Practices triumphant in the American Psychological Association are completely dominated in every elected office by individuals dedicated to the advancement of practice.

The President, President-Elect, Treasurer, Secretary and all members of the Board are practitioners committed to the well being of practice so one would think that we can now utilize the resources of the American Psychological Association to more effectively advance the well being of those of us in practice.

Take another look: the Association is a hundred million dollar a year operation. The Practice Directorate gets about five or six million dollars as does education, science and social interests. What happens to the rest of the money? It is largely invested in publications and grants, scientific and educational projects that advance and sustain educational, scientific and academic interests.

The unhappy scientists and academicians who left APA to form the American Psychological Society are allowed to stay as APA members with reduced dues which we supplement and in their participation in the other Directorates continue to be the face of psychology to the world so that the practitioners hold the offices and the organization spends most of its resources supporting and furthering academic educational goals.

We have won the war and lost the peace. The regulatory functions, which control the very being of our profession, continue to be in the hands of academics that have never done very much about the vulnerabilities of practice since their priority is managing our lives from the cradle to the grave. Anyone who has had problems with managed care, the insurance companies, state ethics boards has caused to wonder why APA cannot help a bit more.

Perhaps the core answer is that APA is ever hesitant to go too far in its advocacy for practitioners because 90% of its resources are bound up in its C-3 functions and are dedicated to the non-profit aspects of the organization. I have worked since its inception with the Practice Directorate. The staff is wonderful. CAPP members are outstanding. But when it comes down to it our basic professional face is a five million dollar organization starved for resources, battling giants: An organization whose primary purposes are still not ours.

When will 42 become a C6 able to use its resources to advocate for the profession of psychology?

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