Past Work
Who's Missing From the Table
and Whose Table Are You At?
Moving towards a more inclusive future in perinatal mental health requires recognition that not all experiences and treatment needs of people facing perinatal mood and anxiety disorders are acknowledged. Prior attempts to improve health equity in mental health spaces have largely focused on pushing a dominant cultural narrative, thus furthering interventions incongruent with the needs of historically marginalized groups. Over the last two years, there has been an urgent call to address these inequities, especially in the US. However, many organizations continue to feel ill-equipped to adequately handle these concerns despite the foundational and growing scholarship in this area. More recent approaches to promote health equity fully center marginalized groups enabling alignment with the stated needs of communities and the development of culturally tailored tools. The success of these new approaches starts with identifying who is missing from the conversation and partnering with other organizations already doing the work. This presentation focused on specific practices organizations can use to foster diversity and promote the inclusion of historically marginalized groups. I reviewed common topics often overlooked when developing inclusion plans and ways to overcome possible resistance to organizational change.
Pain Has No Color... or Does it?
Given as a presentation and a workshop. This work focuses on the racial inequities in pain management and identifies ways to improve pain management equity across healthcare.
The Color of Birth
This half day workshop provides an overview of perinatal health disparities and the historical origins, specifically those relevant to eastern North Carolina. It includes interactive cases and skill building that allows participants the ability to walk away with new skills to bring back to their home institutions/clinics.
Here Comes the Baby Carriage,
but Where Goes My Sex Life?
This presentation reviews the intersection of perinatal mental and sexual health. It outlines ways to address and improve functioning for individuals transitioning to parenthood, especially those that experience a perinatal mood or anxiety disorder.
Diversity and Inclusion in Sexual and Reproductive Mental Health
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are three separate concepts that need to be considered in the continued development and expansion of sexual and reproductive mental health. This presentation outlines ways to evaluate an organization's level of addressing each of these areas and the why” each concept is important for increasing the ability to achieve health equity in perinatal mental health services.
Racial Justice in Women's Health
Understanding the historical and current racial injustices in Women’s Health Care is vital to our continued progress towards health equity. This presentation provides the context in which new initiatives are being developed and ways to evaluate if these new programs will meet the promise of health equity.
Sexual Health Care Delivery: Finding your Groove
Learning how to take a sexual history does not have to be a difficult thing especially if you explore the various ways that it can be achieved in a clinical interview. This presentation helps learners identify ways to discuss sexual health from a holistic perspective and helps them set a foundation of trust with patients who may have felt marginalized by clinicians in the past.
The Beautiful Tapestry: LGBT+ Parenting and Inclusive Language in Perinatal Health
There are so many ways that family is created. They are all beautiful and needed. Recognizing the need for more inclusive language is another important step for perinatal health to take as the field moves toward health equity. This presentation reviews the places where gendered language excludes both gestating and non-gestating parents.
