Assembly Addresses Discrimination, Police Brutality

At its meeting last month, the Assembly approved a position statement recognizing the negative impact of police brutality against African-American men and an action paper addressing racial discrimination against trainees and practicing psychiatrists.

Position statements and other items approved by the Assembly become official APA policy if approved by the Board of Trustees. The Board’s next meeting is December 15 and 16 in Washington, D.C.

The position on police brutality states that APA:

• recognizes the profoundly negative impact that police brutality on black males has on the mental health of black males, as well as the mental health of the black community as a whole.

• encourages initiatives that foster direct collaboration between law enforcement and African-American communities to engender trust, cooperation, and understanding.

• encourages collaboration between law enforcement and mental health professionals to develop programs that train law enforcement administrators and officers on racial bias and racial trauma and their impact on the mental health of the communities they serve.

• encourages continued data collection and research into understanding the driving factors behind disproportionate minority contact with the juvenile or criminal justice system.

• encourages the development of novel approaches and strategies to address the unique mental health needs of African-American males who have experienced police brutality and/or the use of unwarranted excessive/deadly force by law enforcement.

The action paper on discrimination asks the Council on Medical Education and Lifelong Learning and the Council on Minority Mental Health and Health Disparities in coordination with the Division of Education to develop a web-based toolkit addressing racial discrimination against psychiatry trainees and practicing psychiatrists.

The toolkit should include resource documents and instructional video modules available to APA members and the public. Also, information should be disseminated to directors of residency training programs and chairs of departments of psychiatry. The video modules will be crafted to meet criteria for CME eligibility.

The action paper further asks APA to explore funding sources for research, such as the APA Foundation, to support efforts to further characterize the prevalence and incidence of racial discrimination against psychiatry trainees and practicing psychiatrists. ■