Centering Racial Equity Within Behavioral Health and Violence Prevention Training Programs

Overview: This presentation describes the use of a racial equity lens infused within the didactic and experiential training modules and activities of the Integrated Behavioral Health and Racial Equity Scholars Program (IBHRES), a HRSA Funded training program that is designed to increase the behavioral health workforce while also addressing violence preventionProposal text: With the use of Intersectionality Theory as a framework, the Integrated Behavioral Health and Racial Equity Scholars Program (IBHRES), infuses a racial equity lens within the didactic and experiential training modules in order to prepare future social work practitioners to serve people in diverse communities that are also considered high need and high demand areas in order to ensure culturally appropriate care, especially for those who identify as racial and ethnic minority populations. In todays society and in the wake of racial reckonings, the impact of structural racism within health care settings continues to be easily seen, therefore, it is important to infuse competencies that address implicit bias in health care settings while also identifying strategies in which behavioral health professionals can protect patients from these experiences throughout all training curricula. The IBHRES Program creatively does this through the use of community listening sessions, interactive and equity-focused didactic training materials that also utilize non-traditional theoretical models to guide work, as well as field education placements offering hands on experiences. This presentation advances the conference theme, Human Rights Are Global Rights, as the activities and action steps can be replicated across the United States as well as internationally, and are especially designed to serve the needs of communities that experience marginalization and oppression.
In addition, high mortality rates of disease, health disparities, and low response rates for follow up to preventive care, are found among racial and ethnic communities in our area and increases their allostatic load. Public health advisors and officials at the local public hospital Cone Health Hospital found these experiences to be directly tied to implicit bias and structural racism within healthcare settings (Cone Health, 2020). Given that our local area is also the most racially and ethnically diverse in our State, the IBHRES Program, which is grounded in a racial equity lens and intersectional framework, will increase the skill sets and abilities of MSW level trainees in working with the communities they will serve, which ultimately aligns with the focus of Priority Health Need #5 of the most Community Health Needs Assessment for the area.

In 2003, the Institute of Medicine published Unequal Treatment which summarized various bodies of literature that revealed that racial and ethnic minorities in the United States experienced racial implicit bias within healthcare settings which resulted in them receiving lower qualities of care and increased the likelihood that they would not return for follow up treatment as a result of their experiences (Smedley et al., 2003). This publication symbolized a needed call to recognize and address harmful effects on the health outcomes of racialized minorities, which were implicit bias and structural racism. In addition to the adult populations, the didactic and experiential trainings that are offered intentionally through the IBHRES Program also addresses specific concerns of racial equity related to the health and well-being of children, adolescents, and transitional-age youth. This presentation will offer attendees racial equity focused strategies and activities to consider when preparing their students to enter the behavioral health workforce.