APA GAPP Caucus


Beth N. Rom-Rymer, Ph.D.
Illinois Association of Prescribing Psychologists
Founder, President and CEO
Association of Jewish Psychologists (AJP)
Co-Founder and President
Rom-Rymer & Associates
President
International Movement of Psychologists with Prescriptive Authority (IMPAP)
Co-Founder and Co-Chair
NAMI Illinois
Member of the Board
Thresholds Illinois
Member of the Board
National Register of Health Service Psychologists
Past President and Chair (2021-2022)
DrBeth4APAPresident.com
e: [email protected]
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I have been involved with applied psychology for most of my career.
As an undergraduate student in psychology at Princeton University, I did an extensive literature review on conflict theory for my junior thesis, highlighting the work of social psychologists, Sherif and Sherif (The Robbers Cave Experiment, Conflict and Cooperation, 1954). As part of my thesis work at Princeton, I studied with Dr. Carolyn Sherif, at Penn State University. The title of my senior thesis was: Psychology in the Service of Society. For this thesis, I did a field observational study in the Princeton High School, in which there was a high level of student intergroup conflict. Both of these projects presaged my career-long efforts to use applied psychological knowledge to address real-world problems.
For my master’s thesis, I worked with Charles L Hulin, Ph.D. at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. My research was entitled: The Role that Gender and Administrative Position Constellations Play in Organizational Behavior. As part of this research, I travelled throughout the state of Illinois, in both rural and urban areas, interviewing and observing intragroup administrative relationships in eight community mental health centers. Not only did I collect rich data, but I became more competent in understanding organizational consulting roles.
For my Ph.D. Dissertation, under the supervision of the late Frederick H. Kanfer, Ph.D., I created an intervention paradigm to assess whether elderly residents of four nursing homes in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, when given opportunities for greater control in their lives, would experience higher levels of self-esteem and suffer from fewer mild, acute illnesses, than the control group of elderly nursing home residents, who had not received this intervention.
Since earning my Ph.D. in clinical psychology at Illinois, I have used my applied psychology training throughout my career. In addition to my work as a practicing clinician, I have had a national consulting forensic practice; I have been a legislative advocate, community organizer, and an organizational consultant. In my early education and training, my mentors have included prominent social and I-O psychologists. I have worked extensively with police departments and have consulted with several Fortune 500 companies on stress management and conflict resolution in the C-suite. I continue to be very much involved in legislative advocacy, creating public policy, and developing organizational structures that support divergent perspectives and progressive social movements. In recent years, I founded/co-founded two organizations, the Illinois Association of Prescribing Psychologists (2018) and the Association of Jewish Psychologists (2023).
For all of these reasons, I can say that I not only support applied psychologists, I am an applied psychologist. I know, firsthand, that applied psychologists, particularly those practicing in less traditional roles and settings can experience professional isolation. As APA President, I would work to ensure that we strengthen our recognition and support for these divergent, rich, and too-often overlooked, areas of psychology. I was pleased to note that an Office of Applied Psychology was created within the Science Directorate and that a governance Committee for the Advancement of General Applied Psychology (COGAP) has been formed. However, I also know that APA too often has been siloed, not recognizing the important roles that applied psychology can play, both in their own areas of specialization and in health/mental health areas of research and practice.
Speaking from personal experience, I know that applied psychology is too often overlooked. It is not unusual for dominant mental health/health groups in APA to be oblivious to the work of applied psychologists, much less to consider how these fields can help to advance their own areas. For this reason, in every venue, I will continue to highlight the importance of applied psychology in advancing psychology as a whole and in addressing the social problems of the day. I will reference my own diverse background and my profound appreciation for the fascinating and too-often little known or recognized array of professional activities in which psychologists engage. I am excited about the expansive and multi-dimensional nature of our field and how, using our science, we can advance psychological knowledge and the public’s awareness of our contributions. I will advocate for a path to appropriate licensure for those applied psychologists wanting to be licensed; to create policy that embraces applied psychology. If requested, I will testify nationally, speak publicly around the world, write articles; speak to communities, using all media outlets; assemble visible, diverse coalitions and task forces of multidisciplinary leaders to make sure that the applied psychology voices are heard. Within APA, I will also work hard to ensure that professional practice structures such as those creating or revising guidelines, as relevant, always have applied psychologists represented in task forces or panels that too often do not include them.
To fully ensure that I understand the priorities of applied psychology, given the strongly clinical practice presence of APA, I will also engage in ongoing conversations with all of the applied Psychology Divisions, COGAP, the Office of Applied Psychology, the GAPP Caucus, other applied psychology caucuses, and all interest groups of applied psychology, to hear your concerns and priorities. I give you my commitment that I will continue to be responsive to what I hear from you.
Throughout my career, I have been involved with advocacy and education. I have advocated at the international, national, state, and local levels in support of broadened roles and enhanced support for psychologists. I have been actively involved in policy creation and implementation, have testified nationally, spoken publicly around the world, and helped create media campaigns.
There are two areas in which I think advocacy for applied psychology is particularly needed. First, APA and the ASPPB need to understand the needs for alternative paths for those applied psychologists wishing to pursue psychology licensure. Secondly, there is a pressing need for national organizations (including APA), and governments, to better understand the diversity of psychology and the important role that applied psychologists can play, compared to others working in similar areas who lack that training. I will also advocate that every task force, board or committee, established by APA, be required to consider whether applied psychology seats are needed, helping to ensure broader representation across all areas of psychology. Additionally, I will advocate for greater awareness about the roles that well-trained applied psychologists play, so that APA can better integrate applied psychology with all of its other, diverse disciplines, within our vast field.
I strongly support the newly-formed Committee for General Applied Psychology. A body representing applied psychology, coupled with the Office of Applied Psychology, helps to assure that applied psychology will have a stronger voice, both inside and outside of APA. I will work within APA to make sure that applied psychologists are better represented in APA’s governance bodies and in funding opportunities.
I understand that many applied psychologists feel that APA is primarily interested in health and mental health psychology. That perspective is increasingly not true, but the belief has a life of its own and often causes applied psychologists to aggressively pursue their careers, while retreating from APA. I believe that this strategy is a mistake. As president, I will work to develop greater awareness of applied psychology and ensure that it has a seat at every relevant APA table. As knowledge of applied psychologists’ expertise, training, and competencies becomes more widespread, both within and outside of APA, my hope is that applied psychologists can return to APA and impact its future directions.
Respectfully submitted,
Beth N. Rom-Rymer, Ph.D.