Okay, I’m not in as good a mood about the whole “Psychology Board-quitting drinking alcohol” experience this time… The not drinking alcohol part has not proven to be an issue until now although it has certainly come up a few times, especially around my upcoming anniversary and the question of whether I can sip champagne or not (obviously the answer is no). It certainly brings up the fact that so many of our social ceremonies involve alcohol and whether I like it or not, those notions are part of my view of social interaction. But that is seriously not the part that pisses me off the most.
Here it is – I am going into a helping profession, meant to support those in our society that need help. I myself have belonged to that group and still see someone on occasion, but I think I’ve come a long way in the last 12 years or so. But not only am I now forced to call in every morning (an ordeal for someone with ADHD anyway) and report for testing during work hours, but the payment for these things is absurd! Each test is going to cost between $50-$75 and I will initially be tested 4-5 times per month for a total of $200-$375 per month or $2400-$4500 per year! and that doesn’t include the $1000 per year in probation costs! That means that for a crime I committed 12 years ago, spent time in jail for and served 5 years of probation time, the CA Board of Psychology will now ask me to spend another $10,000-$14,000. Now, I should be able to afford the cost (barely) but here’s the rub the way I see it: These sorts of limitations and expenses are an endlessly difficult and probably nearly impossible hoop for a whole slew of people to jump through. By placing these sorts of demands on people with a past, no matter how distant, the California Board of Psychology is essentially squeezing out possible clinicians who may have dealt with drug and alcohol issues in the past. Even my Board-assigned probation monitor told me that she thinks this is excessive, but as usual there “isn’t much [she] can do about it.”
Money is the instrument by which we control people in this society, and that issue comes up again and again for me when I listen to rich politicians (yes, Romney) telling us that if we all just paid less taxes and if government just spent less money than we would all be better off. But that’s a lie – government provides services specifically for those of us who can’t afford to provide them for ourselves. Romney may be able to build a private road to any of his many houses but the rest of us need the government to build that road otherwise we’d only be able to drive where the rich allow us to… and they wouldn’t let us drive on their private roads anyway. So government helps the rest of us with education, transportation, food, and health care because its job is to equalize the playing field a little bit. That might seem like a digression, but here:
If people with an addiction or criminal past are made to pay $10,000-$15,000 in addition to satisfying every other requirement to become lawyers, psychologists, physicians, therapists, and more then aren’t we in essence saying to them that we don’t want them in these jobs? Aren’t we telling them that due to their past they are now damaged goods and aren’t really welcome where the rest of society lives? And if we’re telling them that when they try to become part of the helping professions aren’t we also saying that they are either unable to help or that we simply don’t want their help?
So I’m going to walk through this, proudly and successfully. I am going to stop drinking and I am going to pay the fees. But I am also going to speak my mind and make sure that the injustice and absurdity of the whole thing is heard, even if only by a few thousand dedicated readers. I’ve worked too hard to just turn the other cheek and say thank you. This is my life, I’ve earned the respect they can’t seem to find, and I’m going to claim it.