Cultural Humility

Children and adults with autism and those with Intellectual and developmental disabilities are at higher risk of having comorbid psychiatric disorders than individuals in the general population. Yet, many behavioral health providers feel ill equipped to care for these populations largely due to lack of training and exposure. Stigma can also affect the willingness of institutions and clinicians to provide psychiatric care to people with ASD and those with IDD at all levels of care. Access to inpatient care varies widely across institutions. There is a dearth of specialists and services to support those with ASD/IDD and comorbid psychiatric disorders. Most therapists trained in ASD/IDD or in mental health have little knowledge of or training in each other’s fields. In fact, most child psychiatry trainees see less than 5 outpatients and 10 inpatients with ASD/IDD per year during their 2 years of training. This limited clinical exposure and experience has had important implications regarding families having ready access to services manned by professionals equipped to meet the needs of people with ASD/IDD and comorbid psychiatric disorders.

This module will cover: foundational concepts and terminology related to gender identity, sexual orientation and sex development; how to mitigate the adverse impact of anti-LGBTQIA+ implicit bias; sensitive and effective communication with LGBTQIA+ people; collecting patient sexual orientation and gender identity information; and how to foster an inclusive and affirming mental health care environment for LGBTQIA+ people.

This 30-minute training provides guidance on how to effectively work with diverse Deaf populations using video scenarios of challenges in connecting appropriate interpreter services for individuals and the negative consequences that result. Building a foundational understanding of Deaf culture, working with interpreters and assessing individual preferences for communication are presented as best practices.

Children and adults with autism and those with Intellectual and developmental disabilities are at higher risk of having comorbid psychiatric disorders than individuals in the general population. Yet, many behavioral health providers feel ill equipped to care for these populations largely due to lack of training and exposure. Stigma can also affect the willingness of institutions and clinicians to provide psychiatric care to people with ASD and those with IDD at all levels of care. 

In a recent analysis of America’s veteran population, it was found that the number of veterans (7% of all U.S. adults) and active-duty personnel (less than 1% of all U.S. adults) have dropped significantly over the last 50 years (Pew Research Center, 2021). As the likelihood of having exposure to military service in one’s personal life has decreased, standardized inclusion of military culture in academic curricula is limited. 

This 1-hour training is designed to provide participants with information on the impacts of racial trauma, ways to promote equity in therapeutic environments, and how to support healing in treatment. This training begins with a brief introduction to trauma-informed care, trauma, and types of racial trauma. The training explores the impact of racial trauma and the presence of daily occurrences that fuel experiences of racial trauma. The training emphasizes that developing safety and addressing racial trauma is an ongoing practice that requires people to reflect on systems and how people interact with the people they serve each day. Through this, participants will explore ways to increase safety and equity within treatment leading to the promotion of healing.

This 1-hour training will provide participants with information on how to enhance cultural humility and allyship skills. This training begins with defining cultural humility, marginalization, allyship, and identifying common groups that are marginalized. The training moves to explore personal biases that people have and how this impacts cultural humility. The training provides exploration on self-reflection on how to enhance one’s ability to be an ally.

This 3-hour training consists of three modules:

1. Module 1 will review the three phases of the migration journey, and the impact that the migration journey has on youth and families. It will also cover the four core stressors that are commonly experienced by refugee and immigrant youth and families when they arrive in the United States, as well as an assessment tool that can be used to determine appropriate interventions.
2. Module 2 will review best practices for both providers and interpreters regarding how to best work together to make sure that youth and families have appropriate language access to treatment.
3. Module 3 will focus on the mental health needs of refugee and immigrant youth and families and how to provide culturally responsive assessment and services. Providers will learn how to adopt a trauma-informed, strengths-based, culturally responsive stance when working with refugee and immigrant youth and families.

This 45-minute module will provide an overview of health disparities and a framework for collaborating with individuals using cultural humility with specific health considerations for racial, ethnic and linguistic (REL) minorities, individuals with disabilities, Deaf people, and LGBTQIA+ people.