At Brown Psychiatry and Human Behavior, we expect our learning environments to be safe, inclusive, and respectful spaces for all staff, faculty, and trainees. We also see this moment as an important tipping point at which we, as a department comprised of mental health professionals, must challenge ourselves and our systems to change.

Over the last two years, the department has shifted to an agenda of advocacy, activism, and anti-racism. We acknowledge that as individuals, health care providers, and members of this community, we must critically evaluate the institutional structures of our workplace and academic department, even when it makes us uncomfortable. We will hold faculty accountable for addressing not only diversity and inclusion but structural racism as they teach and supervise our trainees to provide care for the patients they serve. And we will implement measurable policies and practices that foster diversity, equity, and inclusion and promote anti-racism within the department's education, research, and clinical care settings and the community at large. 

We are committed to developing and continuously improving policies, practices, and climates that foster equity and justice within our clinical care, research, and education missions. We are committed to efforts that are collaborative, specific, time-based and measurable. Some examples of initiatives we have enacted during this academic year include: 

In July 2022, Brown Psychiatry and Human Behavior began requiring faculty to complete two hours of annual training in issues relevant to diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism, one hour of which must be specific to anti-racism. Incoming faculty must complete one hour of diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism education for appointment. 

Brown Psychiatry and Human Behavior is expanding its Grand Rounds programming to include more anti-racism-specific content, which will help faculty fulfill the new Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Anti-Racism Training Requirement. 

In April of 2021, Brown Psychiatry and Human Behavior also sponsored a faculty development workshop, “Addressing Microaggressions and Acknowledging Intersectionality,” and more than 100 faculty members participated. 

In October 2021, Brown Psychiatry and Human Behavior leadership approved a proposal committing over $10,000 to offer neuropsychology screening services provided by department trainees and faculty to the Rhode Island Free Clinic.

Faculty involved in trainee recruitment participate in workshops on “Implicit Bias Reduction for Healthcare Professionals,” incorporating a focus on how privilege may influence trainee admissions. Many groups throughout the department are revisiting recruitment and admissions processes to consider sources of bias and actively work to address them.