Showing posts with label LICENSED PSYCHOMETRICIANS & PSYCHOLOGISTS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label LICENSED PSYCHOMETRICIANS & PSYCHOLOGISTS. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Keynote Address of Dr. Allan B.I. Bernardo





• Congresswoman,  Dr  Anna  York  Bondoc,
• Hon.  Commissioner  Yolanda  Reyes, 
• Hon.  PRB  Chair  Miriam  Cue,  and  PRB  members  Hon  Imelda  Villar  and  Hon  Alexa  Abrenica, 
• Dr  Angela  Regala,  President  of  PAP  and  all  PAP  officers  and  directors, 
• Distinguished  guests, 
• Our  new  professional  psychometricians  and  psychologists,     

I  wish  to  extend  my  warmest  congratulations  to  all  those  who  passed  the  first  ever  board  exams   for  psychometricians  and  for  psychologists,  and  to  all  the  other  professional  psychologists  and   psychometricians  taking  their  oath  today.     

The  passage  of  R.A.  10029  or  The  Philippine  Psychology  Act  of  2009  ushered  in  a  new  stage  in   the  development  of  the  psychology  profession  in  the  Philippines,  with  the  national  government   regulating  the  practice  of  psychometricians  and  psychologists.  This  act  that  regulates  our   profession  is  a  clear  statement  of  how  our  nation’s  leaders  recognize  the  important  role  of   psychometricians  and  psychologists  in  nation  building.  We  should  bear  in  mind  that  the   Philippines  is  presently  the  only  Asian  country  where  the  government  recognizes  and  regulates   the  profession  of  psychology.  And  in  a  recent  meeting  of  heads  of  ASEAN  psychology  societies,   the  Philippine  Psychology  Act  was  closely  studied  by  our  ASEAN  neighbors;  and  for  this  the   Philippine  psychology  community  should  be  proud  of  this  significant  and  historic  milestone  of   Philippine  psychology.       

Now,  YOU  are  part  of  this  milestone.  Or  let  me  correct  that.  Your  passing  the  first  board  exams   for  psychometricians  and  for  psychologists  is  a  new  milestone  in  this  milestone.  Although  there   are  a  good  number  of  psychometricians  and  psychologists  who  have  been  licensed  without   examination  even  before  you  took  the  board  exam,  there  is  something  truly  extraordinary  in   your  taking  part  in  the  board  exam.  For  one,  it  demonstrates  how  foolishly  courageous  you  are!   While  many  others  chose  to  wait  it  out,  and  see  how  the  first  exam  goes,  you  took  a  big  risk  and   went  ahead  (some  would  say  crazily)  into  unknown  territory.  So  I  salute  you  not  only  for   passing,  but  also  for  your  extraordinary  courage.     

But  more  importantly,  your  taking  the  exam  is  a  bellwether  of  a  permanent  change  in  the   landscape  of  psychology  in  the  Philippines.  The  permanent  change  involves  a  concerted  effort   to  improve  psychology  education  and  teaching,  upgrading  the  standards  of  professional  and   ethical  practice,  all  of  which  would  contribute  to  the  continuous  growth  of  psychology  as  a   respected  scientific  discipline  and  profession  in  our  country.  Your  passing  the  exam  and  your   taking  the  oath  today  means  that  there  is  no  turning  back  to  the  progress  in  the   professionalization  of  psychology  in  the  country.  Today’s  event  signals  to  all  members  and   stakeholders  of  the  Philippine  psychology  community  that  we  psychologists  take  our  profession   seriously,  and  we  cherish  our  various  responsibilities  in  our  different  communities  and  societies.     

But  let  us  consider  what  this  all  means.  What  does  it  mean  to  be  a  registered  psychometrician   or  registered  psychologist?  What  does  it  mean  to  be  charged  to  execute  our  responsibilities  as   licensed  professionals?  For  some  of  us,  they  will  reduce  this  achievement  to  tangibles  –  the  PRC  pin,  the  professional  ID  card  with  the  registration  number,  the  letters  that  they  can  add  to  their   professional  titles  (RPM,  RPSY),  which  were  obtained  after  filling  up  documents,  photocopying   them,  signing  these,  affixing  the  thumb  marks,  cueing  in  many  lines,  making  several  payments,   and  so  on.  These  tangibles  of  being  a  registered  professional  are  important  because  of  what   they  represent.  And  I  hope  you  value  what  they  represent  more  than  the  pin,  those  letters  after   your  name,  and  the  ID  with  your  registration  number.         

