DIVERSITY CORNER

By Melissa Santos, Ph.D., Member at Large for Diversity

Anti-Racism Workgroup

On June 23, we launched our Anti-Racism workgroup with over 120 SPP members participating. The goal of this workgroup is to bring SPP members together to address issues of racism in pediatric psychology. In addition to our large workgroup, we have seven subgroups encompassing student issues, research, community/advocacy, training, clinical issues, institutional concerns and an open discussion group. We look forward to updating our membership as this workgroup continues.

Expanding the Reach of Pediatric Psychology

At SPPAC and APA, presentations were scheduled at Historically Black Colleges to present pediatric psychology to increase our reach to underrepresented groups. While we won’t be able to present in person, we are pleased to have over 60 SPP members willing to conduct webinars throughout the year. We look forward to seeing a new generation of pediatric psychologists!

Other Activities

Multiple activities planned for SPPAC and APA including affinity groups, a privilege walk, and a diversity topic hour have all had to be canceled. Be on the lookout on the list serve for these experiences re-conceptualized. We will also be distributing the results of our diversity survey which was released earlier this year. We look forward to presenting our next steps from the results. Finally, we will be continuing examination of concerns of bias in the EPPP and putting forth an action plan.

For questions about any diversity initiatives within SPP, please contact Melissa Santos, Ph.D.