Call for Membership

Dear friends & colleagues,

I am writing to invite you to join the Clinical Psychology Forum.

Many of us are concerned about a number of issues facing clinical psychology, and psychology in general, and feel helpless in making our voices heard in a constructive way.

The Clinical Psychology Forum is working hard to ensure that clinical psychologists’ practices are upheld in the following critical areas:
• Maintaining the integrity and professionalism of clinical psychologists in South Africa;
• Making submissions to the NHI (National Health Insurance) Act which is potentially devastating to private practitioners;
• Advisors to the HPCSA’s Professional Board of Psychology;
• Assisting the HPCSA in refining the Scope of Practice currently under review as per the next point below;
• Have assisted the Western Cape High Court as friends to the Court (amicus curiae) in the recent application by JASA (Justice Alliance of South Africa) and REPLAG (Recognition of lifelong learning in Psychology Action Group) who are challenging the psychologists’ scope of practice and asking that it is set aside.
• The court case is JASA & RePLAG vs HPCSA & Professional Board of Psychology (amongst others).  It has been ordered by consent of the parties that the current 2011 scope of practice will remain in place but must be reviewed by late 2018;
• The scope of practice is closely linked to the training we receive.
• Thus without professional input from the CPF the scope of practice could potentially fall away or be severely altered compromising the profession of psychology as a whole.
The above assistance, consideration of legislation and legal submissions by the Exco of the Clinical Psychology Forum is time consuming requiring enormous dedication, legal expertise and expense.

Without you and I contributing, either as members or active contributors our profession faces a number of major potential threats unchallenged.

The CPF funds have been depleted by the above High Court challenge. Unless membership is increased substantially the above assistance to us will likely fall away leaving us at the mercy of what the State or arbitrary Court Orders decide.

Currently, it is non-clinical psychologists who are struggling to get reimbursed by medical schemes, which they claim is discriminatory and unfair.  At what point do the medical funders stop paying our claims too?

I urge you to give careful consideration to becoming part of an important organisation which is ensuring that our vocation and livelihood is secured in a fair and equitable manner.

I believe that the membership fee is a small contribution to ensure that we can continue to practice unhindered with excellent backing from a forum who holds our and the public’s best interests as paramount.

You are welcome to contact us via email or the forum on cpf@healthman.co.za if you have any further queries.

Regards and best wishes

Philippa Styles
Clinical Psychologist
Rautenbach, Styles & Broll, The Breathing Space, 191 Bulwer Road, Glenwood, 4001
Email: styles@psychoforensics.co.za
Cell : 082 3844 373
Tel :  031 201 6131 / Fax : 086 231 3640

Dr Linda Blokland
Chairperson: Clinical Psychology Forum