Let  me  share  with  you  what  I  think  this  professional  registration  means.  In  essence,  your   professional  registration  as  psychometrician  or  psychologist  means  that  you  are  now  part  of  a   community  of  Filipino  psychologists.  Who  is  in  that  community?  That’s  the  person  sitting  next  to   you  and  across  you.  That  also  includes  your  former  professors  who  were  previously  licensed   without  examination  (although  let’s  assume  they  would  have  also  passed  the  exam  if  they  took   it).  The  community  also  includes  your  colleagues,  your  former  colleagues,  and  all  your  future   colleagues  in  the  various  professional  fields  of  psychology.  The  community  would  also  include   psychometricians  and  psychologists  in  various  provinces  and  regions  of  the  country,  working  in   clinics,  hospitals,  schools,  community  centers,  organizations,  and  so  on.  The  community  often   comes  together  in  the  Psychological  Association  of  the  Philippines,  whose  members  and  leaders   are  also  part  of  the  community.       

Now  that  may  all  sound  rather  obvious,  so  let  me  give  you  a  bit  of  an  historical  background   about  this  community  and  why  it  sought  to  be  recognized  as  a  regulated  profession.  The  first   attempt  to  get  Filipino  psychologists  registered  was  in  the  early  1980s  in  the  last  years  of   Martial  Law,  in  was  called  the  Batasang  Pambansa.  The  motivation  for  this  was  a  threat.  There   was  word  that  the  Philippine  Medical  Association  wanted  to  restrict  the  provision  of   psychotherapy  and  other  mental  health  interventions  to  licensed  medical  professionals.   Unfortunately,  that  initial  attempt  to  enact  a  law  to  regulate  the  practice  of  psychology  did  not   prosper;  and  it  did  not  prosper  for  another  25  years  or  so.  But  fortunately,  the  Philippine   psychology  community  was  left  to  do  its  own  unregulated  thing.         

What  galvanized  the  Philippine  psychology  community  again  was  yet  another  threat.  The   passage  of  the  Philippine  Guidance  and  Counseling  Act  in  2004  threatened  the  practice  of  many   Filipino  psychometricians  and  psychologists,  as  the  IRR  of  that  law  restricted  the  provision  of   services  such  as  counseling  and  psychological  testing  to  licensed  guidance  counselors.  I   remember  the  anger  and  the  frustration  when  our  colleagues  in  the  guidance  counseling   profession  were  telling  trained  psychologists  that  they  cannot  do  psychological  testing;  and   telling  us,  “You  will  be  fired,”  and  worse,  we  were  told,  “You  will  be  put  to  jail  because  that  is   the  law.”        Fortunately,  no  one  was  put  to  jail,  although  some  did  lose  their  jobs.  I  tell  you  this  history  not   to  speak  badly  of  guidance  counselors,  who  to  this  day  are  our  important  partners  in  the  mental   health  community.  I  tell  you  this  history  because  the  Philippine  psychology  community,   organized  by  the  Psychological  Association  of  the  Philippines  responded  most  positively  to  this   threat,  to  what  could  be  seen  as  some  form  of  bullying  of  the  entire  profession.  Yes,  we  were   angry;  we  were  frustrated;  we  had  to  shout,  scream,  and  vent  our  frustrations  somehow.    But  we  were  not  hopeless;  we  did  not  cower;  we  did  not  surrender.  Instead  the  leaders  of  our   community  strategized,  developed  many  alternative  plans,  and  forged  new  alliances.  

Fortunately  we  found  allies,  in  persons  like  Cong.  Anna  York  Bondoc.  We  also  learned  to   tentatively  resolve  differences  within  our  community.  We  came  together  in  our  own  haphazard   way.  We  responded  positively  as  a  community,  and  the  Psychology  Bill  became  the  Psychology   Act,  and  fast  forward...  we  are  here  today.     

