OMH’s Strategies for Mental Health Equity Webinar Series
Implementing Thoughtful and Practical DEIB Initiatives
Wednesday February 14th, 2024, 1:00pm
Overview: Mental health treatment disparities are both deep and persistent. Despite these inequities being well-known and a variety of evidence-based models being deployed to address them, our healthcare systems and policies often struggle to generate meaningful reductions to disparities in access, quality, and treatment outcomes. These disparities have been particularly and uniquely resilient in racial/ethnic minority populations, highlighting the need for more thoughtful and practical Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) initiatives. Cultural competence is frequently articulated as a “silver bullet” solution to improving provider engagement, but less frequently considered is providers’ enthusiasm, readiness, and the extent to which providers otherwise can undertake substantive DEIB actions. As part of this interactive talk, the qualities and follies of cultural competence are explored, and new approaches to provider reflexivity and cross-cultural clinical engagement are proposed.
Presenter Bio: Dr. Jerel Ezell is a social epidemiologist and assistant professor in General Internal Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, and a Fulbright Scholar. Dr. Ezell also serves as the Director of the Cornell Center for Cultural Humility, a multi-disciplinary training center focused on education around cultural responsiveness in research, clinical practice, education, and policy. Dr. Ezell’s fieldwork and teaching focus on mental health disparities and social inequities in the industrial and post-industrial Rust Belt and urban Northeastern America, emphasizing psychological trauma, opioid use disorder, and violence. His current projects focus on mental health outcomes in Flint, Michigan, following the city’s water crisis and the racial and ethnic aspects of opioid overdose. He earned a Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology (PhD) from the University of Chicago, a Master of Public Health (MPH) from Columbia University, and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in anthropology from the University of Michigan.
The New York State of New York Office of Mental Health is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY-0122 and by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0227. Licensed Master Social Workers (LMSWs), Licensed Clinical Social Workers (LCSWs), and Psychologists who attend this class in its entirety will receive 1.5 contact hours toward renewal of their license.
