Diversity - SWEET INSTITUTE - Continuing Education for Mental Health Professionals

Can Clinicians Help Undo Racism?

Mardoche Sidor, MD and Karen Dubin, PhD, LCSW — Tue, 10 Nov 2020 15:00:00 +0000

Einstein reminded us that, “We cannot solve our problems with the same type of thinking that created them,” and this is why our Ultimate Aim is to realize the type of thinking that may be required to undo Racism once and for all. And yes, once realized, the invitation for us to be part of the generation that helps undo Racism be, feel, look and sound like, the most natural invitation to accept, and we will feel able to step up to the occasion.

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Working with the African American Population: Our Role as Clinicians

Mardoche Sidor, MD and Karen Dubin, PhD, LCSW — Wed, 20 Feb 2019 11:00:00 +0000

Race, racism, discrimination, biases and microaggressions are the topics of some of the most difficult conversations that take place every day in our minds, but most of us attempt to avoid them at all costs; except that the cost is high for our patients and clients of color. They are already stigmatized for their mental health condition, their substance use disorder, and their HIV status, as well as their sexual orientation; they are already stigmatized for homelessness, their lower level of education, and unemployment status; they also bear the burden of a skin color that their ancestors have been told makes them “inferior.”

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The Lies About Cultural Competency: 3 Missing Components

Mardoche Sidor, MD and Karen Dubin, PhD, LCSW — Thu, 13 Dec 2018 17:30:00 +0000

“I know it can also be part of her personality, her character structure, or her temperament. I also know that her somatic complaints may be part of a whole separate pathology, possibly Somatization Disorder, bordering on overvalued ideas, or obsession/compulsion and even psychosis. But which is it? And given the strong cultural component, how do I tease out the difference?” Georgina added. Here are three components that are missing in cultural competency, as it is being taught and practiced today.

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The Lies of Cultural Competency: 3 More Reasons

Mardoche Sidor, MD and Karen Dubin, PhD, LCSW — Tue, 11 Dec 2018 17:05:00 +0000

n this current article, I will describe three more factors, illustrating the lies of cultural competency. And in subsequent articles, I will further outline: (1) What is missing about cultural competency; and (2) What cultural competency is and/or what it could be. Below are three additional factors illustrating the lies about cultural competency:

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The Lies About Cultural Competency: 2 Additional Main Reasons

Mardoche Sidor, MD and Karen Dubin, PhD, LCSW — Thu, 06 Dec 2018 11:00:00 +0000

This paragraph introduced the first article of this series, entitled, The Lies About Cultural Competency: 2 Main Reasons, in which I explained that Cultural Competency is: (1) Misconceived; and (2) Misleading. In this current article, I will outline 2 additional points, illustrating the current lies about cultural competency. In subsequent articles, I will describe: (1) What is missing about cultural competency; and (2) What cultural competency really is and/or what it could be.

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The Lies About Cultural Competency: 2 Main Reasons

Mardoche Sidor, MD and Karen Dubin, PhD, LCSW — Tue, 04 Dec 2018 11:00:00 +0000

A bio-psycho-social formulation is known more than practiced, but it is at least known by enough clinicians. However, adding the component “cultural” is less known, less accepted, less understood, and also less practiced. There are several reasons why this is the case, and one of the reasons is related to how culture in medicine, generally, and in psychiatry and mental health, in particular, has been portrayed, explained, or operationalized. This has to do with the type of reaction the term “cultural competency” has generated, including the way it has been ridiculed by many, though most would not want to admit to this.

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