Upcoming KAPA ZOOM CE event

The Getting Racism Out of

the Work (GROW) Initiative

Amber Childs, PhD

Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine

This program is designed to meet the requirement for psychologists licensed in the state of Tennessee to obtain continuing education in cultural competence.

Summary:

Experiencing or witnessing instances of identity-based harassment and discrimination within patient care settings are commonly cited occurrences among trainees of color, and these experiences may go unaddressed or may occur within the trainee-supervisory dyad. Ensuring that clinical faculty are equipped with a similar foundational language, knowledge of research, best practices, and personal knowledge regarding diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) topics has important implications for improving teaching and supervisory practices, learning outcomes for trainees, and ultimately, clinical care delivery.

This session provides rationale and components for multi-pronged curriculum, the GROW (Getting Racism Out of our Work) program at Yale, designed to equip faculty learners with a similar foundation, language and knowledge of current research, best practices, and personal knowledge regarding culture and diversity. Goals of the GROW program include: 1) increasing training faculty’s multicultural knowledge and awareness, 2) fostering concrete skills development and incorporation into clinical and teaching practice and 3) improving faculty supervision, teaching, and practice. 

Across three segments, the presentation details 1) the importance of a strategic plan to increase training faculty’s multicultural competence in psychology; 2) the data-driven pathway to GROW which leveraged multi-year qualitative and quantitative trainee reported program climate and supervisory practices data, as well as faculty reported needs assessment data; 3) the GROW pilot and 2.0 intervention design, early outcomes, and future directions including scalability of the model, and generalizability beyond the local context. 

The presentation discusses barriers and facilitators to implementation, including the need to develop innovative delivery methods (e.g., online self-paced versions) to support feasibility, acceptability to faculty learners, and sustainability. Additional future directions include adaptations of the curriculum to target different learner audiences (e.g., non-clinical faculty educators; clinical staff in related disciplines; advanced trainees). Throughout, participants are encouraged to examine opportunities to apply components of GROW to their local context.

Finally, the presenter discusses the broader vision of GROW, which is to create and sustain a culture of ongoing education, scholarship, and advocacy for changes in clinical care related to culture and diversity.

Learning Objectives:   

At the conclusion of this program, participants will be able to:

1. Describe rationale, development and deployment of a program designed to provide faculty supervisors with knowledge and skills regarding culture and diversity to improve supervisory and training practice. 

2. Describe 2-3 commonly cited challenges (e.g., anxiety; conflict) supervisors faced regarding culture and diversity in clinical supervisory and training contexts 

3. Describe at least two barriers and facilitators to implementation of systematic efforts to improve supervisors' multicultural competence and skills practice.

Target Audience: 

This program is open to all KAPA members and other interested mental health professionals who are not members. The content of this presentation is appropriate for mental health professionals educated at the graduate level in psychology, psychiatry, or other mental health related disciplines, as well as graduate students in a mental health related discipline.

Instructional Level:

The material will be appropriate to intermediate levels of practice and knowledge.

Continuing Education:

This program - when attended in its entirety - is available for 1.5 APA approved continuing education credits. With full attendance and completion of a Program Evaluation and Learning Assessment, a certificate will be issued. Partial credit will not be awarded. Participant's attendance will be verified via their Zoom login name and sign in / sign off time. Please assure that you are identifiable by your Zoom login name.

American Psychological Association Approval Statement:

The Knoxville Area Psychological Association (KAPA) is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for Psychologists. KAPA maintains responsibility for this program and its content. 

There is no commercial support for this program, nor are there any relationships between the CE Sponsor, presenting organization, program content, research, grants, or other funding sources that could reasonably be construed as conflicts of interest. During the program, the validity/utility of the content and risk/limitations of their approaches will be addressed.

Registration Fees and Policies:

If you are a member of KAPA, then this program is free of charge. If you are not a member of KAPA and you do not want CE credit, this program is free of charge.

Speaker Information:

Dr. Amber W. Childs is a licensed clinical psychologist and assistant professor of psychiatry in the Yale School of Medicine. She is the Director of Training for the Yale Doctoral Internship in Clinical and Community Psychology in the School of Medicine and Co-Director of the Division of Quality and Innovation within Yale New Haven Psychiatric Hospital (YNHPH) where she is a member of the medical staff. Additionally, Childs is the co-founder and director of the Getting Racism Out of our Work (GROW) initiative at Yale, co-founder of the Yale Measurement-Based Care Collaborative and founder of M-Select, a comprehensive digital mental health solution for youth. 

Childs’ work aims to improve equity, access, and outcomes in psychiatric services and education through data-driven quality improvement and a focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). She is an award-winning, national leader in clinical and educational program innovations that support the implementation of evidence-based practices (EBP) and diversity, equity, and inclusion concepts to improve clinical and educational practices. Across her roles, Dr. Childs professional activities include: 1) promotion and implementation of evidence-based practices (EBP), such as Measurement-Based Care (MBC), that prioritize person-centered, individualized treatment and improved psychosocial outcomes; 2) improvement of psychiatric treatment among those who experience chronic and acute psychiatric illness, particularly for young people who are marginalized and minoritized; and 3) cultivating a generation of psychology leaders who have a deep and sophisticated understanding of DEI as it relates to clinical service delivery, research, and education. 

Childs earned her PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and completed a doctoral internship and post-doctoral residency at the Institute of Living/Hartford Hospital, where she specialized in child and adolescent services.