What Steve said…

So I haven’t blogged since just before the Ohio Psychological Association convention. I quickly decided what my next post had to be about, but then just haven’t been able to sit down and do it justice. I can give you the excuse that I traveled to New York right after the first day of the convention, then I was only home briefly before I was off again for another conference in Portland, Maine (which was fabulous), but that is just an excuse.

On the first day of the Ohio Psychological Association convention I was scheduled to spend the entire day (3 separate presentations) listening to Steven Walfish, Ph.D. talk about independent practice and the business of practice. I was looking forward to it. Steve had written a lot about developing practice niches and making a living outside of managed care. Over the years he has cataloged lots of different, non-traditional opportunities for psychologists. I met him briefly years ago at the Orlando APA convention and we had corresponded of and on over the years which was something that was primarily related to our mutual involvement in APA’s division 42 (Psychologists in Independent Practice). He was the inaugural editor of division 42’s new Practice Innovations journal, and he had asked me to write something related to disability file review for the journal. I was looking forward to talking with him about writing a journal article for the journal though I wasn’t sure it was something I would actually be able to accomplish. As part of this he emailed me some papers/chapters he had written and things related to presentations he had given on niche practice areas. I was planning on perhaps contributing a small bit in relation to file review. Sadly, we learned that he was ill before the convention and wouldn’t be able to present. He found another presenter to replace him. During the afternoon session of the workshop he would have been presenting at at the OPA Convention we learned that he had passed away the day before from cancer at a too young age. At the end of the session we had a moment of silence for him. I have a grand post in mind where I celebrate Steve by summarizing a lot of the great stuff he sent me. I’ve printed it out and have been picking it up and thinking about how best to summarize it for you; but I just haven’t been able to right now. So for now when it comes to practice niches and the business of practice; let me just say “yeah, what he said…” and have you check out some of his work here. There’s a whole book for example with lots of contributors. Anyway, for now I’ll just say Thanks Steve. Rest in Peace. You will be missed.