Initial agenda item on this issue:
COUNCIL OF NATIONAL PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATIONS
FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF ETHNIC MINORITY INTERESTS
January 24, 2007
Agenda Item No. 14
Request: Increasing Cultural Competence in Mental Health Disaster Response and
Preparedness Through Partnerships with Ethnic Minority Mental Health Associations
The Council is being asked to review and consider action on a collaboration initiative being
proposed by Vickie M. Mays, PhD, MSPH, of the University of California, Los Angeles Center
on Research, Education, Training and Strategic Communication on Minority Health Disparities
(CRETSCMHD). Exhibit 1 presents Dr. Mays’ formal proposal. She has contacted the APA
Office of Ethnic Minority Affairs to schedule time on the Council’s agenda and she may be in
attendance or contacted via conference call during the meeting.
ACTION REQUIRED
That the Council receive the request from Dr. Mays and be prepared to consider her
recommendations.
EXHIBIT 1
INCREASING CULTURAL COMPETENCE IN MENTAL HEALTH DISASTER
RESPONSE AND PREPAREDNESS THROUGH PARTNERSHIPS WITH ETHNIC
MINORITY MENTAL HEALTH ASSOCIATIONS
Vickie M, Mays, Ph.D., M.S.P.H.
Principal Investigator of “Helping Hands, Healing Minds”
The New Orleans Mental Health Education and Training Project
www.MinorityHealthDisparities.org
Background
In conjunction with the occurrence of the August 2006 APA Convention in New Orleans, the
UCLA Center on Research, Education, Training and Strategic Communication on Minority Health
Disparities (CRETSCMHD) provided evidence based training in CBT, PTSD, and Motivational
Interviewing to over 200 mental health providers. The training was provided by a team of
psychologists, Drs. Edrick Dorian, Guy Seymour, Anabel Berjarano, Robert Atwell, and Karen
Ingersoll. In addition in partnership with the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta,
training was provided to an interfaith group of approximately 35 faith based leaders on mental
health issues for first responders by the team of Drs Rueben Warren, Carolyn McCray, Edward
Wimberly and Ms. Jennifer Shephard Payne. We also conducted a workshop for parents,
teachers and child caretakers conducted by Drs. Cheryll Bowers-Stephens and Vickie Mays and
Ms. Kathleen McGraw.
This project was funded by the W.W. Kellogg Foundation. The purpose of this project was to: 1)
increase the capacity of mental health service providers in NOLA for post disaster mental health
services and 2) train religious leaders from all denominations to recognize serious emotional
distress and utilize local referrals. A workshop offering parents, teachers, and child caretakers tips
and helpful information on mental health concerns experienced by children, how to work within
the school system to prevent stigma from mental health assessments and in general to maximize
the learning of children--many of whom were returning to a new school system for the first time in
a year.
The project in working with the trainers and workshop leaders has developed a number of
recommendations that will be presented to the Kellogg Foundation as well as released to the
public. Care is being taken with the recommendations as CRETSCMHD and the trainers are
committed to increasing the cultural competence of mental health services in the post disaster
response and to empower local groups and agencies to be prepared to respond and provide
mental health post disaster response and pre-disaster preparedness. It is for this reason that a
proposal is put forth with draft recommendations to the gathering of ethnic minority psychological
associations. The final recommendations from the CRETSCMHD Project to Kellogg will contain
two recommendations that involve the ethnic minority mental health associations.
Recommendations:
1. The Council of National Ethnic Minority Mental Health Associations Could Play A
Significant Role in Changing the Culture of Disaster Response Agencies. Consideration
should be given to Facilitating Training at the National and Local Level to Develop a
Pre-Incident Preparation Training and Post Disaster Response and Developing a
Permanent Mechanism for the Integration of Minority Mental Health Associations,
Disaster Response Agencies and Local Community Leaders in Disaster Preparedness.
A. Training of local Ethnic Minority Mental Health Providers to Participate in Local
CERTS.
B. Presidents of the National Associations or Local Chapters of Mental Health
providers at the start of a disaster issue a request to local university presidents,
CEO’s of large profit and nonprofit companies and sources of potential volunteers
likely to release personnel who might be useful in marshalling a culturally
competent team to provide support and services that will facilitate a strong mental
health response.
C. Provide Funding for the Development of A Pre Incident Preparation Workshop for
Disaster Preparedness and Response and Support An Initial Round of Training
D. Invest in the Development of A Permanent Mechanism in which the Council of
Ethnic Minority Mental Health Professionals works with a small steering group of
Emergency Response Agencies such as the Salvation Army, Red Cross, Red
Shields, Green Cross and others to facilitate better linkages to local communities,
identify barriers (such as the Red Cross requirement of a two week volunteer
commitment ) to the involvement and participation of racial/ethnic minorities in
disaster response and identify local culturally necessary training needs for
effective post disaster responses.
Current Request:
The above recommendations are in draft form. The purpose of sharing them at this time is to
determine the interest to participate and the capacity of the Council of Ethnic Minority
Psychological Associations to engage these recommendations before they are presented to the
Kellogg Foundation and released to the public. In presenting these recommendations to the
Kellogg Foundation it would be the goal of CRETSCMHD to determine if Kellogg would be willing
to fund continued work over a limited time span to put the above recommendations into action. It
is the plan of CRETSCMHD to also contact the minority social and psychiatry organizations to
ascertain their interest in such a project.
