(This article is republished from the AAP Advance, Summer ’06, by kind permission of AAP. Eds.)

Iam an Early Career Psychologist and I can guarantee you that political advocacy and giving were not topics discussed in my graduate training. We discussed theories of personality, what a CF score was on the Rorschach and how to best handle transference in a therapy session. These things were very useful to me in starting out in psychology. However, I soon learned that there were other issues that were important in the “real” world of psychology. Some things I wished I learned in graduate school related more to the business of psychology, rather than academics. Things such as how to collect fees and what is a LLC and how might it be helpful to me. One of the other areas that I never learned anything about was the process of political advocacy and politcal giving. I know these topics were never discussed in any of my graduate classes and even if they were they had no personal meaning to me at that time. The last thing I wanted to do was give money to some political cause that I knew nothing about when I was looking at loan payments for the next thirty years!

Well, I was asked to write this essay by one of my mentors, Dr. Jeffrey Barnett, who helped to change my view of the political giving process. My mentor was one of my graduate school professors who regularly encouraged students to become involved in the state psychological association. He was then and remains one of the most ethical people I know, so I was surprised and almost dismayed one day when I received a personal email from him asking me to contribute to one of those political causes that I knew nothing about. Where does it end! I wrote him a short but curt email reply stating thanks but no thanks and please don’t include me in political solicitations. My mentor took this response as an opportunity to educate me on the political process and why it would benefit me to get involved. He sent me several articles on political giving and psychology and asked me to read them and make up my mind for myself.

Obviously, the articles he sent me had a strong impact on changing my stance on political giving and advocacy or I would not be writing this essay. Through the Maryland Psychological Association (MPA) I have learned that our elected officials at the state and local level have control over the legislation that most affects our day to day practice of psychology. I spent a day “off” last month at Annapolis Watch (a day sponsored by MPA to lobby for psychology) meeting my state Senator and delegates. It was a very rewarding experience to have a chance to educate the legislators on topics involving psychology and healthcare in Maryland. They were “average” people who wanted information from their constituents to help make tough informed decisions on a wide variety of issues.

Throughout the past two years, I have steadily increased my political giving to campaigns and fund raisers where the candidate has a commitment to supporting psychology and our interests. I have also sent letters and emails to my Senators and delegates in response to bills that help foster and protect our profession. I came to realize this effort and these monetary contributions were the main avenue for us as psychologists to have influence within the political arena. One of the articles that my mentor sent to me was about how little money psychologists as a profession contributed to the political advocacy process. Physicians, lawyers, physical therapists, and social workers were much more likely to be politically active and to give money to these advocacy causes. They view this as a means to an end to get what they want for their profession. Many psychologists do not seem to share this view. I know that this essay is short on statistics and research, but I hope that one individual’s change in perspective can help facilitate a change in how other Early Career Psychologists view this issue. Please consider the value of political giving and how it will impact your future.