Originally published: . Volume 1, No. 1. Source pages: 2.
Some Louisiana psychologists woke up in July to find that Act 251 had cut a beloved baby in half. Someone should have told LAMP that Solomon was just testing love and sacrifice. He didn’t really mean it. A good king would never divide something precious, there’s always a better way. Of all the professions, psychology is full of great minds, great hearts, and great insights. Working together we could have found a better way.
The analogy isn’t perfect. Unlike a dead infant, each part can probably survive. But there may be risks to both that come later. And, both are diminished.
Splitting the baby didn’t come in one hacking motion, even though Act 251 feels that way. It came in a series of gradual changes, forecasted by some. But for many of us it was a slow desensitization, a numbing of awareness, like boiling a frog.
In hindsight it is clear and a little embarrassing: our board members are predominately MPs; important leaders of LPA are MPs; even the purpose statement on the LPA website sounds MP-like. The term “non-MP” has crept into our parlance, meaning–everyone else. Resources, energy, creativity were directed to the MP goals (be careful what you reinforce), and other needs neglected. LPA has about 230 members (30 MPs) but there are over 650 licensed psychologists in the state, and other PhDs who might have something to gain from an open, participative, creative state association.
It’s hard to know what to do now, but it seems to me a good start is to return to our roots, the science we love and that excited all of us in the first place. And then, everyone who loves the baby can decide what’s next.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
In a column from the Kentucky Psychology Association’s newsletter by Pat DeLeon (August 2009), Louisiana’s new Act 251 is portrayed by one of its promoters, Glenn Ally, as “ ‘The Eagle has landed,’ taking ‘one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.’” DeLeon wrote, “Jim Quillin reports that Medical Psychologists (those with RxP authority (MPs)) were successful this legislative session in formally integrating their RxP expertise with medicine. The underlying concepts of their new legislation: * MP includes the practice of medicine in addition to the practice of psychology and thus represents a new hybrid healthcare profession.”
On July 2nd, LPA members were provided with explanation through their APA supported listserv (communication system for LPA members) when Jim Quillin, authorized by the president of LAMP to provide information to LPA members, indicated that Act 251 established a “…new and hybrid healthcare profession combining psychological and medical practices.”
The Kentucky Newsletter author noted that, “Not surprisingly, in Toronto this legislation was the topic of many discussions. Glenn Ally assured those concerned that psychology was (sic) “selling out” to medicine that, to the contrary, under the Louisiana statute podiatrists already had developed a similar collegial relationship with medicine and that the new statute provided medical psychologists (MPs) with clinical independence.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
If you were around in the 1970s, you most likely were introduced to lobbying for Louisiana psychologists by the infamous “consultation and collaboration” clause. If you were a graduate student with any extra time on your hands, you were going to meet Tom Stigall who, in his diplomatic, measured manner of speaking, was going to somehow convince you to spend hours and hours down at the Capital working to help separate psychology from medicine.
Rewind to 1964. Louisiana’s licensing law for psychologists had passed, but there was a catch. In order for the bill to succeed, a compromise with organized medicine had been made, a clause requiring consultation and collaboration with the patient’s physician. “I remember it went something like this,” said Stigall. “If a psychologist engaged in psychotherapy they were required to consult and collaborate with a licensed medical doctor concerning the patient’s general health. The physician would be responsible for managing the patients overall health.” He continued, “The law presented two problems, access and reimbursement.” While seemingly a small matter, the clause limited access by the public to services of licensed psychologists, and insurance companies often used the clause to deny reimbursement.
Times Past: APA convention and fundraiser for Mary Landrieu. Photo by Tom Stigall
The situation helped unite Louisiana psychologists who felt passionate about psychology’s relatively young legal and professional identity. Stigall said, “Psychologists were not licensed to do any kind of medical procedures or to practice medicine, so to have a disclaimer in the law that said you couldn’t do what was clearly a psychological procedure without ‘consulting and collaborating’ with a physician, it seemed inappropriate.”
Stigall was a new psychologist, licensed in ’66, whose first position after licensure was at the Mental Health Center in Baton Rouge near the Capital. “It didn’t take me long to get exposed to state politics,” he said, “‘the way that the different professions were expected to relate to one another, in the hierarchy of who’s got the most political influence and respect.”
“It was a long hard struggle,” said Stigall. But eventually, after numerous attempts over many years, and the efforts of countless people, the clause was eliminated. “That was probably one of the most significant legislative achievements during that time.” It also was a crucial step in later legislation having to do with insurance reimbursement.