The request for the January 24th meeting is discuss and receive feedback about the
recommendations, determination of which if any of the minority psychological associations and
OEMA is interested in furthering collaborating should Kellogg or some other entity be interested in
funding this work.
Timeline:
Recommendations are due to the Kellogg Foundation in May. It would therefore be necessary
for any recommendation that is going to involve the Council of Ethnic Minority Psychologists be
finalized by early to mid April at the latest.
Process:
If there could be a discussion of the recommendations, interest and identification of a process to
facilitate the following: 1) agreement on the nature of the recommendation; 2) a formal indication
from your national organization of your interest and willingness to work further if there is interest in
funding or supporting the recommendations with identification of who the contact person would
be; and 3) a serious assessment as to whether your particular organization has the capacity to
sustain and grow this initiative as there are other models for getting this work done that may have
the same result with less responsibility.
Thanks and I look forward to talking with all of you. Special thanks go to Robert Atwell and Guys
Seymour as part of the team who pulled this together though I take responsibility for any lack of
clarity and or misunderstanding of their wonderful suggestions.
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CNPAAEMI Summary Notes (Approved on June 22, 2007)
Winter Meeting; January 24, 2007
CNPAAEMI Suite; Sheraton Seattle Hotel, Seattle, Washington
Chaired by the: The Society of Indian Psychologists (SIP); Hosted by the: APA
Excerpt from Summary Notes:
14.
Request for Increasing Cultural Competence in Disaster Response and Preparedness
with Ethnic Minority Mental Health Associations
The Council welcomed Dr. Mays (via conference call) and Dr. Seymour and received their
report and discussed their proposal. After some discussion the Council approved the
following action:
Dr. Peregoy will prepare a letter to Dr. Mays that: (a) expresses the Council’s support of
the concept of the UCLA project being proposed, and (b) encourages the further
development of recommendations outlining the establishment of an infrastructure,
mechanism(s), and training material(s) focusing on multicultural competency in disaster
relief and preparedness. A copy of Dr. Peregoy’s letter will be sent to each Council
member in order to support the presentation of this proposed initiative to each
Association’s respective governing board for action consideration.
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CNPAAEMI - Summer Meeting
June 22, 2007
Bear Lake at Harbor Village
Garden City, Utah
Chaired by the: Society of Indian Psychologists (SIP)
Hosted by the: SIP & APA
Excerpt from Summary Notes:
13.
Request for Increasing Cultural Competence in Disaster Response and Preparedness
with Ethnic Minority Mental Health Associations
While the Council supports the spirit of this proposed initiative, concerns continued to
surface regarding the limits of how CNPAAEMI could easily participate in such a
potentially robust initiative. In an effort to gather additional information, ABPsi was
requested to convene a conference call, at the earliest possible time, involving Drs. Mays,
Boyd, Peregoy, and Atwell. Once Dr. Atwell has confirmed possible times/dates with Dr.
Mays, he will contact OEMA staff who will set up the call. In addition, Dr. Atwell will
ask Dr. Mays to be prepared to provide more detailed information about her vision for this
initiative as well as any information she could share about her proposed grant application
that explains what is being expected of CNPAAEMI related to its possible role(s) or
responsibility(ies) in this project. The Council requested that the call take place on or
before July 15, 2007, if possible.
In addition, Ms. Groves, presented the Colorado Ethnic Coalition (CEC) proposal and
request for support. The Council deferred further discussion of this proposal and request
until their retreat or winter 2008 meeting. In the meantime, the CEC should feel free to
use all materials on all the various CNPAAEMI member organization Web pages as well
as count on CNPAAEMI as a resource of expert consultants.
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CNPAAEMI Winter Meeting
January 16 & 17, 2008
Carefree, Arizona
Chaired by: Association of Black Psychologists (ABPsi)
Hosted by: APA & Div45
Excerpt from Summary Notes:
13.
Request for Increasing Cultural Competence in Disaster Response and Preparedness
with Ethnic Minority Mental Health Associations
Dr. Atwell reported that further action on this activity is pending. No CNPAAEMI action
was necessary at this time.
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CNPAAEMI Summer Meeting
July 31, 2008
Oakland, California
Chaired by: Association of Black Psychologists (ABPsi); Hosted by: APA & ABPsi
Excerpt from Summary Notes:
12.
Request for Increasing Cultural Competence in Disaster Response and Preparedness
with Ethnic Minority Mental Health Associations
Dr. Atwell reported that further action on this activity is pending. Further action was
deferred until the Council’s 2009 winter meeting.
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CNPAAEMI Winter Meeting
January 14, 2009
Evergreen Room, Sheraton New Orleans Hotel
New Orleans, Louisiana
Chaired by: Div45; Hosted by: APA
Excerpt from Summary Notes:
14.
Request for Increasing Cultural Competence in Disaster Response and Preparedness
with Ethnic Minority Mental Health Associations
Dr. Atwell reported that further action on this activity is pending. Further action was
deferred until the Council’s 2009 summer meeting.
