Panel Discussions
Professional/ Interprofessional Issues
Ilana Seager van Dyk, Ph.D.
Senior Lecturer
Massey University
Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
Jeffrey M. Cohen, Psy.D.
Assistant Professor of Medical Psychology (In Psychiatry)
Columbia University
Brooklyn, New York
Jessica Schleider, Ph.D. (she/her/hers)
Assistant Professor
Stony Brook University
Stony Brook, New York
Lauren S. Hallion, Ph.D.
Professor and Director of the CNMA lab
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Lorenzo Lorenzo-Luaces, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Indiana University
Bloomington, Indiana
The COVID-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests have highlighted the immense systemic inequities endemic to healthcare systems across the country. As members of these systems, it is imperative that mental health providers actively adopt anti-racist and anti-stigma practices in order to reduce healthcare inequities. Amidst these two era-defining movements, a growing community of researchers, clinicians, and advocates are not only making mental health services more accessible by migrating to online platforms, but also are tackling various forms of stigma (e.g., racism, mental health, anti-LGBT) that impede access to and use of these services. Such media appearances/posts employ empirically supported strategies such as psychoeducation to normalize and inform the public about mental health symptoms and evidence based care, thereby empowering individuals to seek out the care they may need.
In this session, organized by ABCT’s Public Education and Media Dissemination Committee, we hope to arm attendees with the communication tools they need to contribute to this dissemination and anti-stigma effort. This panel discussion will feature expert clinicians and researchers who have extensive experience using a wide range of media platforms (from Twitter to television interviews) to communicate with the broader public about cognitive behavioral science and practice using a social justice lens. The panel will share wisdom about communicating effectively across various media environments, while maintaining the standards and ethics of evidence-based research and practice. The panelists will highlight ways to intentionally use media platforms to advance social justice and anti-stigma messages, and consider questions about when to use one’s own voice vs. amplifying others’. The panel will also discuss effective strategies for talking about highly politicized topics.