It is a time of turmoil and dramatic change in the United States. This is reflected in divisive executive orders, the rise in hate crimes, and hate rhetoric targeted at marginalized groups.
So what can you do? This article calls on psychologists and psychologists-in-training to use their expertise and privilege to combat prejudice and discrimination as well as promote inclusion across the spectrum of diverse identities.
The Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards (ASPPB) has repeatedly explained that its mission is to support licensing boards in meeting their goal of public protection. With this in mind, on March 21, 2016, the ASPPB announced its intention to create a competency exam, the Examination for Professional Practice of Psychology Step 2 (EPPP2), which the ASPPB expects to be ready for implementation by January of 2019. Unlike the EPPP, which is intended to assess knowledge, the EPPP2 is intended to assess competency-based skills. While public protection is an admirable goal, and one which I believe the ASPPB is sincerely committed to, it’s unclear how this additional test would help licensing boards meet their goal of public protection. The EPPP itself has been subject to many critiques that remain unanswered, critiques that would likely apply to the EPPP2 as well. Due to the significant investments of time and money students will be required to make in taking the EPPP2 (the cost of the EPPP is $687 in most jurisdictions, and half of test takers spend over 200 hours preparing), these critiques should be addressed prior to the implementation of the EPPP2.
A few years ago, I visited the tomb of Oscar Wilde, atop of which is a glorious 
sculpture by Jacob Epstein which sets it apart from all others in Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris. Something else which set it apart is the covering of lipstick kisses which I am almost certain Wilde, as a covert narcissist would have approved of. This adoration he would have regarded as rightly deserved after being misunderstood at the very end of his life.
If you, like Wilde are apt to see all around you as inferior and rather than make a scene, retreat into either spoken or written witticisms, knowing that one phrase from you is worth ten of everyone else’s then you may well be a covert rather than a more obvious narcissist. Wilde could encapsulate a whole paragraph of superiority on any topic into a few pithy and extremely witty words. One of my favourite quotes is his commentary upon poverty: “Charity creates a multitude of sins”.
Dear fellow students,
As many of you already know, President Trump issued an executive order on January 23rd to
freeze the hiring of Federal civilian employees across the executive branch with the exception of military personnel. The President’s memorandum can be found here. At present, this freeze includes all hiring at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BoP), and the Indian Health Service (IHS). Taken together, these three Federal departments are host to more than 700 APA-accredited internship slots, the vast majority of which are accredited through the VA.
By Kala J. Melchiori, PhD (Asst. Professor of Psychology, James Madison University)
Dear low-income graduate students,
If you come from a less privileged background, graduate school can present unique social and cultural challenges. Perhaps the biggest hurdle for low-income grad students after financial worry is belonging. Students of lower socioeconomic backgrounds report lower feelings of belonging during graduate school and beyond[i]. Students who feel they do not belong are more likely to drop out of their programs and steer away from high-prestige academic positions (like R1 or R2[1] tenure-track jobs) after they graduate. Below I offer some advice I wish I had heard before starting graduate school.