Robinowitz Urges More Activism on Advocacy, Public Education
APA has been successfully promoting psychiatrists and the work they do through unified communications and advocacy initiatives, resulting in small and large victories on several fronts.
At the plenary session of the September Components Meeting, APA President Carolyn Robinowitz, M.D., encourages component members to play an active role in APA advocacy initiatives.
Credit: David Hathcox
But that's only half of what is needed to ensure the success of the profession, according to APA President Carolyn Robinowitz, M.D.
“APA members—you can and must contribute toward the goals of the organization,” she told members of APA's councils and other components at the plenary session of APA's September Components Meeting last month.
It is important that members educate their nonmember colleagues about what APA does for psychiatrists, the profession, and patients and to inform the public about mental health issues to add to the effort to destigmatize mental illnesses and help people understand that treatment works, Robinowitz said.
Through their work and advocacy efforts, many APA members have swayed policymakers, worked doggedly on behalf of consumers and family members, and educated clergy, business leaders, and teachers, among others, about important mental health issues, she noted.
Robinowitz also noted that APA members, by contributing to APA's political action committee (PAC), can strengthen the organization's political influence and play a role in legislation that benefits people with mental illness (see APAPAC: Putting Your Advocacy Into Action).
According to John Wernert, M.D., who chairs the APAPAC Board of Directors and also spoke at the plenary session, APA is making contributions to 83 members of Congress, both Democrat and Republican. In the first eight months of the 2007 election cycle, APAPAC has raised $176,000 for such contributions for these members of Congress, according to Wernert.
He said PAC funds may have been influential in bringing about recent advances through Congress of the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2007 and the Mental Health Parity Act of 2007, which would grant greater access to mental health and addiction treatment by barring health insurers from placing discriminatory restrictions on treatment for mental health care.
APAPAC also supports legislators who back the CHAMP Act, which would eliminate the discriminatory 50 percent copay for most Medicare mental health services, Wernert noted.
However, he noted, “currently, only 6 percent of APA members contribute to the PAC,” he pointed out. “As leaders of APA, it is your duty to support the PAC and its advocacy efforts.”
Members of APA's Council on Minority Mental Health and Health Disparities meet during APA's September Components Meeting last month in Washington, D.C. From left are Kehinde Ogundipe, M.D., Jimmark Abenojar, M.D., Michele Reid, M.D., Humberto Martinez, M.D., Melva Green, M.D., and Annelle Primm, M.D., M.P.H. Primm is director of APA's Office of Minority and National Affairs, which staffs the council.
Credit: David Hathcox
Robinowitz also emphasized the power of working proactively with the media on mental health issues, such as spreading APA's message that mental illnesses are medical conditions that can be treated successfully.
Lydia Sermons-Ward, director of APA's Office of Communications and Public Affairs, described activities in which her office has been involved to educate the public about psychiatry and mental illness.
“We are operating in a media environment of suspicion,” she said.
The media have served as a conduit for a fair amount of false and detrimental information about psychiatrists, she pointed out, from Scientologists' claiming that psychiatrists kill patients to news articles about psychiatrists overdiagnosing people with certain psychiatric illnesses.“ These are the false notions that we are trying to combat,” Sermons-Ward said.
She encouraged members to make use of her office's many communications tools to educate colleagues about APA and its accomplishments and to inform the general public about mental health issues.
These tools include information from the HealthyMinds Campaign, a suicide prevention public-service announcement, a bimonthly newsletter, APA's 2007 Annual Report, and more than 30 “Let's Talk Facts” brochures detailing the symptoms of major mental illnesses, treatments, and other mental health topics.
Powerful communications initiatives on the horizon include a revamped APA Web site with updated information, a campaign to combat critics of psychiatry, and a new presentation created in conjunction with the Committee on Public Affairs to educate audiences about APA and its activities.
“Each of you is a public affairs representative for yourselves and the profession,” Sermons-Ward said. ▪
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Published online: 5 October 2007
Published in print: October 5, 2007
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APA is providing members with multiple tools to educate colleagues and the public about the organization, its mission, and its many accomplishments.
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