Achieving and maintaining workforce diversity is challenging for many mental health organizations. Frequently, organizations hire additional staff to “fix” the issue. This quick-fix approach rarely works. One of the biggest reasons is that organizational leaders do not take the time to fully understand why their organization lacks diversity in the first place. Similarly, little emphasis is placed on equity, inclusion, and belonging, which are key to increasing and sustaining diversity.
To address this issue, mental health leaders must ask critical questions such as: What is the history of my organization? How is my organization fostering a culture that not only speaks of diversity’s importance, but also demonstrates it through its values, practices, and policies? What supports can diverse employees anticipate in addition to their paycheck and fringe benefits?
This interactive, four-session mental health workforce diversity leadership series is designed for CEOs, COOs, executive directors, human resource managers, and other hiring professionals working in behavioral health organizations who seek to achieve and sustain diverse workforces. This learning experience will require continuous self-reflection, authentic and uncomfortable conversations, and the development of an action plan.
This series is offered to mental health professionals in the Pacific Southwest (Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, and U.S. Pacific Islands of American Samoa, Guam, Marshall Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau). We are also opening this series to other providers outside of our region.
Ready to learn? Registration is currently open, and spots are expected to fill quickly! Registration will close by Tuesday, April 18th, 2023.
Please note there is a limited number of openings for these sessions; register only if you can attend, as unclaimed spots in these sessions will result in missed opportunities for others.
We kindly request that participants attend all sessions in this four-part series.
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Workforce Inequities: An Inside Job
Tuesday, April 18, 2023: 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. PT
Intersectionality & Cultural Humility
Tuesday, May 2, 2023: 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. PT
Hope, Justice, and Equity as a Workplace Expectations
Tuesday, May 16, 2023: 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. PT
Cultivating Community Partnerships and Collaborations
Tuesday, May 30, 2023: 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. PT
Tonicia Freeman-Foster, Ed.D., CDP, CHES, PMP
Dr. Tonicia Freeman-Foster is a national trainer, consultant, and coach with over 20 years of experience ensuring equitable resources and culturally engaging services for historically minoritized individuals and communities. Her passion is eliminating injustices and inequities by assisting organizational leaders in understanding how their biases, beliefs, and actions impact outcomes for staff, clients/customers, families, and communities. She is experienced and extremely passionate about topics and programming related to mental health, substance use, child welfare, HIV/AIDS, youth and young adults, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) wellness, leadership, and organizational culture. Dr. Freeman-Foster’s dream is innovative, effective, and sustainable client and community-driven services that enable ALL individuals to thrive.
Evelyn Clark, CPC
Evelyn Clark is a Mexican-Native American woman passionate about racial equity, leadership development, and peer support. She has nearly 15 years of experience serving young people and their families who were system involved. Evelyn is a change consultant and racial equity trainer at Change Matrix, a women-owned, minority-owned virtual company serving systems all over the nation and territories. She splits her time between the National Training and technical assistance center for children, youth, and family mental health (NTTAC) and the Mental health technology transfer center (MHTTC). Evelyn is a Certified Peer Counselor and has dedicated her career to empowering young people and their families to get involved in system reform. She is a proud recipient of the 2019 Peer Alternatives youth and young adult leadership award. Her mission is to end racial and ethnic disparities within systems of care and to promote leadership opportunities for the BIPOC workforce.
