Let’s Celebrate CPA’s Accomplishments in 2022 

CPA is always striving to improve our value to you, our members. We know you look to us for information, education, advocacy and connections and we upped our game in 2022 to continue to meet those needs.  

More relevant news and information, more often: With our industry and the regulations that govern it changing more quickly than ever you need consistent, reliable updates to help you stay in the know. Now CPA’s e-news is available weekly to provide these important updates.  

Frequent opportunities to fulfill your CE requirements, at a discount for members: As an approved provider by APA, CPA approved 13 courses offering continuing education for psychologists. And, did you know? You can track your CE credits using the CPA CE tracker – automatically entered if it’s a CPA program, and you can add other courses manually to track your CEs all in one place. 

More on-demand courses for instant access to CE credits: Our live programs are recorded and available on-demand in our LMS. We increased on-demand learning in the Learning Center by 50% in 2022. 

Continued access to ethics consultations at no cost to members: Have you ever experienced a time when you’ve faced questions about how to apply the APA code of ethics and other ethical questions such as conflicts of interest and when to report violations, to name a few? Members of the CPA Ethics Committee donate their time to answer your ethics questions at no cost to you. This is one of the most valued and utilized services CPA provides.  

Support to the victims of the Marshall Fire: The Marshall Fire in December 2021 not only damaged or destroyed 155 homes but it left a community in need of mental health services. CPA’s Disaster Resource Network Committee continued its efforts in 2022 to support those needs by soliciting psychologists to offer reduced rates or pro bono therapy to victims.  

Maintaining a strong membership: CPA maintained its membership numbers, despite the pandemic. This is a great achievement considering many other professional associations experienced a decrease in membership during this period.  

Advocacy Successes 

Launching the RxP Initiative: CPA committed to running legislation to grant prescriptive authority for licensed psychologists with advanced training in clinical psychopharmacology. 

To fund the additional lobbying efforts required for the Prescriptive Authority legislation to be introduced in 2023, the RxP Committee worked hard to produce four CE webinars to raise funds for this initiative, with all proceeds allocated to the RxP lobbying effort. 

CPA also applied for an APA grant request to assist with expenses of the RxP lobbying effort and received $5,000. 

[NOTE: In 2023, as a result of these efforts, Colorado became the sixth state to grant specially trained psychologists to prescribe psychotropic medications. The bill HB23-1071 was introduced on 1/19/2023, and within 6 weeks, the bill was signed into law.] 

A busy and productive legislative session: The 2022 legislative session was incredibly active for CPA. We focused on efforts on legislation to clean up HB19-1120, Colorado’s age of consent law. CPA was specifically concerned that youth were being asked to consent to treatment even when seeking services with their parents. There was also confusion surrounding the unique duty warn provisions within the age of consent statute. After discussions with the Colorado Department of Human Services and the Governor’s Office, we were able to amend our changes into HB22-1278: Behavioral Health Administration during the House Public and Behavioral Health and Human Services Committee hearing.  The bill passed on the second to last day of session and was signed by the Governor so our changes are now law.    

There were several bills CPA worked to amend as well: 

  • HB22-1240: Mandatory Reporters, by the Office of the Childs Ombudsman, reformed the existing mandatory reporting law for child abuse and neglect. The bill also created a taskforce to analyze best practices and recommend changes to training requirements and reporting procedures, specifically with regard to the impacts of mandatory reporting on families of color and under-resourced communities. After initial review, CPA was concerned that there was not any representation from the mental health provider community on the taskforce. CPA was able to successfully advocate for a position on the taskforce and secured it via amendment in the first committee. 

  • HB22-1256: Modifications to Civil Involuntary Commitment, was a comprehensive overhaul of the 72-hour hold system in Colorado that came together after 18 months of stakeholder work by Mental Health Colorado. The bill included CPA’s negotiated language which expanded who can release holds as long as the professional has two years of experience in behavioral health safety and risk assessment working in a healthcare setting. CPA also worked with Mental Health Colorado to further bolster language on discharge planning although the end language wasn’t as strong as CPA hoped. CPA submitted written testimony in both chambers and the bill passed through the process on May 10th.  

  • HB22-1354: Protecting Injured Workers’ Mental Health Records, was introduced by Representative Lindsay and Michaelson Jenet and Senator Winter was brought forth at the request of a constituent. The bill amends the Workers’ Compensation Act of Colorado to limit the disclosure of records related to a claimant’s mental health. CPA amended the legislation to ensure that only the patient can authorize the disclosure of information by the insurer to an employer. 

  • SB22-181: Behavioral Health-care Workforce, bill required the Behavioral Health Administration to collaborate with multiple state agencies to create and implement a plan to improve the behavioral health care workforce. The introduced version of the bill included references to unlicensed providers and CPA worked with the social workers to remove those from the bill.