APA Past President

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Pat DeLeon, APA Past-President

APA's 108th Annual Convention was extraordinarily exciting, not to mention personally rewarding. My wife and 17 year old daughter Kate attended the Opening Ceremony (highlighted by presentations from U.S. Education Secretary Richard Riley, D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams, and American Legend Pete Seeger with his grandson Tao Rodriguez), as well as Saturday night&Mac226;s Union Station Psychology Gala. For those who were not present, Oklahoma Council Representative William Shaw&Mac226;s family won the major door prize and a number of our colleagues vividly demonstrated their considerable "line dancing" expertise. Past-Division President Stan "The Man" Moldawsky's band performed admirably, as undoubtedly they will next year in San Francisco. When was the last time a mayor actually personally participated in our opening ceremonies? How nice it was to formally recognize the contributions of John Gardner, the only psychologist to ever serve in a President&Mac226;s Cabinet (Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare during the Great Society era).

On the dias were representatives from the D.C. Psychological Association, Council of Executives for State and Provincial Psychological Associations (CESPPA), Teachers of Psychology in the Secondary Schools (TOPPS), American Psychological Association of Graduate Students (APAGS), as well as several members of the APA Board of Directors and Past-President Marty Seligman. Charles Brewer and Ron Levant were instrumental in obtaining Secretary Riley's acceptance -- the second Cabinet member addressing APA this year. During the ensuring days, over 25 colleagues would stop me and report that Pete Seeger and his grandson had brought tears to their eyes – thoughts and feelings they had long forgotten. We are a discipline of many strengths and diverse experiences. This is our collective karma. The contributions of American Nurses Association Past-President, psychologist Bev Malone, underscored for the audience our breath of societal contributions. Those present undoubtedly appreciated how fortunate I have been this year that President-Elect Norine Johnson has been willing to so effectively represent psychology to the public. We truly are one family.

In my judgment, Psychology's destiny really resides within each and every one of us. It is our vision and dedication that will ultimately determine whether future generations of very bright and accomplished undergraduates decide to enter the field. In the public policy arena, it is once again at the individual state level where the next generation of health and educational policies are being developed -- not at the federal level. Accordingly, I was particularly pleased that those representing our future were on the Opening Ceremony dias.

Colleagues On The Cutting Edge.

• When Brandi Chastain scored on the fifth penalty kick taken by the U.S. women&Mac226;s soccer team in the Rose Bowl, it was the largest crowd in history to watch a women's sporting event. Worldwide, 1 billion people watched the U.S. team win the World Cup. Our colleague Colleen Hacker was the mental skills coach for the team, a role she will continue with our nation&Mac226;s Olympic team in Australia. Just after the convention, Colleen introduced me to one of her players who was proud to have received her masters degree in psychology from the University of Connecticut. Sara will be competing in the Olympics and in the forthcoming Women's Professional League. Hopefully, she will decide to simultaneously enroll in a doctoral program.
• In response to an audience question regarding prescriptive authority, U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher replied: "I'm not sure I know all the issues involved in that, but my basic position is that the privileges should be consistent with the training. So I think clearly if we can demonstrate that psychologists have the training to prescribe, then they should be allowed to prescribe." [Round of applause].
• Mike Sullivan reports the literature of state elected officials continues to focus upon psychology''s efforts to expand our scope of practice: "Prescriptive Authority for Psychologists – California Assembly Bill 1144 passed the Assembly in May 2000 and was amended in the Senate on June 1, 2000 to include prescriptive authority for psychologists.... A few other states have introduced legislation over the past two years. These include: Alaska..., Georgia..., Illinois..., Missouri..., Tennessee.... Although other states have introduced these measures.... California's bill is definitely the leader." Legislative efforts in 11 states addressing the issue of psychotropic medications with children might well become the forum for our ultimate success. As Colleen's expertise brings the contributions of psychology to a world wide audience, those advancing the RxP-agenda address a pressing societal need.

The Evolving Health Care System -- The Institute of Medicine (IOM) was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences, possessing a Congressional charter to serve as a formal advisor to the federal government. Over the years, the IOM has become a health policy "think tank" for the Congress, developing state of the art policy documents on a wide range of issues. Their newest report, Promoting Health: Intervention Strategies From Social And Behavioral Research, has former APA Congressional Science Fellow Brian Smedley as co-editor and Board of Scientific Affairs Chair Neil Schneiderman as consultant. For psychology to ultimately receive parity equal to medicine and nursing, society must include "psychological factors" within its definition of "quality health care". Until that qualitative shift in perspective, our practitioners will be seen as paraprofessionals or junior physicians. In this report IOM's experts emphasize the role of social and behavioral factors as they influence health and disease at various stages of the life cycle. This was a difficult decision because as they pointed out, almost everything one does in the health care field is organized around clinical diseases and not prevention.

Several IOM findings:

• assessing the promise of social and behavioral research for improving the public's health is a complex task;
• the most effective interventions have involved research evidence that transcends the boundaries of a single scientific discipline;
• communities must be involved as partners in the design, implementation, and evaluation of interventions; and,
• children should be a major focus of intervention efforts. This is the evolving clinical context of the 21st Century in which our practitioners must learn to intervene and innovate.

Aloha

Pat DeLeon – President APA – August, 2000 – Division 42 Web