Dr. Nicole Keedy kicked off the official awards presentation by sharing the citation for the APA Advocacy Champion Award, which was presented to Dr. JoAnna Romero Cartaya during the APA Advocacy Summit March 14, 2021:

Dr. JoAnna Romero Cartaya, IPA’s Federal Advocacy Coordinator (FAC), was one of three APA psychologists honored as an APA Advocacy Champion during the APA Advocacy Summit on March 14, 2021. Her expertise as an advocate for federal legislation serves IPA members, and psychologists in general, immensely. Among her many accomplishments as our FAC, the following efforts were highlighted during the summit:

• Dr. Romero Cartaya spearheaded outreach to Senator Charles Grassley’s office to personally discuss APA’s legislative priorities.
• She helped arrange psychologist representation at a roundtable held in Iowa by Senator Joni Ernst in August 2020.
• She organized and directed a meeting with an Iowa Congressional office regarding HR884, the physician definition bill or “Medicare Mental Health Access Act”, in September 2020.
• She generated comments from IPA psychologists to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services about HR884, leading to nearly 200 contacts to the Iowa Congressional offices.

For IPA members who recently attended the Practice Leadership Conference, Dr. Romero Cartaya’s knowledge and skill in preparing for meetings with senators, representatives, and their legislative staff were essential to our efforts. We entered the virtual meetings ready to deliver a strong message with a powerful mix of stories to illustrate the importance of our requests. She led the meetings skillfully, beginning each conference with a warm congratulatory statement regarding recent elections and inquiring regarding their well-being following the Capitol attack. She guided us in preparation of a list of contact information and supportive information for our requests to send to each office. She was also knowledgeable regarding appropriate follow-up with the senators and representatives after the visits.

It was evident that Dr. Romero Cartaya has successfully navigated similar meetings many times, as she masterfully led persuasive discussions with seamless transitions among multiple participants. The IPA team made a strong showing in the Hill visits in 2021, with significant credit due to Dr. Romero Cartaya. It is clear, given knowledge of her communication and advocacy efforts across the year, her growing knowledge and use of the Voter Voice advocacy platform, as well as observation of her preparation during the Hill visits, that this Advocacy Champion award from APA to Dr. Romero Cartaya is well-deserved.

Today’s blog features a tribute to Dr. Dave McEchron, a longtime member of IPA. Part of his public obituary and some of the tributes from psychologists he worked with over the years of his long career also contributed. 

William David McEchron of Bettendorf, Iowa, passed away on March 22, 2021 following a stroke at the age of 77. 

David was born in Wichita, Kansas on September 25, 1943 to William Ernest McEchron Jr. and Bernice Marie Schafer McEchron. He spent his early years in Pratt, Kansas and graduated from Pratt High in 1961. He attended Emporia State University from 1964 to 1971, earning his Bachelor’s Degree in Education in 1967, Master’s Degree in Psychology in 1969, and Ed.S in School Psychology in 1971. He continued his studies at the University of Iowa, earning a Doctorate in Educational Psychology in 1980. David was married to Linda Haymond in 1963, they later divorced. He then married Rita Watts in 1977 and they remained married until her death in 2012.

David started his career in psychology as a School Psychologist and Project Director for the Mississippi Bend Area Education Agency in 1970. In 1979 he became a founding partner of Psychology Associates where he provided individual, family, and marital psychotherapy. He managed Psychology Associates with his partners for 33 years, then partnered with Genesis Health systems in 2001 where he continued to work as a Director of Mental Health. David entered semi-retirement in 2012, continuing to work with CADs and the Scott County Mental Health and Family Wellness Courts, while spending more time with his family and grandchildren.

