.”
The gift will assist Mason faculty and graduate students in producing research on effective solutions for inmate rehabilitation and health, and share their findings with government agencies and private providers of health services.
June 12, 2013
