Whether you work in healthcare, education, research, administration, or are a student beginning your career, we need to address the real, day-to-day concerns of working psychologists. 

We face ever increasing financial pressure, workforce strain, institutional change, and rising public need. APA must be a practical, visible, and effective partner in helping psychologists meet those challenges while advancing the science and profession of psychology.

We need an APA that is action-oriented, collaborative, transparent, and grounded in the realities of contemporary professional life and responsive to the political and marketplace pressures we face. And we need to act quickly. My goal is not just to represent you, but to advocate for you!

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Practice

Psychologists in clinical and health service settings are facing growing pressures from low reimbursement, administrative burden, workforce shortages, antiquated CPT codes, and increasing demand for care. 

• We need better reimbursement. One-third of psychologists no longer take commercial insurance.  It is not uncommon to hear psychologists say that they have not received an increase in reimbursement from a commercial insurance company in over 10 years. 

• We need relief from the administrative burdens imposed by commercial insurers when we are simply trying to be paid for necessary patient care. Providers spend tens of thousands of unpaid hours battling denials, delays, and needless barriers to secure payment for services already delivered. Psychology is not alone in this. Other professions face the same unfair practices, and we should work together to stop them. In Missouri, a bill supported by our state association and aimed at curbing abusive prior authorization practices and supported by the state psychological association has passed the House and is making its way to our Senate.

• We need the same time-free E&M codes that reward physicians for their clinical judgment, decision-making, patient risk, and case complexity. Psychologists bring the same level of expertise to assessment and treatment as physicians, but our reimbursement is still largely tied to the clock. We are paid for minutes, not for complexity. The payment is often the same whether we are treating mild depression or caring for a suicidal patient. Psychologists need access to the same code structure physicians use so reimbursement reflects the true intensity, risk, and professional skill involved in our work.

• Physicians are paid to supervise other professions, so should psychologists. Psychologists should have access to these incident to codes. 

• Doctoral educated integrated care psychologists are struggling. Those working in integrated care settings often complain that their codes are not compatible with the physician codes and result in loss reimbursement. Reimbursement in general is so low that some hospitals are now replacing doctoral educated psychologists with master’s providers. This needs to be addressed and stopped.

Education and Training

• To best support educators, we need to recognize that their needs are not all the same. Their needs may differ depending on whether they are teaching at the high school, undergraduate, or graduate level, and whether their role is primarily in the classroom or in directing training. Nevertheless, all of these groups deserve and need our support.

• Job security for educators is increasing a concern. A large share of academic teaching is no longer done by tenure-line faculty. It has been reported that contingent, tenure-ineligible appointments accounts for nearly 70% of instructional staff appointments. At the same time, reductions in force tied to budget stress and program closures have become a major practical threat — even for tenured or tenure-track faculty. Inside Higher Ed tracked at least 9,000 higher-ed job cuts and buyouts in 2025 alone, and many of those were tied to financial strain, restructuring, or falling tuition revenue. 

• APA notes that higher education is under strain from faculty burnout, high turnover, and political attacks on academic freedom. Even when someone is not immediately at risk of termination, these pressures can make academic careers feel unstable, unsustainable, and unrewarding. 

Research and Science

Psychological science must remain central to APA’s mission. Researchers face increasing pressure from unstable funding, public skepticism toward science, and the challenge of translating findings into policy and practice. APA should continue to defend scientific integrity, strengthen public trust in research, and better connect science to applied work, education, and advocacy. A strong APA must champion both discovery and its practical use.

Applied Psychology, Consulting, and I/O Work

Many psychologists work outside traditional academic or clinical roles, contributing in business, industry, consulting, government, and organizational settings. Their work improves workplaces, systems, leadership, and public outcomes, yet it is not always fully visible within the broader identity of the field. APA should more actively recognize and elevate these contributions and ensure that psychologists across applied settings see themselves reflected in the association’s priorities. Students should be better educated in these options.

Students

Our students need real relief and innovative thinking to help free them from the crushing cost of education and student debt. We should make our doctoral degrees more valuable by supporting students who want market-relevant training in areas such as law, technology, business, prescribing, and administration as part of their psychology education, without adding time to their training. And we should allow psychologists, as physicians are allowed, to graduate before internship begins and to participate more fully in Medicare-reimbursable care during training. Many new positions are being created for psychologists in the world of applied psychology. Students to hear about this.

Advocacy and Public Policy

APA must be an effective voice on the issues that shape psychology and the public good. That includes access to care, reimbursement, education and training, research funding, behavioral health infrastructure, and public health. It also means strengthening the relationship between APA and state, provincial, and territorial psychological associations, where much of the practical advocacy work occurs. We need to call more often on the Divisions to share their content expertise. National leadership is strongest when it is informed by work happening on the ground.

• Despite years of asking, we still lack a clear, public-facing description of doctoral psychologists that the general public can easily understand.

• We need to identify successful legislative and regulatory initiatives across the county in a various states and quickly share them so that they can be more easily promoted. There is some effort by the Advocacy Office to do this. We need to support it.

• We need to continue our commitment to human rights and develop messaging that works in all of our states regardless of their political affiliations. We need a support group for those doing work in states where political work is more difficult.

• In a divisive world, we need to organize and disseminate psychological science that helps us work across the aisle, identify shared values, and listen more carefully. I currently have a New Business Item in Council supported by many of my colleagues that will help that.

• Psychological safety within our association must be a given. We need to guarantee that the way we conduct business and speak with one another reinforces this for all groups. I currently have a New Business Item in Council supported by many of my colleagues that will help with that.