Racial/Cultural Identity: Transformation among School-Based Mental Health Professionals Working in Nunavut [Abstract]

2007 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Wihak ◽  
Noorfarah Merali
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna Chambers ◽  
Mary Guerriero Austrom ◽  
Ryan Harris ◽  
Danielle Patterson

This purpose of this review is to provide general guidelines to practicing psychiatrists and psychologists on cultural diversity in the discipline. Diversity and mental health is a complex topic in a complex discipline, and our goal is to contribute to an understanding of how cultural identity affects our work. This review does not explicitly state how to treat any one cultural group. Rather, it is a tool for psychiatrists and other mental health providers to begin a sensitive and helpful conversation with patients of all backgrounds and a way to explore their own cultural identities. As our nation becomes increasingly diverse, providers are expected to understand how a patient’s cultural identity impacts the presenting problem and, ultimately, treatment. In addition, an ever-present opportunity remains for mental health professionals to explore their own cultural identity and how it may be involved in conscious and unconscious biases, which, in turn, also impact how they interpret, treat, and manage care. We explore key aspects of diversity with the goal of cultivating a deeper level of insight and awareness among psychiatrists in training and those currently in practice when caring for patients with diverse backgrounds. The guidelines offer a starting point toward delivering culturally competent care and, coupled with a commitment to lifelong learning from psychiatrists and other mental health professionals, can help minimize the stigma of traditionally marginalized groups.  This review contains 7 tables, and 67 references.  Key words: aging, diversity, LGBTQ, psychiatry, race, religion 


Author(s):  
Elizabeth K. Rhoades

This chapter provides an overview of the difficulties facing LGBTQ+ youth in schools and their barriers to healthy psychosocial development. The risk and resiliency model is applied to these challenges, and specific risk factors and resiliency factors are explored. The focus is on means to foster healthy growth and development in sexual minority students through developing school-based programs and practices that have been proven to increase resiliency. The chapter provides specific strategies for school-based mental health professionals to use to increase resiliency in sexual minority youth through the application of school-wide policies and practices. Strategies for making such systemic changes and garnering support are also presented.


Author(s):  
Ryan P. Kilmer ◽  
Virginia Gil-Rivas ◽  
Steven J. Hardy

This chapter seeks to help teachers and school mental health professionals understand the needs of students who have faced a disaster or terrorism and identify strategies for school-based responses. The chapter provides an overview of the effects of these events on school children and youths, including relevant developmental and cultural considerations, and the impact on the school setting. Then, the discussion emphasizes recommendations for, and possible responses by, teachers, school-based mental health professionals, and administrators. Indeed, just as these traumas can affect multiple levels of school children’s lives, the needed response of school-based professionals can be framed as multi-level, ranging from curricular modification to interventions specifically targeting youngsters’ socio-emotional needs. The sections that follow seek to inform and guide responses for school personnel and provide clear, “actionable” recommendations.


Author(s):  
Philip J. Lazarus ◽  
Shannon M. Suldo ◽  
Beth Doll

In this introduction, the authors discuss the purpose of this book, which is (a) to provide school-based mental health professionals with the knowledge and tools to help promote students’ emotional well-being and mental health, (b) to describe how to implement new models of mental health service delivery in schools, and (c) to prescribe practical strategies that bolster the likelihood that our youth will thrive in school and in life. The authors recommend conceptualizing student mental health through a dual-factor model that encompasses both promoting wellness and reducing pathology. They advocate for a change in educational priorities—one that supports the whole child, in mind, body, and spirit. They then discuss the prevalence of psychological distress in youth, risk and resilience research, the dual-factor model of mental health, happiness studies, new frameworks for the delivery of services, and the organization and structure of the text.


Author(s):  
Karrie L. Swan ◽  
Rebecca Rudd

Using the tenets of child-centered play therapy, this chapter describes interventions that school-based mental health professionals can use to support bereaved children. Children’s reactions to death, and the interventions that professionals can use, vary based on their developmental stage. Strategies are presented for helping children process the early period of bereavement, facilitate a developmentally and culturally appropriate understanding of death, promote adjustment to changes in family constellation and dynamics, and memorialize loved ones. Instructions are provided for using play techniques to help children organize, make sense of, and express their losses in a concrete manner. The play interventions described in this chapter involve using a sand tray and miniature figures to help a child prepare for a memorial service and to start to understand the concept of death, using puppets to explore the changes in family dynamics that occur after a death, and creating a memorial book.


2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-44
Author(s):  
Maryke Woolf ◽  
Jason Bantjes ◽  
Ashraf Kagee

Youth suicidal behaviour poses a significant public health concern. Mental health care professionals working in schools have an important role to play in youth suicide prevention initiatives, although little is known of the experiences of this group of professionals in low and middle income countries (LMIC’s). The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of mental health professionals working in South African schools and to document their insights, attitudes and beliefs regarding youth suicidal behaviour. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven school-based mental health care professionals and data were analysed using Thematic Analysis. Participants reported that they relied on a reactive strategy by responding to youths who were in crisis. They were challenged by a lack of support from faculty staff, a lack of access to resources, and heavy caseloads. Findings highlight the need for a proactive and collaborative approach to suicide prevention among mental health care professionals, teachers and parents in South African schools and improved training and supervision.


Author(s):  
Elizabeth K. Rhoades

This chapter provides an overview of the difficulties facing LGBTQ+ youth in schools and their barriers to healthy psychosocial development. The risk and resiliency model is applied to these challenges, and specific risk factors and resiliency factors are explored. The focus is on means to foster healthy growth and development in sexual minority students through developing school-based programs and practices that have been proven to increase resiliency. The chapter provides specific strategies for school-based mental health professionals to use to increase resiliency in sexual minority youth through the application of school-wide policies and practices. Strategies for making such systemic changes and garnering support are also presented.


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