New Officers of the American Academy of Counseling Psychology

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2 President s Welcome Jack O Regan, PhD, ABPP Welcome to the next edition of the Academy Newsletter. This newsletter is part of our continuing effort to serve you and keep you informed about issues important to our profession. Our listserv had a recent vigorous and supportive conversation about the credentialing of counseling psychologists, especially those who graduated years ago. Please use the listserv for all these important issues. In addition, send us articles or personal updates for our newsletter. We want to publish information that is interesting for you. Finally, we will be releasing our new website shortly and by doing so, we hope to reach more counseling psychologists and invite them to pursue the ABPP. Jack O Regan, PhD, ABPP President, American Academy of Counseling Psychology New Officers of the American Academy of Counseling Psychology

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7 A Counseling Psychologist s Voice and Experience By Christopher Ovide, EdD, ABPP In 1972, I completed a Bachelor s degree in history at The College of William and Mary. I'm not sure what I expected, but, even in Tidewater Virginia, there were no jobs listed in the local newspaper for historians. I did eventually get a job as an insurance adjuster with a private adjusting firm. Investigating accidents and other insurance claims, I was driving over 1200 miles a month to do my job. There was, however, a problem with this, I was and had been legally blind for several years due to a progressive problem with my eyesight. In 1974, I was forced to come to the realization that it was not safe for others or for me to continue driving. Without a driver s license, I lost my job. I became a client of the Virginia Commission for the Visually Handicapped, a specialized area of the state s vocational rehabilitation services. I was evaluated by a psychologist and advised to go into either public-relations or law. I decided to go to law school but could not start until September of that year. The Commission could not help me and my family with any funds unless I was in school, many months away. They suggested I spend the summer taking courses in the Rehabilitation Counseling department at Virginia Commonwealth University which would allow them to provide me with some financial assistance. I did so. I got hooked on psychology. The chair of the department was a diplomate in Counseling Psychology and this is where I first became aware of ABPP and its position as the highest achievement in professional psychology. When I finished my Master s degree, I decided I would apply to a Doctoral program in clinical or counseling psychology. At that time there was no Americans with Disabilities Act. I approached two clinical psychology programs and one counseling psychology program and all advised me not to even apply or rejected my application. Each stated that the readings would be too extensive, that I could not do psychotherapy on either an individual or group basis because of my poor vision; and, especially, I could never hope to do psychological testing. This was devastating to me and also a bit curious because I had been heading to law school at one time and the reading is just as voluminous as it is in psychology. My former chair from the rehabilitation department suggested that I try William & Mary s counseling department as he believed that several of their doctoral students had been licensed as a psychologist in Virginia. I went to talk to the professors at William & Mary and was told that there was a counseling psychology track and they would review my application. Dr. Kevin Geoffroy called later and invited me to a second interview. He explained that I would be accepted into the advanced certificate program in education (an education specialist degree). He then explained that if I completed this successfully I would not be guaranteed entrance into the doctoral program. This would depend on my passing the doctoral qualifying examinations and being selected for the track in counseling psychology. He added, "You will be given no special breaks or considerations because of your eyes. You'll have to do all the work that any other doctoral student has to do and do it at the quality expected. You won't get any extra time to do your work. We ll take a chance on you, if you want to take a chance on us." I took the chance, did the work, did it well, and received my Doctor of Education in Counseling with a major

