As Chair of the Oklahoma Colleague Assistance program for the Oklahoma Psychological Association, I have been involved in helping establish a colleague assistance program over the past several years.  A critical turning point in my efforts occurred while working clinically with other health care professionals.  I began to examine the practice acts for various disciplines (i.e., medicine, nursing, pharmacy) and this led me to wonder how our psychology practice act compared.  I determined six areas in which we differed significantly from our health professional peers in Oklahoma.  I have posed these in the form of questions below.  Even if you have a formal Colleague Assistance Program (CAP) in your state, it may be useful to review your state’s practice act as it lines up with the workings of your CAP.  It may help to obtain a copy of your state’s psychology practice/licensing act as you read through the list.

1.    Does your practice act contain a reference to practicing with skill and safety that can be compromised by substance abuse and/or a psychiatric condition?  Does your state practice act go further to include medical conditions and neurocognitive conditions which can impair functioning?  Language about impairment is fairly commonplace in practice acts, but knowing how impairment is defined in your practice act is important.

2.    What does your state practice act say about reporting an impaired colleague?  In Oklahoma, there is no explicit mandate in their licensing act for psychologists to report.  Other professions in Oklahoma are explicit about a mandate to report impaired colleagues, and some professionals (e.g., physicians) are required to report across health profession lines.  In some states, like Oregon, there is a requirement to make such reports within a specific time period, 10 days (ORS 676.150, signed into law January 1, 2010).

3.    Related to reporting an impaired colleague, does your state practice act grant civil and criminal immunity if the report is made in good faith?  In our Oklahoma psychology practice act, this is not addressed.