Twenty-Six Years of RxP in Texas

Little did I know when I started engaging in legislative advocacy within the Texas Psychological Association (TPA) in 2000 to pass a prescribing psychologist bill that I would still be fighting for it 26 years later.

I had just completed a postdoctoral Master of Science in Clinical Psychopharmacology (MSCP) through a consortium of Texas A&M and the California School of Professional Psychology. I had been a licensed psychologist for four years, working in community mental health centers and residential settings, both before and after my doctorate, where adults and children were significantly challenged by mental health disorders. Most of my patients were on medication in addition to participating in therapy. I had always been fascinated by the brain and by how psychotropic medication works to help people have a better quality of life. When the opportunity came to enroll in the first MSCP class, despite the time commitment and the expense, I jumped at the chance. There were 77 of us from all over Texas in that first class, and I developed long-standing friendships in that inaugural group. Two more classes graduated, in 2003 and 2005, before the program was discontinued.

The original Chair of TPA's Psychopharmacology Division, Dr. Deanna Yates, mentored me in advocacy at both the state and national level, not just for RxP but for many other priorities in mental health and the profession of psychology. When Dee stepped down somewhere between 2009 and 2012 (neither of us remembers!), I was elected Chair. I have been privileged ever since to work with a dedicated group of volunteer psychologists. Some are RxP trained and prescribing in other states. Others are trained and not yet prescribing. Many are allies, psychologists in TPA who support the cause and would like the opportunity to work with and refer to prescribing psychologists. Understandably, many members have come and gone over the years, but a few original members remain, notably our stalwart Secretary-Treasurer, Dr. Carol Grothues, who was also in that first class in 2000. Early- and mid-career psychologists with new ideas, enthusiasm, and skills have joined us along the way.

Texas has had RxP bills filed in two eras: from 2001 to 2005, and in every session from 2017 to 2025, with sponsors from both sides of the aisle in the House and the Senate. Moving a bill through committee and onto the floor of both chambers is a long, slow process. You make headway, the session ends, and you start over. Our biggest successes so far are two hearings before the House Public Health Committee: one before a subcommittee on scope of practice in 2019, and one before the full committee in 2025. We have not yet had a committee vote, and we have not yet had a hearing in the Senate.

Two sayings in our group capture our persistence and shared responsibility. The first is "If we don't give up, we win," a phrase loosely based on a remark by Winston Churchill. The second, credited to our colleague Dr. Lynn Rehm, is "TPA is whoever shows up."

This website is the third version since 2014. The first was created by a psychologist who later moved out of state. The second was developed by Dr. Ryan Cooper, who remains on our working RxP Board. The current site was designed by Dr. Maximino Salazar. I am happy to say that we now have a great deal of compelling research to share, thanks to the long-standing prescribing psychologists in New Mexico and Louisiana, to researchers like Dr. Phillip Hughes and Dr. Alicia Plemmons, and to the many psychologists and graduate students who have studied RxP. Visit the Research & Evidence page. Read the Real Stories that show the need for competent mental health prescribers. Look at the For Physicians page and the materials prepared for legislators. And please weigh in through the Contact Us page with questions or comments.

Whether you are a physician, a nurse practitioner, a physician assistant, a psychologist, a mental health clinician of any kind, or a person who needs mental health services for yourself or your child, please join us to pass this bill. Prescribing psychologists can prescribe and deprescribe, and they bring more tools than a prescription pad. Together, let's move Texas out of 50th place for mental health!

Cheryl L. Hall, Ph.D., MSCP
Licensed Psychologist (Texas), Prescribing Psychologist (New Mexico)
Chair, TPA Psychopharmacology Division
Past President, Texas Psychological Association