- Please describe in detail and with specificity how you have demonstrated in the past, and/or currently, your support for women using the above criteria.
I serve on the Advisory Committee of the Leadership Institute for Women in Psychology (LIWP), whose mission is to prepare, support, and empower women psychologists as leaders to promote positive changes in institutional, organizational and practice settings as well as APA and SPTA governance, and increase the diversity, number, and effectiveness of women psychologists as leaders.
In 2009, my Division 31 (State, Provincial and Territorial Psychological Association Affairs) presidential initiative was to establish the Diversity Leadership Development Workshop. I continue to organize and fund-raise for the program which occurs every two years and has the goal of assisting ethnic minority psychologists to advance into leadership positions within their SPTA. Sixty-nine psychologists of color (59 females) have completed the program; many have progressed into leadership positions within their SPTA (including President) and APA (including Council of Representatives and Board of Directors). This program has especially benefitted women of color.
In addition to these two formal leadership training programs, I continue to mentor ethnic minority psychologists, especially ethnic minority women.
While serving as at-large member of the APA Board of Directors and later as Recording Secretary, I requested the Board for the Advancement of Psychology in the Public Interest (BAPPI) and its committees as my liaison assignment. I served as BAPPI liaison for six years. BAPPI assures that psychology serves the public interest and advances social justice, health and well-being for all. I not only attended BAPPI meetings but all of its committee meetings as well. This included the Committee on Women in Psychology. I was an active, vocal advocate for BAPPI and its committee agendas before the BOD and COR. My liaison work with BAPPI was harmonious with my commitment to diversity, social justice and my belief that it is critical if we are to solve concerns facing society.
In addition, while serving on the APA Board of Directors, I was the liaison to The Alliance of National Psychological Associations for Racial and Ethnic Equity (The Alliance). The Alliance is comprised of national psychology organizations committed to the promotion of communication, collaboration, critical consciousness, and strategic actions and projects. The Alliance maintains a commitment toward social justice, racial equity, and cultural diversity. I was the Board representative from 2013-2018. I was an active member of the Alliance and contributed to obtaining and maintaining a positive and collaborative relationship between APA leadership and the leadership of the Ethnic Minority Psychological Associations.
In addition to my APA activities, I am involved in other professional associations. I was the first African American female president of the Georgia Psychological Association and continue to mentor others, especially women. I am also involved in a number of community organizations again reflecting my values of building and better serving our communities.
I am a member of the Gender and Pain Special Interest Group of the International Association for the Study of Pain and have given major talks on this subject. Specifically, research has shown that women experience more severe pain than men, experience pain in multiple areas of their body, and are more disabled from pain, compared to men.
2) If you were to achieve office, in what ways would your goals reflect the importance of any or all of the following: advancing women in the profession; improving the status of women in the community, nation or world; promoting a critical analysis of issues of sexism in the science and practice of psychology; and encouraging the development of educational models, research and training programs that incorporate attention to women’s issues?
If elected to serve as President of APA, I will continue to do what I have done throughout my service in my community, GPA and APA, including the Board of Directors. I will continue to advocate for women in leadership in APA and the communities in which we live, locally, nationally, and internationally. I will continue to advocate for APA funding of LIWP and other programs that serve to mentor women into leadership positions. I will also continue to mentor all women and ethnic minority men. Within my practice, I will continue my research on gender and pain and will continue to work with my female patients in addressing and overcoming this challenge.
Although I am still fleshing out details, I am committed to two areas as Presidential initiatives:
(1) Integrated care for the underserved and marginalized populations. Because of classism, lower socio-economic conditions, logistical challenges, and stigma, the barriers to health care can seem insurmountable for some populations. As an independent practitioner I have flexibility and latitude to advocate for health services and to actively collaborate interprofessionally in ways I could not do in other settings. Many of my clients have disabilities, workplace injuries, and chronic pain and are people for whom the health systems failed. Because I have no externally imposed protocols, I can do a small part in reducing health disparities through patient education, focusing on life barriers, and attending to important barriers that may never have been even explored before. My integrated care initiative will incorporate my model of education, training, and practice, to bring social justice, reduce health disparities, and offer a way to bring health care to marginalized populations. This is especially important for women because of their greater participation with the health care system.
(2) Serious mental illness (SMI). This population is among the most marginalized and underserved. I believe that we have much to offer in working with this population, and that all of psychology can make a difference. Psychology has not found a way to include these individuals in the mainstream access to health care. The fee structure for practice has significantly impeded access. A new model of care is past due, one that will involve community practitioners in breaking down the barriers for this population. In APA, I would work with the Task Force on Serious Mental Illness and Severe Emotional Disturbance (TFSMI/SED). With both initiatives there is much work to be done to have desired impact, and I would welcome the collaboration and scholarship of my female colleagues.
3) How would you achieve those goals?
In addition to what I noted above, I believe it will be important to continue to have women serve and advance in leadership in this Association. I plan to ensure diversity in participants of my initiatives, definitely including women, if elected. Having women in leadership should include Task Forces, the Board of Directors, Divisions, Board and Committees, and SPTA’s. That would involve keeping an eye on the slating process. This is what I did as Recording Secretary and Member-at-Large, and I will continue to do that. We can also make a difference when we have women to run for office in their local, state, and national governments. I would like to have LIWP and other mentorship programs encourage that more and I will try to do this when appropriate in my presentations.