Interested in serving the profession? Enjoy thinking broadly about rules and processes and how to make things work effectively? Willing to make difficult, high-stakes decisions in order to ensure that the public is protected from incompetent or unethical behavior from psychologists? Tolerant of paperwork and meetings? Interested in connecting with colleagues you might not otherwise meet? You should consider applying to serve on the Iowa Board of Psychology! (It occurs to me that I’ve made Board service sound really dry – it’s actually not, it feels more like a group of passionate people getting together to talk about how to ensure that Iowans have access to high-quality, effective care from psychologists.)

My favorite part of serving on the Iowa Board of Psychology has been the opportunity to develop a broader understanding of how the profession functions. The Board is charged with regulating the practice of psychology in the state, which includes establishing rules around licensure and granting licenses, establishing rules that govern the practice of psychology and expectations around standard of care, and reviewing complaints filed against psychologists. The central guiding principle of the board is the protection of the public by promoting ethical, competent practice by psychologists.

The board meets once every three months, and meetings usually last around 3 hours. Depending on the agenda, zero to three hours of prep time before the meeting might be necessary to review materials. A typical agenda might include review of any requests for variations in the licensure process, a report from the professional Board staff (who are employees of the Iowa Department of Public Health) about current licensure-related changes in state law or practice, discussion of any relevant issues facing the profession, and review of complaints submitted against licensed psychologists. Mileage is reimbursable, but other than that it is a volunteer position. Meetings are currently entirely virtual, and I suspect there will continue to be options for participating via video if you live far from Des Moines and do not want to drive to meetings.

The volume of complaints against psychologists varies substantially from meeting to meeting. If a complaint is filed against you, this does not need to be cause for immediate panic. Clients submit a range of complaints for a range of reasons, some of which represent unethical or incompetent practice and some of which do not. The board typically will want the psychologist to submit their records and a written response to the complaint. The board then reviews the complaint and response, and can decide to close the complaint with no further action, issue some sort of education or warning to the psychologist, or proceed to a Statement of Charges against the psychologist that will lead to either a settlement agreement or a formal hearing. Only complaints that reach the Statement of Charges become public. Much more information is available at https://idph.iowa.gov/Licensure/Iowa-Board-of-Psychology/Complaints.

Serving on the Board has also been a really nice opportunity to get to know other psychologists from around the state. The Board has 5 members who are licensed psychologists and 2 members of the general public. All board members are appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate, and there is an attempt to ensure that the Board members have a diversity of backgrounds and identities, as well as a diversity of practice situations and geographical distribution within the state. Members are appointed for three-year terms, and can serve for up to three terms (nine years total).

Why yes, you say, this sounds like important and interesting work! Well, head over to https://talentbank.iowa.gov/board-detail/41ff6ad3-3e02-4b4d-bd30-ecc4942835cd and apply — the Board currently has two open seats, with a 3rd seat opening up this spring due to term limits. Don’t hesitate to reach out to Lisa Streyffeler, PhD (lisa.streyffeler@dmu.edu) or Matt Cooper, PsyD (drmattccooper@gmail.com) for more information.

In July 2020, a movie debuted on Netflix (originally scheduled for a theatrical release, but COVID required changes to be made to the plan) to generally positive reviews. The Outpost is a somewhat classic war movie: gritty American Soldiers fight against all odds to defeat the enemy. Based on a true story, what made this movie different for me is that it was a story with which I was intimately familiar.

In June of 2009, I was deployed to Afghanistan in support of an Army infantry brigade, the 4^th Brigade Combat Team of the 4^th Infantry Division. I had been licensed for 5 months, 6 months post-internship, and was responsible for the mental health of 3,600+ Soldiers who were spread out over 15 locations in four provinces of Afghanistan. From the beginning, it was a challenging rotation. Our area of operations was extremely active with troops in contact (engaged by the enemy) daily. I had a home forward operating base (FOB), but spent nearly every day moving between all of the various FOBs and outposts that our brigade occupied either by helicopter or convoy. In the first months of the deployment, we had suffered many losses, including Soldiers killed in action (KIA) or catastrophically wounded. A big part of my job was to meet with groups of Soldiers following traumatic events to initiate a protocol for Traumatic Event Management (the Army’s spin on critical incident stress debriefing).

