The Birth of IMPACT

the Interdisciplinary Mental Health Professional Association Coalition of

By Cathy Yarbrough and Linda Manning

The seeds of a coalition for mental health provider associations were planted in 2020, at the start of the pandemic. Cathy Yarbrough, as Chair of the Board of NPI came together with other professional association leaders to facilitate a way for providers to offer pro bono therapy to health care workers. That led to the incorporation of the non-profit, the Mental Health Active Response Team. Cathy volunteered to be the non-profit’s liaison to the various mental health provider associations in the effort to recruit volunteers.

It occurred to her that if the associations were willing to come together in this endeavor, perhaps they could be brought together on a more permanent basis. She envisioned a statewide organization that functioned very much like NPI - one where professionals from different disciplines could work together to address common concerns, such as advising the Tennessee General Assembly on relevant legislation, providing world class continuing education to Tennessee therapists, and hosting a multidisciplinary conference. The idea of forming a coalition percolated in the background throughout 2020, as Cathy served on the boards of both NPI and MHART. She set a virtual meeting date in early 2021 and invited association leadership.

On March 19, 2021, Cathy, MHART Liaison and NPI Past Board Chair, and Gina Delgardo, Board Chair of MHART and Past President of TPA, hosted the first informal meeting of the coalition via Zoom. In attendance were Karen Franklin, Executive Director, NASW-TN; Janet Hicks, President, TCA; Robin Lee, Executive Director, TLPCA; Jeanine Powers, Continuing Education Coordinator, KAPA; Eli Reich, President, TN Psychological Association; Mike Runcie, President, TNAMFT; and Jay Tiff, TCA. These association leaders recommitted to supporting MHART’s volunteer recruitment and agreed that they would like to meet again to discuss the parameters of their ongoing collaboration.

The second meeting is when things began to gel. Joining many of the above representatives at the April meeting were Erica Gentry, Coalition of Black Social Workers; Laura Kreiselmaier, President, Tennessee Association of Pastoral Therapists; Linda Manning, Chair-elect, Nashville Psychotherapy Institute; Lisa Oglesby, President, Knoxville Area Psychological Association; Mary Payne, President, Nashville Area Psychological Association and President-elect, TPA; and Nora Williams, Tennessee Psychiatric Association. The group agreed that a primary benefit of a coalition would be learning about pending legislation, as well as the possibility of using the power of working together to advocate for mental health enhancing bills with the Tennessee legislators. Additional benefits mentioned were sharing information about continuing education options, partnering to bring world class educational programs to Tennessee, working together to reduce the stigma of seeking mental health treatment, negotiating psychotherapy rates as a bloc, identifying effective ways to increase availability of behavioral health treatment to underserved populations, and identifying and addressing unrecognized community needs. Rather than creating another 501.C.6 organization, the group wanted to remain informal. The NPI representative and the representatives of the statewide associations would form the basis of a steering committee to decide on the coalition’s organization, function, and direction. Laura Kreiselmaier suggested the name: Interdisciplinary Mental Health Professional Association Coalition of Tennessee (IMPACT). The group met four times in 2021, five times in 2022, and twice so far in 2023. In the meetings, there was much discussion of the inefficiencies in the state licensing boards and exploration of ways to jointly address them. The group also discussed at length various bills before the TN General Assembly, and whether the associations should offer joint or individual comments. There was great concern about how the Dobbs decision would affect therapists. The coalition may, in the future, commission a full legal analysis of this issue. The decision was made to have the various association’s legislative liaisons stay in touch in the current legislative session. Other topics discussed were organizing advocacy training, a behavioral health Day on the Hill, and the racial disparities in professional licensing and biases in testing.

As 2022 ended, the board of MHART realized that with the waning of the pandemic and the launching of the National Mental Health Hotline, their mission was fulfilled. MHART dissolved as of December 31, 2022. MHART’s position as a multidisciplinary organization was a key reason that IMPACT was able to form. No single professional association could be seen as dominating. With the dissolution of MHART, NPI, also a multidisciplinary organization, was the logical successor host. Linda Manning, past NPI Chair, and Cathy Yarbrough will alternate leading the coalition meetings in 2023. Hopefully, NPI will continue in the role of IMPACT facilitation as IMPACT develops and grows.