Objectives
By the end of this presentation, participants will be able to: 1) appreciate the benefits of culturally diverse mentorship during training and early career trajectory; 2) articulate how culturally informed training adds multidimensionality to a “less trodden” career pathway; and 3) reconstruct a journey of change in child and adolescent mental health development in challenging settings.
Methods
The presenter will use a TED Talks format to demonstrate how early exposure to diversity and culture at the workplace, and through mentors from varied backgrounds, lays the foundation of a resilient career pathway. Using storytelling, she will validate research findings that support the case for weaving a cultural context in all aspects of pediatric mental health from education and research to service building, if the endgame is to ensure impact in low-resource settings.
Results
There continues to be a shortage of child and adolescent psychiatry workforce globally; while the range varies from 47.4 practitioners to 100,000 children in Norway, to 0.004 practitioners in Pakistan, the burgeoning mental health needs of children and adolescents are largely unmet in most regions. The current COVID-19 pandemic will have not only exacerbated the situation, but also has highlighted similarities in challenges and needs, thus pushing the agenda for global mental health and shared solutions. Recent geo-socio-political events, whether concerning refugees, children separated at borders, health disparities in minorities, or acts of racism and terrorism, all mandate that the development of any program ensures diversity and the local context in their design. Diverse workforce in leadership, academia, and service delivery will ensure this context in their tripartite mission, thereby setting the right wheels in motion.
Conclusions
Robust training rooted in a transcultural and diverse context allows trainees to have the tools necessary to pursue creative and distinctive career pathways, even in demanding settings. A postpandemic world may just be our opportunity to observe and emulate where culturally informed models of leading change have led to successful outcomes.
AC, CAD, REST
Footnotes
AACAP Jeanne Spurlock, MD, Lecture and Award on Diversity and Culture