The South Southwest MHTTC presents: The Cultural Formulation Interview (CFI). CFI provides the opportunity of a clinical storytelling process between the client and the provider where cultural humility centers the understanding of mental health. Join us on this four session webinar series, where we will bring the creators and developers of this Evidence Based Practice together to discuss and share insights, resources and recommendations on how to use the principles of the CFI while working with adults, children, adolescents and families. The first two sessions are framed on a general overview of the CFI, while the second two sessions will focus on a more clinical application for different populations.
Thursday, April 7th from 10am-11:30am CST
Dr. Roberto Lewis-Fernandez, MD & Dr. Neil Krishan Aggarwal, MD, MBA, MA
Harvard University / New York State Psychiatric Institute
This presentation will describe the role of culture in the experience of and presentation of mental health problems by individuals seeking care and in assessments and treatments offered by providers. The value of a person-centered cultural assessment will be presented, focusing on cultural concepts of distress, social determinants of mental health, and treatment planning and engagement. The Cultural Formulation Interview will be introduced, a standardized method for person-centered assessment that appeared in DSM-5.
Thursday, April 14th from 10am-11:30am CST
Dr. Neil Krishan Aggarwal, MD, MBA, MA & Dr. Roberto Lewis-Fernandez, MD
New York State Psychiatric Institute / Harvard University
This presentation describes the process that the DSM-5 Cross-Cultural Issues Subgroup followed to develop the core Cultural Formulation Interview (CFI). It summarizes research evidence since the publication of the DSM-5 in 2013. It also offers recommendations for clinicians to implement the CFI with adults in their practice settings.
Wednesday, April 20th from 10am-11:30am CST
Dr. Martin LaRoche, PhD
Harvard University. Boston Children's Hospital at Martha Eliot.
In this talk, clinical suggestion to use the CFI to assess and engage in a culturally competent manner with children and adolescents will be presented.
Friday, April 29th from 10am-11:30am CST
Dr. Cécile Rousseau, MD.
Professor of Social and Cultural Psychiatry. McGill University. Canada.
This session will describe the usefulness of the CFI with families, integrate this approach in assessments of families and reflect on the complexity of cultural formulation with families.
Dr. Lewis-Fernández is Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Columbia University, Director of the New York State Center of Excellence for Cultural Competence and the Hispanic Treatment Program, and Co-Director of the Anxiety Disorder Clinic, at NYS Psychiatric Institute. His research develops culturally valid interventions and instruments to enhance patient engagement, reduce misdiagnosis, and help overcome disparities in the care of underserved cultural groups. He led the development of the DSM-5 Cultural Formulation Interview, a standardized cultural assessment protocol. He has been PI or co-Investigator of 25 National Institutes of Health-funded studies and other research, and published over 225 articles, chapters, and books. He is President of the World Association of Cultural Psychiatry, vice-president of the American Psychopathological Association, chair of the DSM Review Committee for Internalizing Disorders and the DSM-5-TR Culture-Related Issues Review Committee, and co-chair of the ICD-11 Working Group on Culture-Related Issues.
Dr. Aggarwal is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Columbia University and a Research Psychiatrist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. He conducts research at the intersection of cultural psychiatry and psychiatric anthropology. His work has been funded by the American Psychiatric Association, National Institute of Health, and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
Dr. La Roche has been Director of Mental Health Training at the Boston Children’s Hospital at Martha Eliot, which is the oldest standing community health center in the countryfor the last 26 years. He is an Associate Professor in Psychology at the Harvard Medical School/Boston Children’s Hospital and specializes in the development of culturally competent psychotherapeutic and assessment strategies. Dr. La Roche has over 100 peer reviewed publications/presentations on cultural competent treatments with ethnic minorities and has been Principal or Co-Principal Investigator on many research projects. Dr. La Roche is also the author of two books “Cultural Psychotherapy: Theory, Methods, and Practice” and “Towards a Global and Cultural Psychotherapy: Theoretical Foundations and Clinical Implications.” In addition, he has received many research/academic awards such as the Harvard Bridge Award, The Milton Award and was Selected Outstanding Committee Chairperson of the Year by the Massachusetts Psychological Association.
Dr. Rousseau is professor of the Division of Social and Cultural Psychiatry at McGill University. She received her training in medicine and psychiatry at the University of Sherbrooke, Université de Montreal and McGill. She has worked extensively with immigrant and refugee communities, developing specific school-based interventions and leading policy-oriented research. Presently her research focuses on intervention and prevention programs to address violent radicalization. During the COVID-19 pandemic she led a wide community intervention program and conducted a number of research projects on the mental health consequences of this context on Canadian communities.
