Access to mental health care is complicated by many factors, the most obvious being availability of practitioners. Communities that are isolated either by physical distance or cultural differences are often the last to receive care. Diversity factors ranging from skin color, ethnicity, religion and culture affect not only the availability of appropriately trained professionals but the attitudes held by these community members towards receiving mental health care.
Darnell Lamont Walker, a writer and filmmaker, has documented the global perceptions of individuals towards experiencing mental health disorders and seeking care. Dr. Judi Steinman has worked with communities around the country to improve access to mental health care through prescriptive authority for qualified doctors of psychology. Together, the presenters will discuss the international launch of their film project documenting the need for more and better mental health care. The story begins in Hawai`i and will feature individuals from the mental health care profession, legislators who are committed to improving mental health care access and members of the disenfranchised, who wait for help.
Attendees will have an opportunity to discuss their own experiences in working with clients and patients from diverse backgrounds. Discussions will focus on penetrating barriers of communication and improving access to care for people of color.
Learning Objectives:
Attendees will be able to:
1. Recognize and describe cultural and ethnic attitudes that influence their perception of mental health disorders and therapeutic treatments
2. Identify characteristics that influence how people of diverse backgrounds perceive health care provided by providers from different backgrounds.
3. Describe how prescribing psychology addresses cultural and ethnic barriers to successful mental health care.
The evaluation/CE request form for this program can be found
HERE.
