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From the President: A few years ago, a couple drove over 50 miles to my office for therapy. They indicated that I was the only African-American therapist on their insurance list. I have been in private practice since 1994, and I have had a number of clients who had requested of their insurance company to see me because I am a Black therapist. Since I know that there are many African-American therapists in private practice, I wanted to find a way to get more African-American therapists on insurance panels. The African American Private Practitioners in Behavioral Health (AAPPBH) started informally in 2002 when my wife, Rosetta, and I called together a meeting of African-Americans in private practice with a common goal of networking and sharing ideas. In 2007, we formalized the organization and were granted a not-for-profit status by the State of Illinois. It is vital for Black therapists in private practice to network and share ideas that will improve the delivery of services to clients. It is also important to mentor other Black therapists interested in private practice. AAPPBH members have different fields of concentration, but the one thing that we have in common is that we are in private practice or planning to start a private practice. The membership consists of licensed individuals who are clinical social workers, professional counselors, psychologists, psychiatrists, consultants, trainers, etc. The membership also includes those who provide organizational development in their private practices. AAPPBH quarterly meetings are structured to provide information that is useful to all private practitioners. The information includes new procedures that insurance companies/panels are implementing, problems some are having with a contractor, new contract opportunities, etc. Attendees also share ways to reduce paperwork or increase income. During each meeting, we have a guest speaker who is looking for African-Americans to contract with to service their members/clients. We have had guests from various EAP’s, insurance companies, law firms, state agencies, social service agencies, and many others looking to contract with African-American providers in private practice. In 2007, AAPPBH, IL African-American Family Commission and the Branch Institute co-sponsored the Crisis Care Network (CCN) to train AAPPBH members and others interested in this training. CCN is an international organization that responds to critical incidents in business, schools, agencies, etc. Upon completion of the CCN training and fulfilling credential requirements, participants could apply to become one of their critical incident specialists. Today, many of our members are critical incident specialists; and if a crisis occurs in the Chicago Metropolitan area, our members are on the contact list to provide services. For example, several members have been called to respond to banks in Chicago that have been robbed. In October 2009, we are planning a full-day workshop on how to establish and/or improve your private practice. More information will be provided in the near future. An AAPPBH latest endeavor is the development of a directory. I have been providing psychotherapy, marital counseling and family counseling for over 40 years. I have consistently heard agencies and insurance companies complain about not being able to find African-American therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, etc. Therefore, we decided to publish a directory of African-American practitioners. There is an obvious demand for African-American practitioners so we are certain that many will find this directory useful. If you want your name included in the directory, the forms are available on this website along with an application for membership. On a personal note, I have been in full-time private practice in Homewood, IL since 1994. I hold a MSW from George Williams’ College and a Ph.D. in psychology from Northwestern University. I have been married for 40 years to my wonderful wife, Rosetta. We know there is a great demand for African-American practitioners. We strive to strengthen our organization through membership, shared learning, training, mentoring and networking to improve the service to our clients. If you want to be a part of this growing membership, please complete the application on our website. Earnest Webb, Ph.D., MSW
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