Here  we  are  today,  a  community  that  has  perhaps  reluctantly  come  together  as  THE  community   of  professional  psychologists  in  the  Philippines.  We  are  still  a  community  with  internal  conflicts;   there  are  still  issues  that  we  all  do  not  agree;  and  there  will  be  other  concerns,  big  and  small,   that  will  challenge  our  community  in  the  future.  But  the  milestone  of  RA10029,  and  the   milestone  of  your  oath-­‐taking  today  tells  us  that  we  CANNOT  ever  let  any  issue  divide  our   community  again,  because  we  saw  what  good  can  come  from  uniting  together  as  one   psychology  community.  As  a  community,  we  should  strive  to  find  solutions  and  forge   compromises  regarding  problems  and  issues  that  will  confront  us  in  the  future.  RA10029  not   only  recognizes  the  important  role  of  psychometricians  and  psychologist  for  nation  building.   More  importantly,  RA10029  articulates  a  clear  mandate  for  all  psychometricians  and   psychologists  to  actively  take  part  in  these  processes  of  building  communities,  organizations,   programs,  and  of  building  and  helping  people.     

To  realize  this  mandate,  all  registered  psychometricians  and  psychologists  are  called  upon  to   actively  engage  this  community.  Do  not  take  your  PRC  ID  and  then  just  do  your  own  thing,   thinking  that  you  now  have  the  license  to  do  just  that,  your  own  thing.  Part  of  the  mandate  of   RA10029  is  call  to  professional  citizenship.  You  are  citizens  of  this  professional  community,  and   there  are  certain  values  and  expectations  that  should  guide  our  professional  citizenship.      There  are  many  values,  but  I  would  like  to  emphasize  just  three  value  pairs  this  afternoon,  three   pairs  of  values  which  I  know  are  very  closely  related  to  each  other:  ethics  and  professionalism,   excellence  and  cultivation,  and  empathy  and  responsiveness.       

First,  all  licenses  are  governed  by  ethical  codes.  Psychologists  in  the  Philippines  had  ethical   guidelines  even  before  RA10029.  Part  of  your  professional  citizenship  is  to  know  the  general   principles  and  the  specific  guidelines  of  this  code  of  ethics.  But  this  part  of  your  professional   citizenship  cannot  be  a  simple  cognitive  understanding  of  the  document;  instead,  a  good   professional  citizen  of  the  Philippine  psychology  community  lives  and  breathes  the  provisions  of   this  code  of  ethics,  advocates  the  code  of  ethics  in  all  venues  and  forums,  and  calls  attention  to   breaches  of  the  code  when  confronted  by  such.    It  is  in  your  advocacy  and  exemplification  of  the   provisions  of  this  code  that  you  become  the  ethical  professional  psychologist.  Ethics  and   professionalism.     

Part  of  the  code  of  ethics  refers  to  competencies  –  that  it  is  unethical  for  a  psychologist  to   provide  services  and  undertake  professional  acts  for  which  he/she  does  not  have  the   appropriate  training  and  competence.    The  board  exams  that  you  just  passed  assures  as  that   you  meet  minimum  competencies  to  provide  psychological  services.    But  let  us  keep  in  mind  that  the  science  of  our  profession  is  growing  in  leaps  and  bounds;  new  theories,  interventions,   tools  and  techniques  are  proposed  and  studied  constantly.    As  such,  it  is  the  responsibility  of  a   good  professional  citizen  of  the  Philippine  psychology  community  to  constantly  cultivate  his/her   knowledge  and  skills  as  a  psychology  professional.    The  fact  that  you  passed  the  board  exam   should  not  be  a  license  for  you  to  say  you  know  enough;  instead,  the  fact  that  you  passed  the   board  exam  means  that  you  know  enough  to  start  learning  more  and  more.  Excellence  and   cultivation.     

Why  do  we  need  to  have  such  high  aspirations  and  to  continuously  cultivate  our  skills?  Because   we  have  communities,  organizations,  and  people  we  serve.  And  very  simply,  we  cannot  fail   them  -­‐-­‐  but  that  is  such  an  avoidant  position.  As  a  community  of  professional  psychologists  our   goal  should  not  be  just  to  avoid  failing  our  stakeholders.  Instead  our  goal  is  to  provide  the  best   that  the  fast  growing  science  and  profession  of  psychology  has  to  offer  to  our  stakeholders,   because  we  care  about  our  stakeholders.  We  want  our  communities  to  thrive,  we  want  the   organizations  we  serve  to  meet  their  high  aspirations,  and  we  want  the  individuals  we  help  to   solve  their  problems  and  to  flourish.  Excellence  and  cultivation  is  not  a  personal  conceit.  We   strive  to  be  better  because  we  empathize  with  the  plight  of  our  stakeholders,  and  we  want  to   be  responsive  to  their  needs.  We  do  not  serve  our  stakeholders  with  a  high  sense  of  self-­‐ importance;  instead  we  subordinate  the  esteem  we  have  as  professionals  to  help  our   stakeholders  attain  their  important  goals.       

