Williams, member-at-large, Division 38: Society for Health Psychology, says, “My key initiative on the ECP Council was to start local networking events, and with the help of many volunteers, local Society networking events are now a regular feature of SfHP and have taken place throughout the country for over 10 years.”
Like many health psychologists, I spent the first few years of my career as the only psychologist in a department of physicians. I realized I needed support to adjust to medical culture and navigate an academic health center. In joining SfHP, I connected with many other psychologists in similar positions.
I am most proud of my very first project for SfHP. I joined the Early Career Psychologist Council and learned that many health psychologists did not feel well-networked. Since most networking events I have attended have been at national conferences, I thought people could benefit from meeting people closer to where they lived. My key initiative on the ECP Council was to start local networking events, and with the help of many volunteers, local Society networking events are now a regular feature of SfHP and have taken place throughout the country for over 10 years.
We will need to grow our workforce so that psychological treatment becomes universally offered as a component of care for health conditions such as pain, cancer, and reproductive health. With an increase in integrated care offerings, we will need improved coding, billing, and reimbursement for the treatments we are able to offer.
For my first job in high school, I was a snake handler for the local science museum. I cared for the snakes (feeding, cleaning, providing medicine) and presented educational live animal demonstrations for the public.
Contact Adrienne Williams
