Ohio State Newark senior lecturer receives Mental Health Professional of the Year Award

Janice McLean, a senior lecturer in psychology, has been selected to receive the Mental Health Professional of the Year award by Mental Health America (MHA) of Licking County. The award is presented to an outstanding nonprofit staff person who meets the needs of people experiencing mental illness with compassion, skill, professionalism and hard work.

“I’m incredibly honored to be a recipient of this award,” said McLean.

McLean is a native New Yorker and earned her Doctorate in clinical psychology from Hofstra University. Her clinical experience includes inpatient and outpatient clinical services at a New York Hospital, private practice, college residential life counseling, television commentary, and conducting climate studies at various companies and organizations to address employee morale and productivity. In addition to Ohio State Newark, she has taught psychology at a New York college and Denison University.

McLean leads Ohio State Newark’s Psychology Internship Program. It connects upper-level psychology students with agencies throughout central Ohio. Students intern at various mental health agencies and other types of community service facilities. The internships give students the opportunity to put to good use the many aspects of psychology and psychological well-being that they are learning on the Newark campus.

“I am very proud of Ohio State Newark’s Psychology Internship Program. Each semester, eager and hardworking psychology majors volunteer more than one hundred hours in community settings serving children, teens, the mentally and developmentally challenged, and the elderly,” said McLean. “The mentoring these students provide changes lives, including their own. These internship experiences have a tremendously positive effect on our community and inspire our students to continue their good work.”

McLean was nominated by a community member to receive the award. Mental Health America of Licking County Executive Director Penny Sitler said McLean’s role as a mental health educator in the community is important. However, she was selected for this award because of what she does inside and outside the classroom to help those with mental illness.

“Janice has a psychological practice through which she helps individuals,” said Sitler. “She is a professor, helping to guide our next generation of mental health professionals. I constantly hear from past students of hers that she was such an excellent teacher. Most of those students purposely looked for classes she was teaching to be able to spend as much time as possible in her classroom. She has also helped MHA in our strategic planning process this year, providing tangible suggestions and ideas to help us move the organization forward.”

McLean is the co-author of Phobics and Other Panic Victims: A Guide for Those Who Help Them (Continuum, 1989), and a contributor to The Successful Medical Student (Upjohn/ILOC, 1994), and The Counseling Sourcebook (Crossroad, 1994). Her work has been cited in Family Circle and The Bottom Line. McLean is a past board president of Licking County’s Mental Health America. She is also a member of the Anxiety Disorders Association of America and the Obsessive-Compulsive Foundation.

The Mental Health Professional of the Year award was established in 2006. The award was presented to McLean at the Mental Health America of Licking County Annual Dinner at the Double Tree Hotel in Newark on Nov. 12.