A Conversation with Dr. Michelle Paul, President of the ASPPB Board of Directors
How did you first become involved with ASPPB?
Well, I was serving on the Nevada Board of Psychology, and new board members were encouraged to attend an ASPPB meeting. After that I was invited to attend a kickoff meeting in Atlanta focusing on the development of the Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology, EPPP (Part 2-Skills). And I presented the pros of the early admission option for the EPPP (Part 1-Knowledge) at a midyear meeting. There are so many opportunities to get involved, and to give back, and I just stayed involved.
What made you continue your engagement with ASPPB?
My career has always been focused on advancing quality mental health care. I believe we are called to serve, to step up. Growing up in a small town, if you wanted something done, it was up to you to make it happen. For me now, to have the opportunity to serve on a national level is a privilege. I’m lucky that my career, in academia, allows me the flexibility to serve in this capacity.
Why is ASPPB important to the profession of psychology?
That’s like asking; ‘why is your left leg important?’ I really see it like a three-legged stool: education and training, the practitioners, and the regulators. Obviously, education and training are vitally important. Then we have the practitioners, the professionals providing the care. And then we have the third leg, the regulators. As a profession, we have a contract with society – recognize us as a valued profession, and in turn we promise to regulate ourselves and ensure that the public is provided with the best possible care. It’s a trust issue. ASPPB fulfills that promise of public protection. Those three legs are essential to upholding the integrity of the profession. Without them we lose public trust.
Where do you see ASPPB in the future?
We are a membership organization; we are not separate from the members. In the future I think our role will continue to be supporting the members by pooling resources and increasing our bandwidth so that we can all be more forward thinking. We each have a limited amount of time, energy, and capacity. ASPPB’s role is foreseeing issues on the horizon and taking steps to support our boards, as they face these issues. The EPPP (Part 2-Skills) for example, we must get on board with where healthcare is going. And healthcare is finding ways to measure not only book knowledge, but the application of that knowledge. If we don’t find a way to align with this, we risk losing the integrity of our profession. That’s where I see the future of ASPPB.
What would you like professional psychologists to know about ASPPB?
We are not this big bad ogre telling you what to do. We serve the public, and by doing so we raise the integrity of your profession. Going back to the three-legged stool analogy; each leg must be strong and stable. It’s a matter of respect for the practitioners and the profession itself. ASPPB is here to protect the public, and the profession itself.