Also  remember,  that  our  stakeholders’  goals  are  defined  within  a  rather  problematic  society;  a   society  that  experiences  vast  social  inequalities  and  injustices,  where  opportunities  for  growth   and  personal  development  are  not  equally  distributed,  where  individuals,  families,  and   organizations  face  numerous  stressors  and  risks,  where  many  people  voices  are  silenced  by   oppressive  structures  in  our  social  system,  where  many  people  in  the  margins  have  not  found   their  voices  at  all  –  AND  where  highly  educated  psychometricians  and  psychologists  like  you  are   among  the  privileged.  We  can  make  a  difference  in  the  lives  of  others,  if  we  chose  to,  with   empathy  and  responsiveness,  with  excellence  and  cultivation,  guided  by  ethics  and   professionalism.      

Three  value  pairs  that  I  hope  will  be  your  guide  in  your  journey  of  good  professional  citizenship;   a  journey  that  “officially”  begins  today  with  your  oath  –  a  journey  that  you  will  begin  with  a   strong  sense  of  pride.  Yes,  you  should  be  very  proud  of  your  significant  role  in  touching  the   future  of  Philippine  psychology.  But  that  role  is  not  limited  to  your  activities  in  today’s   celebration.  That  role  in  touching  the  future  of  Philippine  psychology  is  a  lifelong  role.  Because   you  should  remember  that  your  achievement  that  we  celebrate  today  is  also  your  mandate  to   serve  the  profession  and  the  community  to  the  best  of  your  ability.  I  hope  that  you  do  not   disappoint  the  leaders  of  the  psychology  profession  who  are  witnesses  to  your  oath  taking   today.  I  hope  you  do  not  disappoint  our  advocates  like  Dr  Anna  Bondoc  and  the  other  former   leaders  of  the  PAP  who  have  worked  hard  to  get  us  where  we  are  now.    Instead,  I  hope  you   become  exemplars  of  professional  citizenship,  and  in  your  becoming  so,  you  are  truly  helping   build  a  stronger  community  of  Philippine  psychologists  that  is  more  united  even  amid  its   diversity,  a  community  that  will  not  only  act  when  it  is  threatened,  but  will  be  proactive  and  animated  in  being  a  force  for  a  good  and  just  society.  You  will  hopefully  be  a  very  outstanding   citizen  of  the  professional  community  of  Filipino  psychologists  that  serves  its  lawful  mandate   with  utmost  conviction.         

When  you  all  take  your  oath  this  afternoon,  you  will  be  changed.  But  more  importantly,   remember  that  you  are  now  licensed  to  be  agents  of  change  for  the  people  you  work  for.  For   me  that  is  a  most  exciting  thought.  And  so  I  have  to  congratulate  you  all  once  more,  and  invite   you  to  form  and  reform  our  Philippine  psychology  community,  and  together,  let  us  touch  the   future  and  make  it  better.     

Allan  B.  I.  Bernardo  
9  December  2014
PICC, Manila



https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9L6cSSvjzAodUU2S0NUSGxOQWc/view?usp=sharing


Maraming salamat Dr. Bernardo for sharing with us your keynote speech on the 4th Joint Oath Taking Ceremonies for Psychologists and Psychometricians. Mabuhay po kayo!






Video courtesy of Lea Katrine Sabilla

Friday, August 9, 2013

The Practice of Mindfulness and Integrity (OR The Science of Human Beings)

(photo source - http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7097/7157850577_0db0a2bb3d.jpg)


RESPONSE OF DR. MA. LOURDES A. CARANDANG IN BEHALF OF ALL LICENSED PSYCHOMETRICIANS & PSYCHOLOGISTS


The Practice of Mindfulness and Integrity (OR The Science of Human Beings)
by Ma. Lourdes A. Carandang, PhD

[Oath Taking of First Batch of Licensed Psychologists and Psychometricians, July 19, 2013, Sofitel Hotel, Manila]


Isang magandang hapon sa ating lahat.
A beautiful afternoon to all of us.

A special good afternoon to our Honorable Commissioner Atty. Jennifer Manalili of the PRC and to our own PRB for Psychology: Our chairperson Honorable Dr. Miriam Cue and Board member—Honorable  Dr. Emy Villar

Thank you for all the hard work you have been doing these past months, for making this momentous event possible.

