Abstract
Public Significance Statement This article examines the American Psychological Association's Standards of Accreditation psychology training competencies via a public health lens. Psychology training programs may use the recommendations and strategies so that trainees are better prepared to address population-level mental health while working toward social justice and health equity.
Psychological science is committed to the research and use of evidence-based practice. To address the burden of mental illness, there is also a need to use psychological science for mental health advocacy and promotion. However, psychology training programs often focus on individual-level intervention instead of public health prevention in teaching, care delivery, and scholarship. Preparing psychologists to address population mental health and adequately serve all communities, especially those on the margins which our current system fails, will require moving beyond individual treatment and integrating public health values in training programs. We reflect on ways the Public Health Code of Ethics can be used to revise the current American Psychological Association psychology training competencies and discuss strategies psychology training programs can implement to train public-health oriented psychologists to move toward more ethical and effective practice.