MINUTES OPA - Section of Students in Psychology Meeting April 18, 1998 Chair: Sandra Jackson Secretary: Karen Fergus Present: Teri Sota, Kim Watson, Alberta Pos, Jason Ramsay, Allan Eng, Kim Gordon Mentor Program: - initiative of OPA student section - a lot of psychologists are willing and there is a high demand -- difficulties arose because of: (1) unequal distribution of psychologists throughout Ontario - majority in Southern Ontario (2) hard to find mentors in highly specialized areas of psychology, e.g., child neuropsychology. -past president manages the program - a more efficient system is required to inform students about it. -will contact Ontario universities get list of: (1) graduate students registered in their programs and (2) recent graduates from the programs - Jason will draft form letter Membership: ListServ: - plan to increase contact with students to elicit their participation and support - 180 student members to date - put together list-serve to access all grad. students within Ontario - How to set up list-serve? - Sandra to discuss with Steve Biggs - Kim W. will also discuss with Tony Nield. SOSIP Web Page: - separate from OPA's web page but with direct link - will have to buy space on a server and pay for an operating fee ($20-30) - may be able to negotiate space on the York server - request donation as SOSIP is non-profit organization - if York won't, there are companies that will offer space to non-profit organizations - Kim W. to look into. - Kim W. and Alberta P. to look into people who may be able to design one for us - York fencing club has nice web page example Campus Representatives: - originally conceived so we wouldn't have to do on site visits - saves on long distance and travel costs - campus reps relied upon to disseminate information - Jason has list of who they have thus far - will look into universities that still require one Next Newsletter: - to be set up on home page to save printing and mail costs - will have to inform students via list-serve when the new newsletter is out - will list highlights in order to encourage students to read it (1) Basic Information - about OPA and SOSIP in particular (2) Why get involved? - answer question - what can it do for me? (3) Politically Relevant Issues - post information relevant to graduate students - changing political & economic times (4) Psychology in the Public Sector - non-traditional careers for psychologists - interviews with established psychologists in the private sector - information regarding the business of psychology - how to set up a private practice etc. - discussion around importance of not excluding academically/research oriented students, they will wonder what's the point of joining SOSIP, important to ensure that it isn't only geared to clinical psychology students (5) Upcoming Events - (6) Letters to the Editor - (7) Psychology and Popular Culture - Review mainstream Books/Movies relevant to psychology - open contribution - how are psychologists being represented? Also, more obscure psychological publications - e.g., Reflections of a Psychology Intern - Topics: - Who's OPA & Why get involved (Jason) - Psychological Associate update (Sandra) - Jason to oversee - if you have any contributions, bring to ext meeting - email ideas to Jason, jramsay@OISE.utoronto.ca - send out in: June Brochure: - to be mailed -stating SOSIP's objectives and what it has to offer Workshops: SOSIP Sponsored Workshop: - past conference, "Unity Through Diversity: Forging New Opportunities..." - Speakers: Steve Stein, President, Multi Health Systems; Richard Allon and Hugh Haley - private consultants - 30 people turned out, not all students - quite successful, made some money - main criticism: not enough "ask the experts"time -"Thank You" to our speakers in our newsletter - Jason to write report on this workshop for the newsletter - Do we want a similar workshop next year? - Yes - try to pitch to registered psychologists as well as students - publicize to U.S. - Western New York - advertise in other newsletters e.g., APA student section newsletter. Summer Workshop in Exner System for Rorschach: - 5 classes over 5 weeks during the summer- 2 hours each - 10-15 students - fee approx. $ 100 - if great demand could get 2 workshops happening - obtain official credit for it - Karen to contact Paul Robinson, Allan to contact Nancy Link, Pavla Resnicek also researching - find out: - fees - number of students - time of week - alternate to providing traveling workshops is to contact experts in other areas of Ontario to put on workshops for us 1998 Executive: President - Sandra Jackson; Past President - Jason Ramsay; Treasurer - Allan Eng; Secretary - Karen Fergus, Kim Watson & Kim Gordon (?); Special Projects: Alberta Pos, Teri Sota, Kim Gordon Thesis Contest: - Masters and Dissertation level theses - only 3 entries last year because of difficulties advertising - formalization and tandardization of procedure - need to structure -distribute information sheet to graduate programs to give to students when they graduate -advertise on list-serve and web page -hold contest in the fall and announce winners in February OPA 50th Anniversary Year Book: SOSIP to buy 1/4 page advertisement for $150 - Thank You to OPA from SOSIP - Sandra to write statement and email us College Plan - Psychological Associates right to diagnose: - trend toward de-professionalism -beginning of slippery slope - MA people will be becoming psychologists - lowers status of profession -Insurance companies stand to benefit - Diagnosis is controlled act, legislated - issue: College becomes the controller of requirements for competency rather than the universities or the profession - complicates matters further because there are psych. associates who can diagnose vs. those that can't - CPA initiative to develop PsyD. Programs in Ontario as an alternative to being controlled - 3 tiered program for the PsyD. - People at the MA level will be given credit for their experience and grand parented into the PsyD. Program - OPA needs to access academic community - the academics need argue clearly and loudly why PhD training required for diagnosis, why it's in the public's best interest, otherwise comes across as "protectivist" - the academic institutions stand to benefit because otherwise they'll lose PhD students - Sandra to contact all graduate directors of clinical programs across Ontario to get their perspective - are they aware of the issue? - inform them of OPA meeting to discuss organized response to college - to do by Friday, April 24. - will conduct phone surveys - will need volunteers to help collate the results Problems in Training in Ontario: - need to start dialogue between OPA and grad. programs, and the College - without training settings, the breadth of our training will decrease - need to develop new training strategies Business Information Packages: Sell concept of hiring students to psychologists in private practice - Answer questions: Do we need insurance and why? What are the College restrictions and requirements? Provide Information Regarding: Forms of payment, salaries, contracts, tax information -Brainstorm regarding how to approach psychologists - how can we make their businesses better -if there's any particular topic you'd like to investigate let Sandra know -possible to get business cards through our respective universities? Grad students should have Increase Student Involvement at OPA Conference: - good forum for students to give presentations and network etc. NEXT MEETING: Saturday, June 6 - 1:00 pm