Goal: Build a warm, welcoming culture that embraces differences.

Department members have collaboratively:

• Formed faculty-of-color, trainee-of-color, LGBTQ+, and disability/chronic illness affinity groups that meet regularly to build community. All are welcome.
• Launched a peer mentoring program that matches trainees based on backgrounds or interests.
• Created an RA Mentorship Program that provides research assistants across DPHB with culturally responsive mentoring support.
• Created a Communities of Rhode Island webpage to connect current and prospective DPHB members with the state’s many cultural communities.

Goal: Improve the fairness of our operations - in recruitment, promotion, evaluation, awards, communications, etc.

Department members have collaboratively:

• Led discussions of a promotion bias study for committee members who review faculty appointments, reappointments, and promotions.
• Created a $25,000 award to support an early-career faculty member with a clinical or educational project related to social determinants of health.
• Overhauled trainee recruitment and admissions policies to allow remote interviews, standardize interview questions, and include lived experience and community contributions in the rating scale for applicants.
• Initiated implicit bias training for faculty involved in the trainee admissions process.
• Hosted away-rotations in psychiatry for medical students through the Diversity Visiting Student Scholarship.

Goal: Partner with Providence's various communities to advance mental health care and research that meets their needs.

Department members have collaboratively:

• Started developing a Community Advisory Board in partnership with community representatives to prioritize needs around mental health.
• Partnered with the nonprofit The 15 White Coats to supply representative children’s books to pediatric programs at several Brown-affiliated hospitals.
• Organized a Day of Service for child track psychology residents and postdoctoral fellows to partner with local nonprofits on community service projects.
• Created summer job experiences through Brown University Health for first-generation college students interested in learning about research and clinical care in child psychology.

Goal: Teach trainees how to practice clinical care and research that is mindful of complex human identities and social determinants of health, and model those values in their learning environment.

Department members have collaboratively:

• Created a Spanish language supervision group for Spanish-speaking trainees who work with Spanish-speaking clients.
• Presented departmental activities related to cultural belonging to recruits who interview for the clinical psychology training programs.
• Updated the Academic Grand Rounds policy to ensure that at least three Grand Rounds per year focus on social determinants of health and related topics.
• Solicited trainee feedback on culturally responsive supervision and incorporated that input into policy recommendations regarding supervision.

Goal: Support our faculty and staff in developing culturally responsive teaching, research, and clinical skills.

Department members have collaboratively:

• Solicited faculty feedback on culturally responsive supervision and incorporated that input into policy recommendations regarding supervision.
• Created a tip sheet to help didactics presenters address social issues in their content.
• Created a monthly “learning corner” in the department’s internal newsletter to share resources and best practices for culturally mindful teaching.
• Convened a curriculum retreat for training program directors to share best practices on integrating identity-related content in their curricula.