Welcome to the new WSPA News. This is a new format that we hope members will find easy to read and navigate. If you have any news you would like to share in an upcoming newsletter please send it to WSPA@wspapsych.org

A year in review Washington Psychologist will be published in December.

Best regards,
Marvo Reguindin
Executive Director

 

January 25, 2023

Dr. David Shearer is a WSPA member and a clinical and prescribing psychologist working for the federal government in Washington State. He has been the Chair of the WSPA Prescribing Psychology Legislative Taskforce since 2018. This year, Dr. Shearer stepped into the role of President of APA’s Division 55, the Society for Prescribing Psychology. Dr. Shearer is excited to work on continuing the collaboration between our state’s association and the national organization. This collaboration has already paid-off in the form of $30,000 in APA grants for WSPAs pursuit of prescriptive authority for psychologists. Dr. Shearer says he sees the relationship with APA as a “…reciprocal relationship that helps us both expand and improve the opportunities for psychologists. Further, it helps cement psychology’s role as a leader in the field of behavioral health.” Dr. Shearer states that Washington’s pursuit of prescribing psychology has been just one of WSPAs activities that has positioned Washington state as a leader in professional psychology at the national level. “I’m proud to be part of WSPA’s amazing team,” says Dr. Shearer.
 
 
 
Representative Jessica Bateman (D-District 22) introduced her Prescribing Psychology Bill (HB1041) to the 2023 House of Representatives in January. HB1041 had a hearing in the House Care Health and Wellness Committee on January 13^th.


 

January 24, 2023
The Committee of State Leaders (CSL) of the American Psychological Association have been stalwart supporters of the Washington State Psychological Association’s (WSPA) efforts to bring prescribing psychology to Washington state. CSL awarded WSPA with a fourth APA Services Inc. grant for 2023 in the amount of $7,500 to help pay for expenses related to pursuing prescriptive authority for psychologists in our state. This brings the total financial support of APA to a total of $30,000 over the course of four years.
This financial support has been of immense assistance in helping WSPA support the work of our excellent lobbyist, Ms. Melanie Smith. Without this generous financial support from APA it is likely we would not have had the capacity to continue the time intensive work of bringing a prescriptive authority bill to the legislature.
With the support of APA, the WSPA Board of Trustees, and countless hours of volunteer time we have brought a prescribing bill to the House of Representative twice, once in 2022 and now again in 2023. This year the House Healthcare and Wellness Committee held a hearing to hear testimony from supporters and detractors of the bill on January 13^th. At the time of the writing of this article the bill remains in the Committee while awaiting a vote. If the bill is passed out of the Committee it will continue its journey toward a vote on the House floor. We never lose site of the goal of this legislation; to provide consumers in our state with greater access to safe and comprehensive behavioral health care. Any legislative change, but especially scope of practice changes, are time consuming and expensive. We are greatly indebted to APA for their generous grants, without which we would not have been able to make the progress we see today.