He explained that he had to learn a lot about politics, which can be distasteful to many psychologists, and that, “Sometimes things are fortuitous, they just turn out the way they do more by accident than anything else.” When asked what he remembers most, he said, “Most of what I remember is that it was very hard work.”
When asked about the new bill, Stigall said, “I don’t see it as any sort of progress, frankly. It seems that it was done impulsively, as if it just came up from the medical side.” And, “on the matter of consultation and collaboration, it [the new law] seems anachronistic, it goes backwards.” He continued, “In my view, Act 251 is an anachronism because it runs contrary to a long tradition of professional advocacy that has worked to establish psychology as an independent, self-regulating profession. By placing a significant area of practice under the statutory control of the board of medical examiners, it tends to blur the distinction between psychology and medicine.”
Tom Stigall was Chairman of the LPA Legislative Committee for 14 years, from 1974 to 1988, APA Council Delegate for 11 years, served as LPA president and Secretary-Treasurer. Connie Stigall was the Executive Director from 1986 to 2001.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 1, No. 1. Source pages: 5.
Above, Scott applies an ABA principle to an individual.
Scott Williamson’s internship was pivotal. He had just graduated from McNeese State University with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. That summer he worked in a private practice setting with autistic children in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
He describes the experience as one that “made me really happy, because I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I was sold. That was it. It was just a matter of getting it done.”
Scott had been a science major until he took a psychology of learning course with Dr. Cameron Melville. He worked in the lab, he trained a rat (#86), and he emerged a psychology major.
As an undergraduate he then knew he wanted to be in the field of psychology. With his direction further clarified by his internship, Scott enrolled in the Applied Behavior Analysis masters program at McNeese.
The ABA program, recently accredited by the Behavior Analytics Certification Board, reunited Scott with Dr. Gordon Bourland, with whom he had consulted during his summer stint in the world of private practice.
Dr. Bourland taught Scott how to run a treatment with a child, develop an instructional path, and teach errorless learning. Scott says he really loved the method “because it’s so creative while sticking to principles, and also individualized.”
Scott completed his master’s degree and is now on the McNeese Autism Program staff, where he enjoys working with Janice Huber, the MAP program director. She was the private practitioner with whom Scott had done his internship.
As he contemplates where to pursue his doctorate, Scott is glad to have time off from course work, so that he can focus on his job, which he loves, and on the ABA certification exam, which he takes this fall.
Scott offers this advice for upcoming psychology students. “Find what you’re interested in and read up on it. In addition to textbooks, find the journal article in the reference and read that. If you take one thing away from each article, you’ve got something. Go beyond the textbook. Go a little further.”
For those already in his chosen profession Scott asks for “more working between different schools of thought and different interdisciplinary works. We should be able to find ways to work together no matter what, to find the good parts of each other’s views. If we have competing views, how can we make it better for the individual? Rather than getting bogged down with semantics, work together and benefit the individual. How can we be more effective?”
When asked what he enjoys about his own work, Scott recalled the first time a child said “I want the spinny,” using words instead of a gesture to get a toy. “The first time you hear that functional request, that first approximation, it’s just beautiful to hear.“
Scott Williamson, who is generous in his praise of those who have taught him, is himself praise-worthy. He is both a scientist who adheres to the principles of psychology and a practitioner who respects the individuals whom he serves.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 1, No. 1. Source pages: 10.
On Oct. 5th, 2000 I sent this e- mail to the Louisiana Psychological Association list serve.
“Dear LPA: I have been pondering the ‘battle between the prescription folks and everyone else’ that Kim referred to in a recent e-mail, and wondering what we can do to unify our members. The following message, which I wrote to Div. 46 (Media) as part of our effort to reach out to the public and other psychologists, may have relevance for LPA. I believe that we need to spend as much time and money building relationships with consumers and colleagues as with lobbyists and legislators. Otherwise, our focus is too narrow, and the strength of our organization is jeopardized. Let us broaden our priorities, recognizing that a solid foundation is based on interconnections among all of the supporting structures of our profession. I would be glad to help with this mission.”
The message I had written to Div. 46 (Media), my primary APA affiliation, was about my new television show. During the 1990s my activities within LPA had included writing a column for the Louisiana Psychologist, and chairing the Public Education Campaign. By the fall of 2000 I realized that LPA and I had vastly different priorities, so I continued with my television, radio, and print media activities independently. Nine years later I still am passionate about the media and about psychology. However, I have less need to “unify our members” and a greater sense of the importance of simply unifying our profession, both within and beyond any professional affiliations, through media activities. The opportunity to write a column for Psychology Times provides a place to discuss how media matters can help us with “building relationships with consumers and colleagues.” I look forward to expanding our reach.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.