8 concentration in counseling psychology. I naively believed that I had surmounted the roadblocks placed in front of my desire for a career in psychology. I then took a job teaching psychology in a small undergraduate college in South Dakota. I applied for my first psychology license only to find out that the psychology law there had sunset just after I had sent in my application. Within six months, I had moved to Milwaukee to teach at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee graduate program in Educational Psychology. Once again, I applied for licensure as a psychologist. The state examining board required confirmation that I have a degree in psychology. The College s Registrar and my department confirmed that I did and had a major concentration counseling psychology. This was in 1979 and I have been a licensed psychologist Wisconsin ever since. To my surprise, Wisconsin law allowed only psychologists eligible for listing in the National Register to independently bill insurance companies. I applied for listing and was denied even though William & Mary supported my program as being in psychology. I had missed being listing in the Register on the grandfather clause by only two years. Later, a fellow doctoral student who was with me at William and Mary contacted me and asked if I had ever applied for ABPP. I told him that of course I had not because I had no hope of my application being accepted. He said that he had obtained diplomate status in counseling psychology and that I should apply. With significant misgivings and trepidation, I applied, my credentials were accepted, and I submitted my work sample. It too was accepted, and I took the examination. I passed this as well. I was a Diplomate in Counseling Psychology, American Board of Professional Psychology, the highest credential in professional psychology. Finally, I felt that I was finished with questions as to my validity as a psychologist. I also found support and validation from APA Council which in 1992 issued suggested guidelines for evaluating the education and training of psychologists who graduated before However, I continued to attend APA Conventions (which I did regularly as professor for over 20 years) and found that I was still referred to by many of my peers in a pejorative but sometimes joking manner as a "backdoor psychologist." Board certification also did not change my status in Wisconsin regarding the privilege to bill independently for my work which really annoyed me. The quality of my work had been demonstrated to be of advanced competence by ABPP. I found this situation intolerable and approached another counseling psychology diplomate in Wisconsin who had also been rejected by the Register and, together, we had the law changed to include ABPP board certification. In addition, we change a Wisconsin law which restricted privileges to admit, treat, and discharge patients from inpatient hospital settings to those eligible for the register to also include board certification from ABPP. We were opposed by the Wisconsin Psychological Association in this effort until a physician in the legislature asked why these two laws were not restricted to those psychologists who were board certified. The state psychology association, of which I was a member, immediately supported our bill. Once again, I believed all my problems were over and I could focus on pursuing my career in professional psychology without any further impediments. I became involved in establishing the American Academy of Counseling Psychology and met a number of other counseling psychology diplomate who were facing similar discrimination from insurance companies, licensing boards, government agencies, etc. I applied for psychology license is in Virginia and North Carolina and, though initially opposed by these boards in 1993 and 1994, I was licensed as a clinical psychologist in Virginia and a permanent psychologist and health services provider in

9 North Carolina. This was made easier by the fact that others from my doctoral program at William & Mary had applied for licensure in these states and had demonstrated to earlier boards that ours was a psychology program. After 22 years as an assistant professor in Family and Community Medicine (secondary appointment in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences) at the Medical College of Wisconsin, I retired on permanent disability because of increasing problems with my vision. I went stir-crazy as a retiree at age 55. A former colleague in a part-time private practice, who was now employed as the Chief Psychologist at the Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Division, called and asked me if I was interested in a job as an attending psychologist on the inpatient units at the mental health hospital. I had been teaching in medicine for 22 years and had never heard of and attending psychologist. I immediately accepted and went back to work. I have been at the Behavioral Health Division since 2004, have been billing under a CMS provider number and absolutely loving my job. I work on the psychology model units. On these units, two psychologists each serve as treatment directors for the treatment teams and have a psychiatrist who consults, prescribes medications and other medical treatments, and is responsible for medical clearance at discharge. The actual treatment director is the psychologist. When I began, there were 4 units with 2 teams each, with 6 of the 8 teams working under attending psychologists and two teams that worked under a traditional psychiatry model. Now we have downsized patient beds and increased the number of psychiatrists available. As a result, we currently have 5 psychology driven teams. We will shortly be decreased to 4 psychology directed teams. In December, 2011, 33 years after I had finished my graduate studies, CMS reviewed my credentials and removed my provider number, stating that I did not have a doctoral degree in psychology but a Doctor of Education in Counseling. I provided them with copies of documents dated 1979 from the Registrar at W&M stating that my doctorate was in counseling psychology, and, a letter from my major professor and former department chair dated 1993 to the board of examiners in North Carolina also confirming this fact. I sent them copies of my 3 state licenses, two board certifications (by this time I had board certification in Clinical Health Psychology) and expected to be quickly reinstated. I have now been denied in two appeals with the continued insistence that I have a doctor of education in counseling and not a doctoral degree in psychology. I have also sent them a history of counseling psychology from The Counseling Psychologist. CMS has refused to consider the documents from my university or my department and focused only on the name of my degree. I am now in the midst of a final appeal to an administrative law judge, am now 65 years old, legally blind, and looking at the forced end of my career if I lose my Medicaid/Medicare number permanently. It seems this has come about because I began my career as a psychologist at the end of an era in psychology s professional development. I graduated two years too late to be grandfathered into the Register, did not have the protection of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and have been swallowed by the vortex of necessary, but intolerant, efforts by psychology to strengthen its standards and standing in health care. It has looked to me that counseling psychologists have been particularly subjected to these types of struggles. Several of my colleagues in Wisconsin and elsewhere who have PhD degrees in "counseling psychology" but came from departments that did not provide them with coursework fully meeting the core curriculum (usually for biological basis of human behavior) established by APA, and are not from APA accredited programs and internships continue to face ongoing battles for recognition.

