Presidential Travels
James H. Bray, Ph.D.
President, American Psychological Association
October 2009
Travel Log—October 3, 2009, somewhere over the Pacific Ocean headed for Washington, DC to attend the APA Education Leadership Conference.
Australian Psychological Society Annual Convention, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, September 29-October 3, 2009
Darwin is the northern most city in Australia and called, “the city on top.” It is closer to Indonesia and Southern Asia than some parts of Australia and the city reflects this cultural diversity. It is inside the Tropic of Capricorn, so the sun is intense (my beaming red face reflects this fact). The Australians were warm, friendly and funny people. I found myself smiling and laughing most of the time during my visit to Australia. The psychologists made a special effort to include me in their activities and the visit is certainly one of the highlights of my presidency.
The APS conference had about 750 attendees and was a good number given the distance from the major cities in Australia (for example Darwin is 2000 miles from Sydney). The conference is similar to ours—scientific presentations, clinical workshops, governance meetings, etc. However, there is a big difference in the APA and APS governance. The APS reorganized its governance structure a few years ago. APS governance structure is much smaller, with an 11-member board of directors and nothing similar to our Council of Representatives. Their board members are elected by the general membership. The president serves one year as president-elect and two years as president. There is no past president position on their board. At their annual general meeting, all members present are allowed to discuss, debate and vote on policy changes. Rather than divisions, they have colleges (clinical, health, forensic, counseling, etc). Psychologists must have certain qualifications to be a member of a college.
Hot Issues. Australia is in the midst of health care reform too. APS has positioned itself very well for increasing psychologists’ role in health care changes. For example, Lyn Littlefield, the APS CEO, was on one of the three major work groups sponsored by the government to develop proposals for health care reform. Their government’s health care reform bodies included the National Health and Hospital Reform Commission, the National Primary Health Care Strategy Task Force, and the National Preventative Health Task Force. Like the US, Australia is working to increase access to health care, increase preventative services and better manage and treat chronic illness. The goal is for Australia to be the healthiest country in the world by 2020.
Australia has a government sponsored health care system called Medicare. It is open to all Australian’s and the central focus is on primary care provided by General Practitioners (GPs). In early 2000, psychologists demonstrated the value of psychological services in general practice and the Australian government poured millions of dollars to fund increased access to psychological services. Psychologists are the primary mental health providers.
National Licensure. Australia is moving to national licensure, rather than a state based system. They call licensure “registration.” APS is very excited, however, they are worried that because of the shortage of psychologists, the government may demand a decrease in training standards to increase the number of psychologists.
Prescriptive Authority. The APS board decided to pursue prescriptive authority for appropriately trained psychologists. There are mixed feelings about this. I discussed the American experience at their general membership meeting and pointed out that the power to prescribe is the power to un-prescribe.
The Australian media was also interested in my research on adolescent alcohol use. I did an interview with “The Australian,” the national newspaper. Binge drinking among adolescents is a major concern in the country. The reporter asked if I were meeting with government officials about policy implications of my work (a question not usually asked in interviews in the US).
Australia 2010—International Congress of Applied Psychology (ICAP), Melbourne, July 2010. ICAP will be held next July and the Congress should be great. The APS is co-sponsoring the conference and holding their annual meeting in conjunction with ICAP. Lynn Rehm is the chair of the clinical section of ICAP. There is still time to submit a program (see http://www.icap2010.com). I had such a great time in Australia, I am planning to attend and tour more of the country.
G’Day Mates,
James
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James H. Bray, Ph.D.
Department of Family & Community Medicine
Baylor College of Medicine
3701 Kirby Drive, 6th Floor
Houston, TX 77098
(713) 798-7752
President, American Psychological Association
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