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State and provincial leaders meet with APA this
month.
BY MICHAEL SULLIVAN, PHD
A growing number of partnerships between APA
and psychological associations in the states, Canadian
provinces and U.S. territories is making a positive impact on
the changing health-care system. Leaders of all of these
groups are meeting in Washington, D.C., this month to expand
the ways in which their organizations can improve the health
of their communities through psychologists' contributions.
More than 450 psychologists from every state
and most Canadian provinces and U.S. territories have been
invited to the APA Practice Directorate's 2000 State
Leadership Conference (SLC), March 1114.
This year's conference theme is "Partnerships
for power: states, provinces and APA working together."
"The strategic partnerships between APA and
the states have made possible a greater contribution to the
profession and to the public good than each of our
organizations working alone could achieve," says Russ Newman,
PhD, JD, APA's executive director for professional practice.
At this month's meeting, leaders and executive
directors of APA's 59 affiliated state and provincial
psychological associations (SPPAs) will share success stories,
and build advocacy strategies for the coming year.
The most visible recent success story, says
Newman, has been the work of APA and SPPAs with MTV in
creating the "Warning Signs" youth violence prevention
program. This partnership is helping to educate the nation's
youth on effective ways of coping with anger and frustration.
It is a major part of APA's public education campaign, "Talk
to Someone Who Can Help."
"The 'Warning Signs' program has enabled
psychologists throughout the country to assume leadership
positions in helping their communities respond to a major
societal need," says Newman.
More than 500 antiviolence forums have been
conducted by psychologists who talked with students after they
watched the APA-MTV "Warning Signs" video. Many forums have
had the support of state education leaders and local parents
groups.
There are plans for the network of state
public education campaign coordinators participating in the
SLC to assist in developing a second phase of the antiviolence
program that will be geared towards parents.
Conference participants also will visit
Capitol Hill to urge congressional representatives to pass HMO
legal accountability provisions. These visits are an annual
part of an extensive APA-state association networking
partnership for organized federal grassroots advocacy.
The effectiveness of this partnership was
evident last year when other groups that support managed-care
reform acknowledged psychology for its influential role in
passage of the Norwood-Dingell bill. This bill, which permits
injured health consumers to sue their HMOs, passed in defiance
of the House leadership. The rare degree of bipartisan backing
reflected widespread grassroots support for psychology's top
legislative issue.
Yet HMO liability is an uphill battle in
Congress, and the resources to carry out these and other
advocacy initiatives are scarce. APA and its affiliated groups
in the states, provinces and territories depend on a strong
membership base for support. But some state associations have
been losing members in recent years, and APA's own membership
growth has leveled off. The SLC participants will tackle the
membership issue head on since it affects the resources that
organized psychology organizations bring to their partnership
agenda.
Psychology leaders observe that, with many
practitioners feeling economically pressed, some feel it
sufficient to keep up membership in one organization, rather
than in both the national and their state association. A group
of state and APA leaders will present a number of proposals at
the conference to promote joint membership. Electronic polling
technology will enable the participants to indicate their
opinions on these proposals, and to generate new ones.
"Sometimes it is hard for our members to
appreciate how the whole is greater than the sum of its
parts," says Lorryn Wahler, executive director of the New
Jersey Psychological Association (NJPA), who represents state
executive directors on the Committee for the Advancement of
Professional Practice.
She said a key message to convey to
psychologists is that "keeping up membership in your state
association as well as APA is critical to the work we do on
your behalf."
Wahler cited the favorable media coverage and
corporate response that NJPA has received for its new
"Psychologically Healthy Workplace Award." "This whole concept
came right out of our work with the APA public education
campaign," she said.
Other psychology leaders also value what the
profession has gained by state and national organizations'
collaboration.
For example, Dan Abrahamson, PhD, a
Connecticut psychologist and chair of the Committee of State
Leaders, noted the recent victory in Connecticut of becoming
the first state in the nation to expand from biologically
based parity to full parity for all mental health diagnoses.
"This might not have happened if it weren't for the ongoing
and interactive advocacy efforts of APA and our state
association," he said.
"It may be a cliché, but it is penny-wise and
pound-foolish not to join your state and national
associations," Abrahamson added. "Do you, in order to save a
few hundred dollars, risk eroding the strength of those groups
that are trying to help you maintain your viability?"
If APA and state leaders have any say,
psychologists will answer "no" that question.
Michael Sullivan is assistant executive
director for state advocacy in APA's Practice Directorate. |
