Art of Psychiatric Medicine Committee
Designed to promote the artistic experience of being a psychiatrist, the committee organized 2 events in 2014. Their most recent project, the 75-minute documentary, ‘Art of Storytelling, the Human Experience of Being a Psychiatrist’ premiered at the APA Annual Meeting in Atlanta 2016 and at WPA Berlin in 2017.
Diversity and Culture Committee
Committee Charge: The Diversity and Culture Committee of the Southern CA Psychiatric Society was founded on June 11, 2020 amidst the social uprising following the death of George Floyd. It is a call for social justice and equity for the disenfranchised, a look at our collective history, and an attempt to move our organization in the direction of empowerment for the black community and other disadvantaged groups.
Our goals include:
- To raise awareness about mental health disparities due to social constructs such as racism and to identify methods to maintain these discussions in the forefront of SCPS advocacy, policy, and activities.
- To promote increased diversity and representation in the membership and leadership of SCPS through activities and systems for the recruitment, retention, membership and leadership development of culturally diverse members.
- To promote and develop mentoring, recruitment and retention systems for trainees of culturally diverse groups.
- To develop and promote consultation services, curricula, clinical guidelines and continuing education geared at addressing the educational needs of all trainees and SCPS members in culturally competent practices.
- To promote research in culture, race and ethnicity in psychiatry. This includes research in identity development, cross-cultural epidemiology and services research, efficacy and effectiveness of mainstream treatment interventions, and development of culturally modified interventions.