Town Hall - APA Addresses Structural Racism, Part 5: Annual Update

Recent events have led many health advocates to expound on the relationship between healthcare and social justice. COVID-19, which has disproportionately affected people of color, and barbarous treatment of unarmed Black people by law enforcement officers shifted our attention to how systemic racism can affect occupational, residential, educational, nutritional, safety and healthcare options and outcomes for minorities in the United States. Many medical organizations, including the APA, responded by denouncing racism. Some groups vowed to increase diversity, equity and inclusion in organized medicine.

In May 2020, APA President Jeff Geller committed to making structural racism a top priority for the presidential year. On June 5, 2020, he hosted the APA's first Structural Racism Town Hall and appointed the APA Presidential Task Force to Address Structural Racism Throughout Psychiatry. The Task Force has endeavored to study structural racism in psychiatry and to provide resources, including educational material and town hall meetings, that can stimulate discussion about how racism affects psychiatric patients, practice, policy, and perceptions.

During the session, Task Force members will describe the charge and other processes that have informed the Task Force's work and will share the recommendations for reform made by it in reports to the APA Board of Trustees for consideration. The session will review particular Task Force activities, including a project that examines the effects of structural racism on Indigenous peoples and a project highlighting the role Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) can play in growing a diverse healthcare workforce. Participants will be encouraged to discuss and suggest future topics and avenues to continue the work of the Task Force.

Town Hall - APA Addresses Structural Racism, Part 4: Structural Racism & Psychiatric Residency Training: Recruitment, Retention, and Development

A panel of experts examine how structural racism affects diversity in the psychiatry workforce. Topics include the disproportionate number of minority psychiatrists, their experiences in different practice settings, and why having diversity in the psychiatric workforce is important for everyone. The discussants describe ways to grow a diverse workforce in psychiatry, including pipeline programs like APA's, making academic psychiatry settings inclusive and welcoming spaces for diverse students, residents and attending psychiatrists, and ways to increase the number of minority underrepresented psychiatrists who are promoted to higher academic, administrative, clinical and research in hospitals, communities and organized psychiatry. The advantages of having a diverse psychiatric workforce are also explored.

Download Slides from Dr. Nhi-Ha Trinh

Town Hall - APA Addresses Structural Racism, Part Three: The Trauma of Structural Racism and its Transmission Across Generations

Disparities in mental health for people of color remain pervasive and persist across generations. There is a growing consensus that structural and interpersonal racial discrimination fundamentally impacts mental health in communities of color. The persistent stress of experiencing discrimination has an impact across generations, and the degree to which the health consequences of racism and bigotry can be passed down from one generation to the next is an important avenue of exploration.

From their expert perspective, our distinguished panel will discuss: In clinical settings, how does structural racism manifest itself in relation to communities of color particularly in children, adolescents, adults, older adults, and other populations ( i.e., LGBTQIA+)?

Town Hall - APA Addresses Structural Racism, Part Two: The March Continues

APA leadership and an esteemed panel of experts join together for a virtual town hall to commemorate the 57^th Anniversary of the March on Washington in August 1963. The town hall will examine the following:

• How the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement is an outgrowth of the civil rights initiatives reducing the inequalities faced by Black people and their families.
• Impact of racial injustices within APA and psychiatry.
• How far we still must go to address structural racism and the charge of APA's Presidential Task Force.

Member Town Hall – APA Addresses Structural Racism, Part One

These distinguished speakers discussed the ways in which APA can address structural racism, including the role of associations and allies in supporting this work. Panelists, including APA President Dr. Jeffrey Geller, shared their perspectives and participated in a Q&A session with APA members in a dialogue about the way forward for our organization.

The town hall was followed by the establishment an APA Presidential Task Force to Address Structural Racism Throughout Psychiatry, which will examine what steps and policies the APA should implement on racism and racial inequities, and will include additional member webinars.

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