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• Presenter: Katrice Byrd, D.S.W., LCSW
• Free registration: For all VCU & SSW students, faculty and staff.
• General registration: $35 for those unaffiliated with VCU & the School of Social Work $30 for VCU SSW alumni and field instructors.
• Series/session details + registration links

This seminar will address the intersection of racism and trauma with mental illness (SMI). This series will discuss implicit bias and structural racism, and the ways in which the history, policies and practices in the United States have led to inequitable outcomes and racial disparities for individuals of color with serious mental illness. This session will discuss the potential reasons why persons of color are often diagnosed with SMI more often, and barriers to treatment due to systemic racism/lack of trust in mental health care systems.

This discussion will include a look at the racial analysis of social determinants of psychosis in the U.S. as well as a call to action on ways to support individuals of color living in the U.S. with SMI. This seminar will discuss practice models to utilize when working through an anti-racist lens that have a mental health diagnosis as well. It will end with a discussion regarding the ways in which social workers can move forward when working with SMI with an anti-racist lens/perspective.

Objectives
Participants will be able to:

• Discuss the history of structural racism with SMI populations
• Identify social determinants of psychosis in the U.S.
• Apply an anti-racist lens and practices when addressing ways to work with individuals with SMI.
• Identify practice models to use with clients that have an anti-racist and trauma informed lens.
• Apply the ethical principle of challenging social injustice and why this is important when working through an anti-racist lens.