About NCAPP
The North Carolina Association of Professional Psychologists is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to serving, supporting and furthering the interests of the state’s more than 1,200 Licensed Psychological Associates.
The group traces its beginnings to September 1993, when four LPAs had the first of a series of meetings to discuss accessibility, affordability and accountability in the practice of psychology in our state. We held a statewide organizational meeting in July 1994 and by July 1995, we were a full-fledged professional organization, with both master’s- and doctorate-level psychologists among our 358 members.
Since our founding, our most urgent priority has been to gain independent practice status for LPAs through an amendment to the North Carolina Psychology Practice Act.
At the same time, we have sought to broaden and strengthen our role in helping North Carolina LPAs advance, both individually as practitioners and collectively as a profession, by pursuing these goals:
- Supporting master’s-level practice as a way to facilitate access to mental health services and contain costs in service delivery
- Ensuring the continued availability of high-quality psychological services to the citizens of North Carolina
- Fostering recognition for the contributions of Licensed Psychological Associates to the field of psychology and the competence of LPAs as independent practitioners
- Enhancing the sensitivity of the profession to the diverse needs of communities by facilitating career access for persons of all cultural and ethnic backgrounds
- Promoting affiliation, communication and identity for LPAs
- Enhancing interdisciplinary respect, cooperation and collaboration while ensuring that psychology will continue to be at the forefront in the provision of mental health services
- Developing guidelines for uniform, high-quality master’s-level training of psychologists within North Carolina and providing opportunities for continuing professional education
NCAPP is an affiliate of the Northamerican Association of Masters in Psychology, founded by Logan Wright, PhD, a past-president of the American Psychological Association.
Like the leaders of NCAPP, Wright opposed the APA’s position that only doctoral-level psychologists should be allowed to practice independently. Although Dr. Wright died in 1999, his organization lives on.