Candidates for APA President
What do you see as the most challenging set of educational issues that APA should address and how would you propose moving on those issues?
Diversity. Psychology must reflect U.S. and global demographics. An excitingprospect, this requires strategic recruitment and retention. Developing high school psychology curriculum standards is smart. Deliberate outreach to diverse populations, including the disabled, the largest minority population, is essential.
Affordability. Costs are prohibitive. Collaboration with other health, public health and professional fields will produce new funding.
Cross-training. Psychology should cross-train with public health, medicine, nursing, public affairs and teaching. Imagine the positive professional and societal implications.
Public interest. We need a systematic approach to education and training in psychology and the public interest. Presently, it is too happenstance.
What do you see as the big opportunities for professional psychology in the 21st century? And what do we need to begin doing right now to capture them?
Creating a whole new discipline is the biggest opportunity. This might be called primary-care health or public wellness. It blends traditional primary health care and psychology, or traditional public health and psychology. Focused on health and wellness, it integrates psychological, physical, cultural and spiritual health. It is multidisciplinary and can be exported globally.
We capture it now by 1) convening a vision summit with other health and public health leaders; 2) developing public support; and 3) building the evidentiary basis. This may take a decade, but it is how to script our future before it defines us.
