One significant benefit of membership in the Illinois Psychological Association is the privilege of joining and participating on our listserv. Typically, the listserv has daily postings that contain questions for the group; announcements of relevant opportunities; recent press about psychological issues; requests for referrals; and requests for participation in research. Thousands of messages are sent and received on the list each year, most of which are informative, helpful, worded politely, and clearly relevant to the Association’s focus on psychological research, education, training, practice, and advocacy.

IPA Listserv Guidelines
1. The purpose of the IPA listserv is to facilitate communication among all IPA members on topics related to psychological research, education, training, practice, and advocacy. Messages sent to the listserv should reflect this community objective.

2. The IPA listserv should be used in a manner that is consistent with the rules that APA has established for all of the listservs that it supports (see http://listserve.apa.org/infopages/APARules.html).

3. The Listserv Manager and the Listserv Assistant Manager will be appointed by the IPA President and approved by Council. The Listserv Manager will contact individuals who do not use the listserv in a manner that is professional and respectful of list members. The definition of “unprofessional” behavior and the consequences of displaying unprofessional and disrespectful behavior are stated in the section “Defining Unprofessional Behavior,” found below. The Listserv Assistant Manager will take over the responsibilities of the Listserv Manager when the Listserv Manager is on vacation, or is ill or, for any other reason, is temporarily unable to carry out his/her responsibilities.

4. A Listserv Committee of three members will be appointed by the IPA President and approved by the IPA Executive Committee and by the IPA Council.

Defining Unprofessional Behavior
Unprofessional behavior is defined as any behavior that may be construed as being unsupportive of or disrespectful to listserv members or creating a hostile environment. Examples of unsupportive or disrespectful behavior or behavior that contributes to the creation of a hostile environment include, but are not limited to: hostile or sarcastic responses to a list member’s posting; negative remarks about a list member’s character or motives; repetitive postings; postings that contain statements that distort or misrepresent an event; postings that clearly address a relational issue with a specific list member; postings that are not obviously relevant to the purpose of the listserv.

Constructive criticism and dissenting positions are not considered “unprofessional behavior.” Comments that express a negative evaluation but which do not explicitly offer alternative resources or a helpful course of action or do not ask for engagement are considered unsupportive or disrespectful. Some examples are cited below. These examples are not all‐inclusive.

Unprofessional: “Obviously someone hasn’t been keeping up with the field.”

vs.

Professional: “What about the latest findings from X – might those be something that you might explore? I’d be very much interested in hearing your thoughts about those findings.”

Unprofessional: "Taking this approach is deceitful and misleading."

vs.

Professional: "I disagree with this approach. In my opinion, our clients (or members) would be best served by going about it this way [step 1, step 2, and step 3]."

Unprofessional: “Those in leadership are just trying to hide things from the membership.”

vs.

Professional: “I don’t recall seeing this information anywhere. Can someone tell me where I might be able to access this information, or when it might become available to the membership?”

Consequences of Unprofessional Behavior
To assure that subscription to the listserv is a positive experience, violators of the listserv guidelines will be subject to the following sanctions, listed in order of increasing severity:

1. Listmember will be sent a reminder message about the listserv’s purpose, community standards, and guidelines.

2. Should another violation occur, subsequent to the warning, a listmember will be placed on read‐ only status with the listserv for a 30‐day period. This means that his/her posting privileges will be suspended. He/she will be able to receive messages, but not post any. Asking another listserv member to post a message on one’s behalf while on read‐only‐status is grounds for removal from the listserv on an extended or permanent basis.

3. If, upon return to the listserv, a listmember posts a message that, again, violates our community standards, as stated above, his/her subscription to the listserv will be removed. This removal will follow a review by the listserv committee who will make recommendations to the IPA Executive Committee. The IPA Executive Committee will make the final recommendation for removal from the listserv. This decision to remove the member’s subscription will come within 48 hours of the violating post. Immediately following the violating post, the listmember will be put back on the read‐only status. If the IPA Executive Committee decides not to revoke the listmember’s listserv privileges, the listmember will stay on read‐only status for another 30 day period, after which the listmember could return to the listserv with full privileges.

Why Listserv Moderation is not a viable option for the IPA
1. Subscribers may take offense and threaten legal action.

2. If a list is moderated, then the moderator might approve an allegedly libelous statement, resulting in legal risks and/or significant annoyance to the moderator.

3. It is unfair to ask a volunteer, such as a listserv moderator, to take on this added level of responsibility and risk.

We intend to keep the IPA listserv unmoderated. All members can post messages directly to the list. Infractions of the listserv rules, therefore, will be addressed only after the fact.

Thank‐you for your cooperation in adhering to these principles that will help us maintain a supportive professional community.

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY

The Illinois Psychological Association receives numerous inquiries and calls from consumers who wish to obtain psychological services. For example, Illinois residents calling the American Psychological Association for referrals are directed to the Illinois Psychological Association. The IPA is listed in a variety of mental health directories that also generate referrals. The IPA is currently undertaking its own public relations campaign, in tandem with the APA’s Public Education Campaign, and that too generates calls to the Consumer Information Program. The IPA website referral program is a valuable consumer resource. Consumers can search, not only by location but, by specialty area.

When a phone inquiry is received, the names of 3 IPA Members who are listed in the Consumer Information Program are given as a public information service to the caller according to the caller’s city or zip code area. No statement related to competence or specialty practice area is given. It is the professional responsibility of the psychologist to determine if he or she has the skills necessary to assist the caller or if an appropriate referral is indicated.

Application Instructions
To be listed in IPA Referral Program (PLP phone referrals and Website listing) you must be a Licensed Member of the Illinois Psychological Association. If you are not a Member but wish to join the IPA, you can become a member and get listed in the IPA Referral Search at the same time.

If you are a Licensed Member and wish to participate in the IPA referral program,

1. Complete the Website Referral Application Form

2. Mail:
(a) a copy of your Clinical Psychologist License or Certification as a School Psychologist
(b) a copy of the face sheet of your current liability insurance indicating that it is active and provides a minimum of $1/1 coverage to:

IPA Referral Service
203 N. Wabash Ave. Suite 1404
Chicago, Illinois 60601

3. Pay the indicated fee if you have not already done so as part of the online registration.

If you have not joined online, you can still join the combined IPA Website Referral and Psychologist Locator Program (PLP) services. The introductory yearly fee (July 1 to June 30) is $50 for this opportunity. Clinical Practice Section Members pay $30. Payment can be made by either sending a check to:

IPA Referral Services
203 N. Wabash Ave. Suite 1404
Chicago, IL 60601

or by leaving your credit card information (Master Card or Visa only) on our confidential voicemail (312-372-7610 x. 250). When leaving information tell us the name on the credit card, the credit card number,the expiration date and the billing address for the credit card. Also tell us how much you authorize us to charge on the card.

Group practices or business names are not permitted. It is the responsibility of psychologist subscribers to send a new copy of their insurance and license/certification if they are renewed during the year. Failure to do so will result in our name being deactivated from the Program until the information is received.

When we receive your payment and paperwork your name will be activated on our Phone/Website Referral Service. Thank you.