Alaska psychology board’s application is unconstitutional and discriminatory, lawsuit says

Alaska’s state-run board overseeing psychologists breaks state and federal law when it requires applicants to disclose their medical histories and potentially make them part of the public record, according to a class action complaint filed in Anchorage Superior Court last week.

The complaint says the broad disclosure language is not specific to the application’s purpose, which is to verify an applicant’s capability and credentials.

“Invasive application requirements — such as requiring applicants to disclose their entire medical history — tend to deter or screen out psychologists with lived experiences of mental illness, depriving Alaskans of qualified practitioners in a state that desperately needs them,” the complaint reads.

Aneliese Palmer, the attorney representing the case for The Northern Justice Project, said the Alaska State Board of Psychologist and Psychological Associate Examiners’ licensing requirements violate Alaskans’ constitutional right to privacy and the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.

“Having an unfettered look into applicants’ medical history and past discriminates against applicants with disabilities,” she said.

She said the outcome of the lawsuit could set a precedent for other state-licensed groups; the state’s nursing and chiropractic licenses require the same disclosure.

Palmer said the requirement could mandate applicants disclose medical history such as miscarriages, sexual assault and teenage depression, which may deter applicants who find that history too intimate. And she said the requirement may have a chilling effect on professionals who may need to seek mental health care but do not want that record to keep them from practicing. “We want our healers to be healed themselves,” Palmer said.

Jennifer Poon, the plaintiff, said she unsuccessfully tried to get the board to change its application requirements through letters for about six months before pursuing litigation.

“I didn’t come here to burn it all down,” she said, adding that she just came here to do her job. “If I have to, I will, because this is super unjust and illegal and unethical, and it really hurts people and makes people scared to get help. And it’s already hard enough to get help, especially in a place like Alaska.”

Poon has a doctoral degree in clinical psychology and is in her first year as a tenure-track assistant professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage. She is a member of the Alaska Eating Disorders Alliance board and moved to Alaska with the intention of practicing in the state.

Poon is a licensed clinical psychologist in Rhode Island and specializes in treating high-risk behavior among youth, like suicide, self-injury, trauma, disordered eating and substance use. She said she knows the state needs people like her to tackle these issues.

“I really see this as not only a health equity issue, but also a recruitment and retention issue,” she said. “We need to embrace people with lived experience in the field. We know that because of historical, intergenerational, cultural trauma that BIPOC folks, especially Native people, disproportionately bear the burden of mental illness and substance use disorders. And we need those people in the field.”

Poon said the board offered to work with her one on one to get her license. But she said she is pursuing litigation for people like her students, who she says are scared to seek treatment for mental health issues because it may affect their professional prospects.

The state’s board is run by the state’s Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development and staffed by its Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing. It did not reply to a request for comment.

The state has been made aware of the case and will be formally served this week, Palmer said.

Originally published by the Alaska Beacon, an independent, nonpartisan news organization that covers Alaska state government.