The UMaine Institute of Medicine announces the First Annual Distinguished Mental Health Lecture:
Speaker: Jeffrey E. Hecker, Ph.D. Professor and Director of Clinical Training
About the lecture: This lecture briefly reviews the evidence supporting the efficacy of early, multifaceted intervention for individuals with psychotic spectrum disorders including the relationship between the duration of untreated psychosis and clinical outcomes for people with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. Dr. Hecker will describe the development of a new line of research including the formation of a network of research and practice partners. Preliminary findings from foundational work in Washington County, ongoing projects, and future directions will be described.
About the speaker: Jeffrey Hecker is Professor of Psychology and Director of Clinical Training in UMaine’s Department of Psychology. Early in his career, Dr. Hecker’s research focused on anxiety disorders with particular attention to low-cost, accessible, evidence-based treatment. Later, he and his colleagues developed and tested an approach to risk assessment and treatment planning for corrections-involved youth. Dr. Hecker has extensive experience in higher education leadership having served as department chair, college dean, Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs & Provost, and Senior Advisor to the President. He returned to the faculty in fall 2020 and has been developing a program of research on the pathways to care for individuals with serious mental illness, with the goal of improving care for people in rural Maine. Dr. Hecker is a licensed psychologist and has maintained a part-time practice in clinical and forensic psychology since 1987. Read more
In person event, Buchanan Alumni House.
This lecture is supported by a gift from The Linda Schumann Civitello Fund at the University of Maine. The fund was established in 2022 by her brother, Frank Schumann, at the bequest of Linda’s parents, Ingeborg Heide and Francis Schumann. The nearly $40,000 fund will support Dr. Jeffrey Hecker’s research into improving access to evidence-based mental health services for people with serious mental health challenges in rural Maine and particularly Washington County. Linda suffered from multiple mental health conditions and, though she herself lived in Philadelphia, she became deeply attached to Maine through her parents’ lives in Downeast Maine. It is her family’s hope that this fund given in her memory improves the lives of those similarly affected.