The Practice Leadership Conference is always the highlight of my APA year. Once again, Dan Abrahamson and Susie Lazaroff did an outstanding job this spring, with nearly 400 of our colleagues actively participating in Advocacy and Leadership. Jared Skillings' visionary Welcoming Remarks nicely set the stage for the exciting conference. "These are exciting times. We're at the start of a new era for APA and professional psychology. It is an era that offers each and every one of us tremendous opportunities." One of aspects of these conferences which I most appreciate is the wide range of important topics to which the attendees become exposed. From my perspective the Department of Defense (DOD) has two major complementary missions: enhancing national security and fostering humanitarian efforts worldwide. DOD's humanitarian efforts can be considered preventive in nature; and, as such, although extraordinarily important and highly cost-effective in the long-run, they are constantly subject to cost-containment concerns, especially by those emphasizing budgetary priorities. Accordingly, this must become a critical focus for military psychology's leadership. One of our policy seminar speakers at the Uniformed Services University, a former Vietnam War POW, recently commented that the military has many fine managers; however, leadership is different.
To become a successful leader one must understand and honor the past. At this year's conference Gary Howell chaired a workshop addressing psychology's potential for ameliorating today's humanitarian crisis on our Southwest border. Shirley Higuchi and Giselle Hass provide an important global perspective: "Psychologists have long understood how separating family members can exact a long-term toll on children, creating traumas spanning multiple generations. During a February forum on Capitol Hill, Arthur Evans compared the World War II Japanese American incarceration with the plight of immigrants to the United States who have been placed in detention camps while they await their claim for asylum. The incarceration broke up families, which had serious effects on the children as they grew older. That impact is similar to the separation of families at the border, which particularly damages children. 'The bond established with a parent is important, particularly early in life. When that attachment is disrupted, children experience anxiety and depression.'"
Recently Arthur and his wife, and separately my wife and I, visited the site of the former Japanese American camp at Heart Mountain, Wyoming – an experience which affected each of us profoundly. Many things struck us. How can our government do this? How we can make other people 'the others' is how we can do that. Representative Mark Takano, Chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee: "I never thought that my being in Congress and my parents being in internment camps would be so relevant now. The difference between now and 1942 was that no one was speaking out on behalf of the Japanese Americans at that time."
Sam Mihara, a Heart Mountain Foundation board member and incarceree as a child, said the incarceration devastated his family, including how the incorrect treatment of his grandfather's colon cancer caused him to die prematurely. "In two weeks, I saw him wither away to skin and bones. He was like a Holocaust survivor." Visiting multiple detention camps for immigrants it is clear the children are given a poor diet, lots of bread and pasta and few fresh vegetables and protein. Just as the Japanese American children did, these immigrant children receive the message that they are unwanted, socially rejected, that their human rights are not important, and that they do not deserve any care by the government who should protect them.
Giselle is an immigrant from Central America who has focused her psychological research and clinical work on immigrants and the unjust situations they endure in the United States. She and Shirley have spoken in several forums, including teaching the judges, lawyers and other members of the National Consortium for Racial and Ethnic Fairness in the Courts on the similarities between what happened during World War II and today. One lesson learned is how the incarceration experience has shaped the Japanese Americans in ways that so many are just discovering now, more than 75 years after they and their ancestors were first incarcerated. Silence is the first coping trait; many Japanese Americans felt too much shame to speak about what happened to them. For years, they wanted to be anything than what they were. Some strove so hard to assimilate into white-dominated "American" culture that they lost their sense of identity and community. Others compensated by working so hard that no one could question their place in society. That workaholism often cost them healthy relationships with their families. For some, perfectionism became their path to acceptance. Everything they did had to be better than anyone else lest they lose their place in society. Former Cabinet member Norman Mineta talked about the shame he felt being labeled an "enemy alien" as a child and his determination to show that he was an American as anyone else. The Latino families and children targeted by our current border and immigration policies face the same fate. Only our memory of the Japanese American incarceration and commitment to social justice can prevent a new round of multigenerational trauma.
The Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation, chaired by Shirley, runs a very impressive and definitely emotionally moving museum on the site of the Heart Mountain camp, where her parents met as children. The foundation is dedicated to preserving the memory of the incarceration in the hopes that knowledge will prevent it from happening again.
An Exciting Opportunity: On April 3rd, 2017 Idaho became the fifth state to allow prescriptive authority (RxP) for psychologists. Their legislation passed both houses of the legislature without any serious opposition and with only two "nay" votes. Susan Farber reports: "Idaho's Clinical Psychopharmacology Master's program is up and running at Idaho State University (ISU). New students now are being accepted for fall entrance. It is the only program in the country where students can obtain a master's degree after two years that includes pre-degree practicum work. Classes are held on Thursday and Friday. The majority of pre-master's patient-facing work is done over each summer. Consideration will be given to transferring appropriate work in other programs on a case-by-case basis. The program is being taught in a new facility next to Boise that is one of the most advanced healthcare training facilities in the country. Multidisciplinary contributions are the norm. For a full Idaho prescribing certificate, students do supervised clinical fellowship work for two years after their didactic training. For further information contact Page Haviland (US Navy Veteran), the ISU program consultant at pagehaviland@gmail.com,or Erik Silk, the program director, at silkeric@isu.edu.
"The rules for RxP were created by an advisory board consisting of nominees from the Boards of Psychology, Medicine and Pharmacy. They are in temporary effect until the legislature convenes next winter. A dispute within the legislature has affected all rules, not just ours, and put them in the hands of the Governor's office. Because of the intense vetting, our lobbyist is confident ours are in no danger. Many members of the Idaho Psychological Association plus our Executive Director, Deb Katz, and lobbyist have worked on the RxP initiative. We are very proud of this premier contribution to psychology and to the deeply underserved people of our state and of the nation." Personally, over the years, I have come to appreciate the uniqueness of the military culture and thus have been very pleased with the extent to which those involved in this particular training initiative clearly embrace this from their own experiences. "From where I stand, the future of our profession – the future of the this association – looks very promising, not in spite of the changes we face, but because of them" [Jared Skillings]. Aloha,
Pat DeLeon, former APA President – Division 19 – May, 2019
Sent from my iPhone
