Specialists in the Public Service

• Tell us about your current professional roles:

In my service as the VA Secretary’s Senior Advisor for Health, I work to implement VA’s top healthcare priorities to optimize Veteran health care and services through enterprise-wide coordination with other federal agencies and the White House focusing on areas impacting health care delivery across VA. My efforts include interprofessional collaboration with a variety of incredible subject matter experts across communications, law, congressional affairs, healthcare delivery, and administration to find ways to enhance collaboration and engage in shared vision development to advance new legislation, regulations, and policies. Along with an incredible team, we work to enhance implementation of best practices across the Nation, focused on areas like ending homelessness, rural healthcare access, overdose mortality prevention, integrated care, and suicide prevention. I also serve as Editor-in-Chief of Psychological Services, Associate Professor in Psychiatry at the University of Texas Health, and a frequent board examiner for American Board of Clinical Health Psychology, investing in the future of our profession.  

• What are you most proud of or excited about in your service as a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) psychologist in public service?

As a daughter of a Vietnam veteran and the granddaughter of World War II-era veterans, I work each day with my father’s dog tags hanging next to my VA badge and next to my heart, reminding me of the reason I work in this Mission to serve those who served each of us.  I am most proud of being their daughter and granddaughter and seeing how the work our teams roll out across the Nation can individually impact the lives of Veterans and their loved ones. Some of the work I have been most excited about across my career includes applying implementation science principles to ensure success of national rollouts in areas such as integrating mental health care clinics, quality improvement mental health site visits improving proper implementation of programs from 69% to 91% across 140 health care systems, suicide prevention efforts (e.g., Safety Planning in the Emergency Department, shown to reduce suicidal behavior by 45% in 6 months, spearheading the largest Veterans Crisis Line expansion in preparation for the July 2022 launch of 988, while ensuring an average speed to answer of calls to less than 10 seconds), and expansion of best practices in mental health business operations to improve same day access for care needed right away and new patient mental health wait times in the MyVA Access Initiative.

• What would you like other psychologists to understand about your role and how it has fostered your growth as a professional?

The VA has given me an incredible career serving in a way in which you know your work is making a difference in the lives of Veterans and staff. My work roles locally and nationally have afforded me the opportunity to work with Mission-minded individuals focused fully on service and giving back, not only in serving Veterans but also in serving one another. My work has been richly blessed by countless colleagues, supervisors, and mentors, who have taught me greatly about the value of interprofessional teams and applying evidence-based principles to rolling out highest quality care services. I have been given much by each of these individuals who have allowed me to serve in a variety of roles over time from education/training of mental health providers to clinical service delivery to research and to healthcare administration. It is also a great gift to work in the VA which invests in training and leadership development of its employees, of which I have benefited greatly over time, including support of my pursuit of board certification.

• What advice do you have for other military psychologists who may be interested in seeking board certification through ABPP?

You can do it. You already love your work, and this process of board certification gives you the opportunity to connect with others who love the same work you do. One of the most enjoyable things for me as I went through the board certification process was to connect with fellow clinical health psychologists who were so passionate about health psychology and health care. There is a joy in being with others who excel in the areas in which you serve, as you realize there is such delight in learning best practices from each other and spurring one another on for better services of those you serve. So, if you are considering this pathway to board certification, do it. You will not regret the pathway and you will reap much not only from the learning, but from the expanded network of support and encouragement you gain through the process. Use the mentoring processes available to you through the various academies as people are here to support you each step of the way. You got this.