Monitor on Psychology - February 2012 - (Page 50)

Harnessing ages A volunteer program seeks to enhance minds young and old. B Y A MY M AxME N research suggests that the volunteer program experience Corps helps older participants maintain their brain function. wisdom of the the A 50 t age 63, Joyce Lawrence found that for the first time in her life, she had time on her hands. Her children had left her Baltimore home to raise their own families and she had retired from her job as a correction officer in prisons. Her duties were over, but she felt a growing urge to contribute to society in some other way. “At our age, you’re left alone a lot of the time and it’s easy to just watch TV or watch cars go by because you feel no one needs you anymore,” she says. “But that’s not true. After you have that pity party, you need to find out how you’re needed and go make yourself useful.” For Lawrence, the opportunity to be useful came through the Experience Corps, a nonprofit organization that brings retired volunteers as mentors to struggling students in needy schools. The program was the brainchild of psychologist and social reformer John Gardner, PhD, remembered for his push to improve education, eliminate poverty and promote equality. As Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare under President Lyndon Johnson in the 1960s, he launched Medicare and oversaw the passage of the Elementary and Secondary M o n i t o r o n p s y c h o l o g y • F e b ru a ry 2 0 1 2

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Monitor on Psychology - February 2012

Monitor on Psychology - February 2012
Letters
President’s column
Contents
From the CEO
APA files two briefs in support of same-sex couples
New registry seeks to understand addiction recovery through ‘crowdsourcing’
APA launches a database of tests and measures
Watch for new member benefit: “APA Access”
Apply now for APA’s Advanced Training Institutes
PsycTHERAPY, APA’s new database, brings therapy demos to life
In Brief
APA scientists help guide tobacco regulation
A-mazing research
‘A machine for jumping to conclusions’
Judicial Notebook
Random Sample
Righting the imbalance
The beginnings of mental illness
Science Directions
Improving disorder classification, worldwide
Protesting proposed changes to the DSM
Interventions for at-risk students
Harnessing the wisdom of the ages
Anti-bullying efforts ramp up
Hostile hallways
R U friends 4 real?
Support for teachers
Speaking of Education
Record keeping for practitioners
Going green
At the intersection of law and psychology
Division Spotlight
Grants help solve society’s problems
Personalities

Monitor on Psychology - February 2012