This presentation deal with ethics, advocacy and leadership for a non-profit, state psychological association. The presentation is for volunteer psychologists who take leadership roles and want to advocate on behalf of the citizens of Pennsylvania for access to high quality psychological services.

1. LEADERSHIP,
ADVOCACY AND
ETHICS
John D. Gavazzi, PsyD, ABPP
john.gavazzi@gmail.com
@johngavazzi
May 3, 2015 – Harrisburg Hilton
Pennsylvania Psychological Association

2. Political Advocacy: What is it?
 The act of pleading or arguing in favor of
something, such as a cause, idea, or policy;
active support.
 Psychologists have varying expectations about
the purpose and function

3. Political Advocacy: Why do we
need it?
 No one else will look out for psychology and
our patients
 Educate legislators and the public on the
importance of psychological services
 Give voice to those who have none or are
fearful to express their concerns

4. Political Advocacy: Why do we
need it?
 Rights: Concerned with law, social
structures, and patient protection
Mental Health Parity
 Organizational: Inclusiveness,
community building, and working
toward something beneficial; rally
around a cause

5. Pitfalls of Advocacy
 Psychologists must focus on the topics
that they are advocating
 Easy to get lost in the technical aspects of
advocacy
 Fear and intimidation because advocacy
can be seen as outside of our comfort
zone

6. Psychological Concerns
 Challenging authority: Anxiety and conflict
avoidance
 Social loafing: The belief that someone
else is responsible for advocacy
 Isolation: Many psychologists practice
alone and lack a comprehensive
understanding

7. Ethical Psychology
 Ethical Code of Conduct
 Commonwealth laws, regulations, and case
law
 Supererogatory Ethics
 Advocating for access to care, strength in the
mental health system, & psychologists
practicing to the full scope of their licenses

8. Principles of Ethical Leadership
 Virtue Ethics
 Consequentialism (Utilitarian)
 Deontological (Duty-based)

9. Leadership and Motivation
 Speak to the professional values
 Develop interpersonal connections
 Moral Emotions: Fear, Guilt, Elevation
 Developing knowledgeable and autonomous
psychologists as advocates

10. A Day in the Life
• Wake up to the radio
• Have a cup of coffee
• Drive to work
• Check email
• Restroom Break
 FCC regulation of
spectrum
 Trade tariffs on coffee
beans
 Government roads and
maintenance
 Government regulation
of telephone service
 Local sewer overflow
regulation
Activity Governmental Issue

11. Whether you like it or not….
Many of the
rules and
regulations
do not rise to
the level of
conscious
awareness.
Why is that?
What do we
need to do
about it?
Government regulation
influences many things
that we do in our lives,
including the air we
breathe, the food we eat,
how we drive, etc.

12. What is the overarching
message?
Political Advocacy is part of our
professional responsibility
By not becoming involved in political
advocacy, the psychologist is
engaging in social loafing behavior
and “free rider” mentality.

13. You are taking a
leadership role
By participating in advocacy and
the Pennsylvania Psych
Association

14. Political Advocacy: Broader
View
 Depth of feeling and commitment to advance a
cause
 Going beyond the call of duty, truly an
aspirational ethic
 Stresses vision, voice, and choice
 Passionate volunteerism: Making the world a
better place (Exercise about career choice)

15. Stages of Change: Advocacy
Pre-contemplative
Contemplative
Preparation
Action
Maintenance

16. First Step: Find your passion
 Why is advocacy important to you?
 Why is advocacy important to your patients?
 Why is advocacy important to your job and
profession?
 Is it part of your aspirational ethic?

17. How do we message it?
 Take into account political, socio-economic
and professional circumstances
 Language of psychology and our culture
 Trustworthy and Credible
 Informs, Convinces, and Encourages (ICE)
 Treats members/psychologists with respect

18. Relationship Building
 Start with similarities (bonding)
 Talk about your excitement and enthusiasm
about political advocacy (modeling)
 Provide some concrete examples of how
political advocacy has helped your practice
(sharing)
 Expand on how laws or regulations have
helped the other psychologist’s practice
(education)

19. Relationship Building
 Multiple contacts or sources of information
(repetition)
 Creating a reason or passion (motivation, fear)
 Outline options for involvement: Start low and
go slow (Foot in the door technique)
 Invite to Advocacy Day, encourage to respond
to legislative alerts, contact legislators directly

20. “Modern” ways of outreach and
repetition
 Web sites
 Listserv
 Email
 Facebook
 LinkedIn
 Twitter
 YouTube
 Other SM sites

21. One contact, one conversation, one
statement, one email, one tweet, one phone
call, one article, one blog post, one
meeting, one text at a time.
We can build organizational strength and
value through advocacy.
Building a Community of
Advocacy

22. What are you signing up
for?
To be a leader…

23. Building Organizational Strength
through Advocacy
 Part of the culture of PPA needs to be that
advocacy is an important component to our
professional responsibility (Print, social media,
etc.)
 Needs to start at the Board of Directors level
and work down toward the committee
members
 Supervisors, professors, mentors, and peer
contacts need to acculturate psychologists to
political advocacy

24. Reminding psychologists (and
ourselves) of our legislative
successes
 Mental Health Parity
 Helped to ban corporal punishment in schools
 20 year effort to establish psychologists to
practice psychotherapy in private practices as
INDEPENDENT practitioners
 Major force for recognition under Medicare (in
conjunction with APA)

25. Advocacy includes
 Political activity in service to our clients, our
community, our citizens, and our profession
 Leadership skills, either within the formal
hierarchy of PPA or within our community of
psychologists
 A process to build better organizational unity
and value

26. Questions
Comments
Testimony
Grand Finale