Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Psychiatry

The Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) committee within the Department of Psychiatry across BWH and BWFH hosts a monthly listening session whereby members of the community volunteer to share aspects of their identities with the community of faculty, staff and trainees. The series has featured historically marginalized and underrepresented identities and promotes a departmental space of lifting up voices to be heard by all.

The Gender Diversity Clinic is a small psychology clinic within the BWFH Department of Psychiatry that provides gender-affirming services for BWH gender diverse patients including transgender and nonbinary individuals. Services provided include psychological evaluations for surgical procedures and associated letters of support, individual psychotherapy and support groups. The clinic is affiliated with the BWH Center for Transgender Health.

The community of inpatient psychiatry providers and staff created an Antiracism Task Force in 2021 in response to the need to attend to antiracism efforts of care for our patients. The task force identified targets of completing a patient survey about experiences of attention to race and identity within treatment on the inpatient unit, experiences of racism and opportunities for promoting action that attend to identity factors in treatment. Results of the survey were presented locally. 

The BWFH Department of Psychiatry has hosted many undergraduate students from Pine Manor College, a small local institution known for the dedication in education for first-generation and racial minority students. The pathways program has provided students with paid internships, funded by a BWH Aspire Grant, and graduates have pursued graduate education in related fields as well as employment within mental health positions.

Note: If presentations or publications include team members from other organizations, the name(s) of the BWFH staff members involved have been bolded.

Publications

Faller V, Gerken AT, Vestal HS, Beckmann DL, Canelos VE, Emmerich A, Fernandez-Robles C, Quijije N, Rodriguez-Villa AM, Stoklosa J, Trinh NT. Bias at the Bedside: a Roleplay-Based Workshop for Responding to Biased Comments in the Teaching Hospital. Acad Psychiatry. 2023 Mar 27:1–5. doi: 10.1007/s40596-023-01761-1. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36973634; PMCID: PMC10042580. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40596-023-01761-1 

Lebovitz JG, Luhrmann TM, AhnAllen CG. The experience of psychosis and homelessness during the COVID-19 pandemic in psychiatric hospitalized patients. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry. Forthcoming.

Felhofer A, Crowe T, AhnAllen CG, Mistler MS, Suzuki J. Assessment of a deaf patient with alcohol use disorder – Limitations and special considerations. Harvard Review of Psychiatry. 2022; 30: 198-206. https://doi.org/10.1097/hrp.0000000000000333 

Hamnvik OPR, Agarwal S, AhnAllen CG, Goldman AL, Reisner SL. Telemedicine and inequities in healthcare access: The example of transgender health. Transgender Health. 2022; 7: 113-116. https://doi.org/10.1089/trgh.2020.0122 

Macenski C, Keuroghlian A, AhnAllen CG, Beemyn G, Erlick E, Gill-Peterson J, Harper JM, Ramos R, Stroumsa D, Benetti F, Fromson J. (In)Equality and Beyond: Achieving Justice in Gender-Affirming Hormone Initiation. Harvard Review of Psychiatry. 2022; 30: 369-372. https://doi.org/10.1097/hrp.0000000000000349 

Amonoo H, Levy-Carrick NC, Nadkarni A, Grossman S, Green D, Longley R, Silbersweig D, AhnAllen CG. Diversity, equity and inclusion committee: An instrument to champion diversity efforts within a large academic psychiatry department. Psychiatric Services. 2022; 73: 223-226. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.202000934 

Noyola N, Sierra MJ, Allen, D, AhnAllen CG. Incorporating administrative staff in trans-affirmative care training: A cognitive-behavioral learning approach. Transgender Health. 2021; 6:224-228. https://doi.org/10.1089/trgh.2020.0079 

AhnAllen CG. Improving healthcare for gender diverse youth through education and training. Child and Adolescent Mental Health. 2020; 25:1-3. https://doi.org/10.1111/camh.12365 

Nadkarni A, Hasler V, AhnAllen CG, Amonoo HL, Green D, Levy-Carrick N, Mittal L. Telehealth during COVID-19 - Does everyone have equal access? Am J Psychiatry. 2020; 177:1093-1094. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2020.20060867 

Kosman KA, AhnAllen CG, Fromson JA. A call to action: The need for integration of transgender topics in psychiatry education. Acad Psychiatry. 2019; 43:82-88. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40596-018-0966-7 

Presentations

Sierra MJ, Allen D, Noyola N, AhnAllen CG. Just a thought?: A cognitive-behavioral learning approach to improving transgender patient-health professional interactions. 2020. Poster presented at the LGBT Health Workforce Conference, New York City, NY.

AhnAllen CG, Dailey A, Olivier M, Depestre S, Buckley V, Hoffman K, Roquemore-Bonner C. Antiracist action opportunities through intentional patient experience surveying within inpatient psychiatry. 2022. Poster presented at the Harvard Medical School Psychiatry Research Day, Boston, MA. 

Kosman KA, AhnAllen CG, Fromson JA. Psychiatric treatment for gender minorities depends on integrated transgender education in psychiatry training. 2017. Poster presented at the Academy of Harvard Medical School Medical Education Day, Boston, MA.