Saundra Myers-Johnson spent nearly 40 years working with, supporting, guiding and advocating for children with developmental disabilities.
   To honor her service and continue her work, a clinic will now bear her name at the J.D. McCarty Center for children with developmental disabilities.
   The Saundra Myers-Johnson Psychological Assessment Clinic, located on the center’s Norman campus, offers comprehensive psychological and developmental assessments for children from birth to age 21.
   The assessments can help families in determining if a child meets criteria for diagnoses such as Autism Spectrum Disorder, Intellectual Developmental Disorders and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.
   Center Director Mike Powers said naming the clinic after Myers-Johnson honors the deep devotion she showed to children at the center.
   “Saundra’s commitment to the hospital and the thousands of children and family members that she served with kindness, compassion and skill is deserving of such recognition,” Powers said. “Saundra believed in every child’s ability to reach their full and unique potential, and the leadership team of the hospital could not think of a more appropriate manner to highlight her service than by naming this new and critical service after her.”

A heart for others
   Myers-Johnson started at the center in 1985 and retired in August of 2022 as the center’s longtime director of psychological services. Her background included experience in counseling, evaluations and screenings, crisis intervention and designing behavior modification strategies.
   Patrick L. Grose, M.S., L.P.C. worked alongside Myers-Johnson for 16 years as a behavioral health clinician II and was impressed with her dedication to the job and the patients.
   “Every day it was only about the kids with her,” said Grose, now the center’s director of psychological services.
   Grose said Myers-Johnson brought a wealth of knowledge to her work, excellent listening skills, a calm demeanor no matter the circumstance and a commitment and excitement about helping children with disabilities.
   Grose said naming the clinic for Myers-Johnson helps acknowledge and celebrate her career at the center.
  “I hope that, at a minimum, she feels loved and appreciated” about the recognition, he said.
   Lydia Willis, a longtime colleague, said she admired Myers-Johnson’s knowledge, sense of humor and the way she interacted with the patients.
   “Year-to-year I saw the results of her work. The kids who at 3 years old were nonverbal, furious at every request, who scratched and bit and kicked became kids who were able to use language, were able to soothe themselves and be ecstatic in her presence,” said Willis, who retired from the center in 2022 after working as a longtime behavioral health clinician II.
   “Her knowledge of the field was so extensive,” Willis said. “There was not one discipline at the center that she was not familiar with. She saw our patients as kids first.”
   Willis said she was amazed by Myers-Johnson’s stamina and her willingness to help and ability to listen.
   “She had an excellent feel for people and dispensed hard and sweet advice,” Willis said.
“Most of all she showed passion for her work with a great deal of humor. She taught that it was OK to laugh at big problems. She made work look easy and I admired her.”
    Powers said Myers-Johnson was always willing to go the extra mile to help children and their families and her colleagues.
   “There is not a single person that encounters Saundra that is not positively impacted by her. She has had a profound influence on my career and countless other current and former staff members of the hospital,” Powers said. “More importantly, Saundra has served as a critical lifeline for so many families in helping to meet the needs of their children. She was always the first person to jump in the foxhole with patients and families, assisting them in the ability to see and achieve better outcomes.”

About the clinic
   The center opened the psychological assessment clinic in July of 2022. Assessments are conducted by an interdisciplinary team, which includes licensed health psychologists, licensed professional counselors and masters-level behavioral health clinicians.
   Evaluations at the clinic include intellectual and cognitive ability assessments, adaptive behavior functioning assessments, Autism Spectrum Disorder assessments and Attention- Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder assessments.
   Grose said the clinic was started to meet a need for families in the state who oftentimes are on a lengthy waitlist for assessments. Once a family receives an assessment, and if they meet criteria for a diagnosis, they can then apply for programs and resources, such as the state’s Developmental Disabilities Services and the Federal Supplemental Security Income program.
   Grose said currently the clinic is serving one family a week but there are plans to increase the number of assessments.
   The clinic is one of the services offered by the center’s psychology department. Clinical staff also participate in free admission screenings for potential patients, provide testing and evaluate the emotional and psychological needs of inpatients at the center, and recommend programs and strategies to assist families and guardians.
   Grose was named director of psychological services in April of 2023. The Licensed Professional Counselor has worked at the center for 17 years.  Prior to his hiring at the center, he worked for 16 years in a variety of settings providing mental health counseling to adolescents and adults.
   Grose said what he enjoys about his work are the children and families he meets, camaraderie with colleagues and the ability to use his skills and experience to help an underserved population.  Grose said he is also excited to lead the department and to expand psychological services so that the department is “utilized in a way that effectively and holistically addresses the needs of our patients and families.”
   The center’s psychological services department also includes Larry Mullins, Ph.D., licensed psychologist and Jennifer Lancaster, Ph.D., licensed psychologist.
   Mullins has been the consulting psychologist at the center for more than 35 years. Mullins, who recently retired from the psychology department at Oklahoma State University, was the Vaughn Vennerberg Endowed Chair of Developmental Disabilities at OSU.  
   During his tenure at OSU, he also served as department head, director of clinical training, and as associate dean for research. He currently serves as a consultant to numerous school systems across the state, providing services to children with developmental disabilities and behavioral challenges.
   Lancaster, a University of Oklahoma graduate, has been licensed and providing outpatient therapy and psychological assessment services since 2012. She is also part owner of Serenity Mental Health Group, LLC, a 10-person mental health group aimed at meeting the therapy and assessment needs of the Norman area.
   Lancaster joined the center in the Spring of 2024 and hopes to help fulfill the mission of the center in supporting children and families in Oklahoma, she said.
   The psychology department also has an ongoing program offering clinical practicum experiences at the J.D. McCarty Center for students pursuing a doctorate in clinical psychology at Oklahoma State University.
   For more information about the Saundra Myers-Johnson Psychological Assessment Clinic, please call 405-307-2883.