Jeffrey Barnett, Psy.D., ABPP, a professor of psychology at Loyola University Maryland, has received the American Psychological Association (APA) Ethics Committee’s 2011 Award for Outstanding Contributions to Ethics Education and the APA Division of Psychotherapy Award for Distinguished Contributions to Teaching and Mentoring. Both awards will be presented at the 2011 APA national conference in August.
The award for Distinguished Contributions to Teaching and Mentoring recognizes Barnett’s mentoring of psychology students at the undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral levels, and his consistent efforts for more than 20 years to involve students in his scholarly work. Of his 90 articles published in “The Maryland Psychologist,” 72 were co-authored by students. This year alone, Barnett and 10 student co-presenters will make presentations at psychology and mental health conferences across the country. In his leadership roles as the past president of the APA Division of Psychotherapy, along with his presidential terms in two other APA divisions and the Maryland Psychological Association, Barnett has regularly involved his students in the work of these organizations. As a mentor, he encourages his students to become citizen psychologists and leaders who are actively involved and engaged in their community and in their profession, making contributions at all levels.
The award for Outstanding Contributions to Ethics Education recognizes Barnett for a career of work and innovation in ethics education for psychology students and professionals. Along with authoring numerous articles and books and leading workshops and trainings all over the world, Barnett created online courses for practicing psychologists looking for continuing education in different aspects of ethics. He also designed an online licensure review course for prospective psychologists studying for the licensure exam. Barnett is considered a pioneer in the study of ethics in various traditional and burgeoning areas of psychology, including telehealth and telepsychology, where psychologists use the Internet to deliver mental health services remotely.
Barnett believes both awards reflect a commitment to incorporating the Jesuit values of focus on the whole person and, particularly with his breakthroughs in ethics education, discernment.
“It’s critical to teach students and health professionals how to know when something is a dilemma with no clear right or wrong answer and how to reason through it and reach the best possible conclusion or decision,” said Barnett, who also helps people navigate ethical questions on his Ask the Ethicist blog. “Ethics is not about a list of correct or incorrect behaviors, right or wrong, good or bad; ethics involves thinking and reasoning and using judgment in ethical decision-making.”
In addition to these two major awards, the APA Division of Psychotherapy will for the first time honor a student with an award named after Barnett. Each year going forward, the Jeffrey E. Barnett Psychotherapy Research Paper Award will go to a student who completes an outstanding research project in the area of psychotherapy. A project by Barnett and a doctoral psychology student at Loyola that examined the entire body of research into psychotherapy effectiveness and outcomes inspired the award.
Barnett has taught psychology at Loyola since 1996. He is a licensed psychologist with an independent psychotherapy practice in Annapolis, Md., and he is board certified in clinical psychology and in clinical child and adolescent psychology. He has received a myriad of honors and awards over the course of his career, including the 2009 APA Award for Distinguished Professional Contributions to Independent Practice. His full CV can be found on his faculty webpage.
For more information or questions regarding this story, contact Media Relations Manager Nick Alexopulos at nalexopulos@loyola.edu or 410-617-5025.