Psychiatr News April 18, 2008
Volume 43, Number 8, page 21
© 2008 American Psychiatric Association
Minority-Group Psychiatrists Have Powerful Voice at APA
Stephanie Whyche
APA's minority/underrepresented group caucuses champion diversity in the
psychiatric profession as well as among patients and work to ensure that the
mental health needs of minority individuals are not overlooked.
During his psychiatry residency, Mark Townsend, M.D., who had become
the first APA medical student member in 1984, joined the Association's Caucus
of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual (LGB) Psychiatrists, one of APA's caucuses for
minority/underrepresented groups. The caucus works through the Assembly to
address the concerns of gay and lesbian psychiatrists and the treatment of gay
and lesbian patients.
"I joined because I wanted APA to know how many members were lesbian,
gay, or bisexual. I thought that could only positively influence APA. We
needed to be counted," said Townsend, vice chair of the Department of
Psychiatry at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New
Orleans.
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Mark Townsend, M.D.: "I Joined because I wanted APA to know how
many members were lesbian, gay, or bisexual. I thought that could only
positively influence APA."
Credit: David Hathcox
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Townsend joined the caucus about a decade after the APA Board of Trustees
had affirmed in 1973 that homosexuality was not a mental disorder.
Even so, there was still important work to do. Indeed, over the years, the
LGB caucus has helped establish APA positions on issues such as recognition of
same-sex civil marriage, disapproval of "reparative therapy," and
the support of adoption and co-parenting by same-sex couples.
Today, an increasingly diverse work-force of health care professionals is
serving increasingly diverse communities across the nation. Among the ways
that APA addresses this diversity is through the minority/underrepresented
(M/UR) caucuses.
In addition to the LGB caucus there are caucuses representing American
Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians; Asian Americans; blacks;
Hispanics; international medical graduates; and women.
The caucuses meet during APA's annual meeting, said Gail Robinson, M.D.,
chair of APA's Assembly Committee of Representatives of Minority and
Underrepresented Groups.
Robinson said that the caucuses serve as forums in which members can share
ideas and concerns, learn of professional opportunities, and discuss
strategies for improving the care of patients and their families and
communities by taking into account their racial, cultural, and ethnic
background, as well as gender and sexual orientation.
Furthermore, the M/UR caucuses, she said, "provide linkages with
other APA committees and offer opportunities for members to learn about and
influence APA Assembly initiatives."
Robinson also serves as the elected representative to the Assembly of the
Caucus of Women Psychiatrists, which works on issues such as leadership
training and mentoring for women, reproductive rights, and violence against
women.
APA members who identify with the mission and advocacy work of a particular
caucus can join that caucus at any time. Membership is free. Under Association
rules, APA members may join only one caucus in the year, though they may
attend other caucus meetings. Each caucus elects a representative and a deputy
representative to the APA Assembly. Serving in this capacity often opens doors
for their involvement in other APA leadership activities. Each caucus also
communicates regularly about issues of mutual concern with APA's standing
committees dealing with similar issues of minority and underserved
populations. Those committees are appointed each year by the APA
president-elect.
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Stephen McLeod-Bryant, M.D.: "I was strongly influenced by the
leadership and vision of Jeanne Spurlock."
Credit: David Hathcox
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In terms of history and longevity, the Caucus of Black Psychiatrists has
led the way for the other caucuses to bloom. This caucus was the first to be
established and came into being through the pioneering work of an informal, ad
hoc group of African-American psychiatrists in the late 1960s. The group
highlighted the need for black psychiatrists and APA leadership to establish
an open and constructive dialogue, said Stephen McLeod-Bryant, M.D., a 20-year
member of the Caucus of Black Psychiatrists now serving a third term as its
representative to the APA Assembly. The group also wanted APA to address the
benign neglect or outright racism systemic in the health care system generally
and in the psychiatric health care system specifically, he said.
The group's early work was "radical," said McLeod-Bryant, an
associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at
the Medical University of South Carolina. "I was strongly influenced by
the leadership and vision of Jeanne Spurlock," he said, referring to the
late, pioneering black psychiatrist who served as an APA deputy medical
director and the first director of the Office of Minority and National
Affairs. "She invited us to come along as young psychiatrists, and I
found it a nice place of support for being a member of APA."
Among the major changes at APA that came about through the efforts of the
informal ad hoc group, was the establishment of the black caucus itself and
the creation of the first Committee of Black Psychiatrists.
Among the achievements of which McLeod-Bryant is most proud is the work
done by the caucus, along with the Committee of Black Psychiatrists, to help
draft APA's position statement on racism. Approved by the board in 2006, it is
posted at
<www.psych.org/Departments/EDU/Library/APAOfficialDocumentsandRelated/PositionStatements/200603a.aspx>.
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