Accomplishments

The Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University School of Medicine’s Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice Committee (DISC) was launched in January 2017. The committee is comprised of faculty members, trainees (residents, fellows, psychology interns and postdoctoral residents) and staff. Since its inception, the DISC has:

• Developed a mission and goals statement
• Created a logo
• Launched a website
• Achieved the appointment by the department of a Vice Chair for Faculty Development, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and an Assistant Vice Chair for Faculty Development – DEI focus
• Created a diversity consultation service -consultants for various diversity topics related to race, ethnicity, language, disability, religion, sexual orientation, sexual identity, refugees and immigration and implicit bias, etc. - Consultants, who are available to provide advice regarding patient care, educational and/or research matters, provide services that cover approximately 20 languages and 30 topics

• Receive consultations from grand rounds speakers about current activities and future initiatives
• Co-sponsor department-wide forum related to improving the culture related to DEI
• Update and disseminate Diversity Engagement Guidelines for the department
• Host annual DEI small group dinners for DISC members and trainees, as well as for various affinity groups (e.g., Women of Color Psychology Faculty Collective)

• Host a quarterly Cultural Case Conference
• Sponsor 1-2 grand rounds speakers each year and receive consultation from the speaker (e.g., Muslim mental Health, transgender behavioral health, implicit bias in healthcare, Jim Crow in the Asylum, Vascular Disease and Depression in Black Older Adults, cultural formulations, immigrant mental health, health equity, disability culturally competent sexual healthcare, race and health policy) and expanded the diversity of the grand rounds committee members
• Sponsor programs for the department and family members related to diversity (e.g., reading of a children’s book about talking to children about racial injustice - written by current and former faculty members, diversity and research, diversity moments)
• Offer monthly information in the department newsletter about key days in the Diversity Calendar (when possible, individuals associated with a particular demographic group shared their personal experiences, as well as factual information about a particular day)
• Disseminate emails in response to DISC relevant current events (e.g., deaths of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Congressman John Lewis, C.T. Vivian) that provide additional readings and recommended actions
• Sponsor panel discussions and workshops related to diversity (e.g., Transgender Panel: presentation and then discussion about unconscious bias)
• Hold conversations about diversity-related movies and books (e.g., Congressman John Lewis’ book, Across that bridge)
• Create and disseminate DEI educational podcasts
• Provide community outreach focused on behavioral health disparities and culturally competent care

• Provide implicit bias training for faculty and trainees involved in residency recruitment
• Revised the residents’ diversity curriculum and assume responsibility for it
• Have a member of the DISC available for each residency recruitment day so applicants can ask questions about DISC and the department and program’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusivity
• Updated training brochures to be clear about welcoming international students and addressed challenges for these applicants and ways to overcome these

• Offer behavioral health services, trainings, and outreach in partnership with the Clarkston Community Health Center
• Provide psychoeducational workshops to youth at a local refugee community center
• Partner with colleagues to provide asylum evaluations
• Secure and implement research grants to address the mental health needs of the local refugee community

• Develop and disseminate communications to the department in response to hate crimes (e.g., murder of trans and gender non-conforming individuals; murders of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery; Al Noor Mosque attack in Christchurch, New Zealand; shootings at the kosher market in Jersey City, New Jersey, the Chabad of Potway outside of San Diego, California, and the local Dollar General Store in Orlando, Florida; Orlando LGBTQ vandalization; )
• Held a series of well-attended anti-racism town halls that led to the articulation of a series of action steps
• Developed, implement, and disseminate a program to train faculty, staff, and trainees as diversity dialogue facilitators and secured funds to support these efforts through the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers
• Create and disseminate anti-racism actions guides with action steps
• Participate in the Atlanta Behavioral Health Advocates (ABHA) Psychology Today blog by crafting DEI-focused blogs

• Partnered with the Women Faculty Subcommittee and the Racial and Ethnic Minority Faculty Subcommittee to detail departmental DEI efforts in an article published in Focus: The Journal of Lifelong Learning in Psychiatry
• Took the lead in creating a diversity in research curriculum for K23 recipients, T32 residents and other research intensive faculty and trainees in the Brain Health Center