Dear MePA Members,
Having been back in the hotseat for a few months now, it is a pleasure to see so many psychologists donating their time and functioning as a team through MePA to keep the organization strong and better able to serve our stakeholders. For example, I sit in on the Legislative Committee meetings, and, just as was the case when I was in leadership over a decade ago, it is impressive how people like Diane Tennies, Doug Kimmel, Chris Gray, and many others serve in the interest of psychology and our patients.
Speaking of service, it is my pleasure to congratulate Ron Breazeale, Ph.D., on his retirement after 50 years of practice and service! In addition to serving many agencies and individuals over the decades, Ron has donated countless hours to MePA over the decades and has also been of service to APA. If you have a license to practice psychology, consider thanking Ron. But, before presenting a few highlights from Ron’s service, I want to note that there is a reception for Ron at the end of a CE event on Thursday, May 16, 2024:
- For more information: https://www.205oceanavenue.com/events/openhouse2024
- National speaker honoring Ron: Pat Deleon, Ph.D., Past President of APA
- CE events begin with registration at 9-9:30 AM
- Where: 205 Ocean Avenue, Portland, ME.
- The reception itself is 4-8 PM.
The challenges of Ron’s MePA presidency in 1983 reads a bit like a thriller. After the initial licensing law had been passed against huge opposition from organized psychiatry in 1967, largely due to the efforts of Chuck Rothstein, Ph.D., Ron had the challenge of dealing with the sunsetting of our licensing law in 1983, which opened up the law or process to possible negative influence by other guilds. MePA had no funds, so Ron and the Secretary-Treasurer, Marc Mytar, took out $500 cash advances on their personal credit cards so that they could at least do a mailing to licensed psychologists to recruit their help (no internet then). The team indeed was successful in renewing our licensing law under Ron’s leadership.
Ron had many other interesting challenges during his presidency such as navigating through a minefield of divisiveness that had occurred due to strong feelings and different opinions on how MePA wanted to deal with the licensing of Master’s-level clinicians. Some wanted to abolish such licensing and others wanted to expand such licensing to also create a school psychology license. Tension was high with threats to quit from various factions. But, Ron and others steered the organization through that the best they could.
Ron’s service went on in other roles for literally decades.
Although it is not for me or MePA to endorse CE events put on by various groups, please consider attending the talks on May 16 and give a thanks to Ron!
Warmly,
Jeff Matranga, Ph.D., ABPP (Clinical Health Psychology)
President, Maine Psychological Association