Candidate statements

Theresa Coddington

Theresa Coddington is a licensed psychologist in private practice in Overland Park, Kansas. She received her doctorate degree from the University of Kansas in the area of counseling psychology in 1998. She recently opened a solo therapy practice after working in a group practice since 2001. Coddington also worked at a Community Mental Health Center for five years.

A commitment to local and state psychological associations has been a priority for Coddington. She has been the president of the Kansas Psychological Association three times, accounting for a nine-year commitment. She has also served in the roles of regional representative, Business of Practice Network representative, and currently serves the Legislative Committee chair and as the Kansas member on the APA Council of Representatives. In the Greater Kansas City Psychological Association, Coddington also served as president three times. She has also served in the role of treasurer and currently is the KPA representative.

Coddington also served on the Committee of State Leaders and was a co-chair of that committee. She is a member of Div. 17, 31 and 42.

Lawrence Perlman, PhD

I have been a working clinician for 50 years in diverse practice settings, both institutional and private, in New York City and Ann Arbor. I taught in several graduate programs and started my own training program in child and family therapy. I have a long history of organizational activity and advocacy.

I served as Michigan Representative to Council from 2015-2017. During that time, I was instrumental in creating a barter arrangement, whereby a state sends recruiting emails on behalf of APA and APA does the same for the state.

At Council, I made a special effort to network with psychologists representing other states and informally surveyed them to ascertain the percent of psychologists who were members of their associations. I was dismayed to discover that few had more than 15-20 percent participation.

In November 2015, I founded a regional MPA group, the Washtenaw Psychology Society, to encourage networking and educational activities in the area surrounding Ann Arbor. My goal was to use this as a demonstration project to help rebuild MPA membership. In the past four years, WPS has grown to 325 members and held 42 monthly meetings with educational presentations for our members. We created a Google Mail group that allows members to post queries for referrals and ask pertinent questions. I received the Beth Clark Service Award from MPA and the 2018 Distinguished Psychologist Award from APA Div. 31 for this accomplishment.

I would now like to become more involved in issues affecting all of the states and provinces.