Hard work is an understatement indeed.

Congratulations to my fellow Psychologists and Psychometricians (now said with more meaning). Congratulations to us!

I have been tasked to give the response on behalf of the licensed Psychologists and Psychometricians here today. This will be short so we can have more time to enjoy the afternoon together.

Just a few main points about psychology as a discipline:

Psychology is a complex and diverse discipline with many different areas of interest and specialization, such as assessment, developmental, educational, clinical, industrial, counseling, social psychology and teaching. Most of us start in the academe.

As expected, the reaction to the Psychology Law was also diverse.

Let me just present another version of the story of the Psychology Bill & Law.  There are different versions of a story. This is what I remember: It doesn’t contradict Emy’s version but rather gives added information.

During the 1982 PAP convention, one of our founding fathers, Fr. Jaime Bulatao, S.J. asked me as, then PAP President, to call an emergency meeting to sound the alarm that we needed to draft our own bill, to protect our practice from the medical profession  and to regulate and professionalize psychology and to make sure that only the qualified can practice.

I remember that we then formed a Committee to draft the bill. Naty Dayan, Nena Alcuaz-Reyes and myself were joined by Mila Catabona of Letran College, Virgie Panlasigui of Veterans Medical Center, Grace Cabanos of the National Mental Hospital, and Noemi Catalan of FEU.

In the discussions that followed there were many points of controversy, such as “the members of the Licensing board “will be appointed by the President of the Philippines.” We had to add “from a list provided by the PAP.”

Another issue was the licensing of Psychology teachers. Most of us believed that those teaching Psychology must be regulated by their respective universities who have their own well-developed, systematic procedure for screening, hiring, promoting and dismissing their professors. There is also the issue of academic freedom.

Because of the many issues, the committee decided to have more time for reflection and discussion so they decided to lie low in terms of filing the bill. But when the Guidance Law was passed, it affected the psychologists in the schools and other areas of work. A group led by Dr. Lucy Bance along with former PAP President Miren Intal (and later, PAP presidents Allan Bernardo, Jay Saplala and Caring Tarroja) took up the challenge and filed the bill, meeting with the lawmakers who sponsored the bill until it became the Psychology Law RA 10029.

In my keynote speech at the PAP Annual convention a couple of years ago, I urged all of us to “Practice with Mindfulness and Integrity”.

This afternoon, let us be reminded of the following:
  • In the Psychology Law, the state recognizes that the science of Psychology is important and is actually vital to the life of our nation.
  • The Law also ensures that the standards of practice are excellent and globally competitive.
  • We are also aware that the number of young people attracted to psychology has greatly increased and continues to increase, as psychology continues to draw more people. They need role models they can emulate and be proud of. We must be the role models for these young psychologists.
  • Now that we have a legal personality, we must be more MINDFUL. Being mindful means paying total and full attention to what we are doing and observing ourselves as to how and why we are doing what we are doing. It means being more careful andreflective, rather than careless and in a hurry.
  • We must take time to practice, do research and formulate concepts and theories from our own people, our own experience in our own culture, and doing our own thinking as an independent and diverse but united discipline. We can then share these with the global community in friendly exchange.
  • We need to practice with full attention and care but also….always with INTEGRITY.  Integrity doesn’t just mean honesty, but also respect and compassion. It means having solid core values to anchor on whenever a decision has to be made.
In the field of medicine, medical schools are now looking at trained doctors who are not only skilled but are also compassionate. As present, I have been asked to give talks in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, by large business corporations on how to build a culture of integrity.

If medical science and business corporations are concerned about compassion and integrity, shouldn’t Psychology be even more so?

Let us start by honoring our Code of Ethics. As Psychologists and Psychometricians  (as we can legally and proudly call ourselves now), we must always walk with DIGNITY as we uphold the dignity of those we serve ALWAYS, AT ALL TIMES, EVEN IN THE WORST CIRCUMSTANCES.

And lastly but most important of all—let us use our science of human behavior and mental processes for the WELL-BEING of all human beings. For what good is a science of human being if it will not promote the well-being of all human beings?

Let us practice with a DEEP RESPECT for ourselves…. and for all persons.

Thank you and Congratulations!

Source - https://www.facebook.com/notes/psychological-association-of-the-philippines/response-of-dr-ma-lourdes-a-carandang-in-behalf-of-all-licensed-psychometricians/617922684907600
August 8, 2013 at 11:06pm