On October 3, 2009, I was “home” (on the large FOB where the brigade was headquartered), seeing patients in the clinic. Early in the day, I began to hear from officers in the tactical operations center that one of our units was in a battle that “looked pretty bad.” As the day unfolded, it became clear to many of us exactly how bad it was. The numbers were rolling in. One KIA. Two more KIA. Air support delayed. Enemy inside the wire. More KIA. Buildings on fire. In the end, eight U.S. soldiers were killed and I had a helicopter scheduled to take me to where I thought the troops would be the following morning.

I arrived at another FOB on the morning of October 4. Although the battle was over in the evening of October 3, the Soldiers who had been engaged remained at their outpost while preparations were made to close the outpost. I ended up being there for 3 days before those Soldiers finally arrived back to the larger FOB in the evening of October 6. A few more days were required for the 35 surviving Soldiers to get reset with showers, phone calls home, new equipment, etc., before the chaplain and I met with them in small groups. Over and over, each Soldier told their part of the story – the sights, sounds, thoughts, and feelings that they experienced over the course of the 12-hour battle. A few days later, we had the memorial service and then everyone went back to work. In the remaining 8 months of the deployment, those Soldiers continued to “soldier on” as we say in the Army. Some sought individual therapy and many did not, but I stayed connected to the platoons who had been involved in what became known as the Battle of Kamdesh, their stories echoing in my mind when I would see them in the chow hall, going to chapel, or using the computers in the morale center.

Eight fallen soldiers of the Battle of Kamdesh

In 2013, I was still serving in the Army when two Soldiers from the Battle of Kamdesh were awarded the Medal of Honor (Staff Sergeant Clint Romesha and Staff Sergeant Ty Carter) and all of a sudden everyone was talking about October 3, 2009, and the events that followed. Some of the Soldiers spoke publicly about having received mental health treatment, and one thanked his psychologist from the Rose Garden. We all know about the ethics of confidentiality, but no one prepares you for what to do when your patient names you in the national media.

The story of the Battle of Kamdesh was so compelling that it became a book, The Outpost, written by CNN Anchor Jake Tapper and was later adapted into the film. I received an unexpected phone call one day from the director, Rod Lurie, who said, “We know you helped those guys, and we’d like to include you in the film.”  Rod said that he knew the battle had a significant impact on those who participated and he wanted to include that part of the story. One Soldier had volunteered to tell his story of starting therapy and thus a compelling scene was written into the script. While navigating releases of information and careful consideration of how to proceed, I spoke with the actress, Celina Sinden, who would be portraying me. (Although she was missing my signature red hair, she was lovely nonetheless.) We talked about what it’s like to meet with people immediately in the aftermath of trauma and the art of listening.

Photo from the movie set in Bulgaria, provided by Rod Lurie: Caleb Landry Jones (as SSG Ty Carter), Celina Sinden (as Captain Katie Kopp), and director Rod Lurie 

In October 2019, I attended a private screening of the film alongside survivors of the Battle of Kamdesh and families of the fallen. It’s a compelling film for anyone to watch, but being seated next to the mother of a Soldier whose death is shown on screen…well, it was intense to say the least. I watched the story that I knew inside and out unfold on the screen before me, complete with realistic gunfire, explosions, and blood. “My” scene is at the end of the movie and it was a fitting conclusion for sure. I’m not ashamed to say that I completely broke down at the end of the film, letting go of 10 years of holding this story for the survivors.

My experiences as an Army psychologist were not all quite this dramatic. Serving in a combat zone (twice – I went back for more in 2012) was the best job I ever had and one that I don’t ever want to do again, but I will be forever grateful for the opportunity. Our work is usually behind closed doors and we rarely get to talk about it publicly.  But if you ever find someone in Hollywood wanting to tell your story, take it!

The author has no financial ties to the film, which is now available on Netflix.