10 Most of us in this situation are now nearing retirement and will soon leave the arena of active professional practice. As we leave, the problem of "backdoor psychologists" who have devoted thousands of hours to thousands of clients, while at the same time battling to survive professionally, will pass away. I began this effort with individual, written appeals to CMS. This was naïve on my part. It was late when I realized that I was involved in a fight with an implacable and powerful bureaucracy for my professional survival. I had presented what I believed to be undeniable evidence of my education and training as a psychologist and trusted the CMS contractor in Wisconsin, Wisconsin Physician Services, to recognize these facts. When faced with making a final appeal to and administrative law judge, I realized that this was serious and I could not do this alone. I had already gathered what documents I had available. I attempted to gain more from the state examining boards and North Carolina and Virginia but they informed me that all of the paper records and information I and my professors and supervisors had sent in 33 years ago had been destroyed and only necessary information regarding my license was transferred to a digital database. I was unable to get either licensing board to assist me any further than giving me this information. I was mostly met with form letters and s sending me to irrelevant links on their websites. I had spoken with APA and had found a sympathetic listeners but no one I spoke with could see any way in which they could be of help. At length, I called ABPP and spoke with Dr. Cox. He was also concerned and referred me to Dr. O'Regan with AACoP who suggested I ask for help on the Academy's listserv. It was at this point that things began to happen. Many of you sent me suggestions and guidance and more importantly, contacted officers and staff members in APA that you had contacts with. Many of you sent them my "Urgent" and asked me to follow-up with them. Very quickly, I spoke with the right individuals at APA and immediately found support and concern. These individuals have been in contact with CMS and have shared their concerns about this issue of evaluating the credentials of older or senior psychologists who had clearly obtained a doctorate in psychology but due to the variations in psychology education before 1981 had degrees that did not clearly reflect this fact. Several APA staff members are continuing to help me and others like me in a successful resolution to these problems. One suggestion was to consider obtaining an attorney. It was only sensible to have a lawyer represent me in front of a hearing by a judge. It occurred to me that without a lawyer, I was "bringing a knife to a gunfight." I did engage an attorney and within a few hours of legal research he had identified significant information that I had previously been unable to find in my own attempts at researching this problem. He used this information together with the information I received from APA and has now filed my appeal. APA staffs have been available to my attorney for consultation and information. Without my to the Academy listserv, I believe I would have no chance of success with my appeal. If those of you in the Academy had not responded as you did, I believe I would truly be looking at the end of my career. This experience has taught me that the situations are serious and must be taken seriously. I would suggest that all of us collect and archive every single document relating to our education, training and supervision, internships, correspondence with professors regarding our programs, letters and documents sent to licensing boards, etc. if you're participating in the ASPPB certification process, deposit all of these documents with them. Make use of every professional resource you have available, especially ABPP, your academies, your colleagues, APA and other professional organizations if you are faced with this problem or other similar to it. Engage an attorney to

11 represent you or at least consult with you on the law and the rules and regulations of the various governmental agencies, insurance companies and health care organizations, etc., that you are dealing with. Look through your local and state representatives for assistance. When I took on the stranglehold of psychologists in the National Register on independent practice in Wisconsin, I began with my local assembly person. She listened and she prepared a bill to change the law, enlisted the help of my state senator (Wisconsin Senate) and others in the legislature. The bill was passed. Wherever possible, we should all be as involved and active in our professional organizations and in the governance of psychology on the national and local level to identify and address issues we all face.

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13 Lewis Schlosser, Ph.D., ABPP Jack Apsche, Ed.D., ABPP Secretary Member at Large Associate Professor Practicum Coordinator, Counseling Psychology PhD Program Department of Professional Psychology and Family Therapy Seton Hall University 316 Jubilee Hall 400 South Orange Avenue South Orange, NJ Tel: (973) Fax: (973) Web: Program Director, Graduate Programs in Forensic Psychology Walden University 155 5th Avenue South Minneapolis, MN Jenny Cornish, Ph.D, ABPP Member at Large Associate Professor and Director of Clinical Training and Internship Consortium University of Denver Graduate School of Professional Psychology 2460 S. Vine Street, #206 Denver, CO Tel: (303)