From Susan’s Desk
January 13, 2022
Equity is one of five goals of Josselyn’s 2022-2026 Strategic Plan. So, while our full and ambitious five-year strategic plan will be released next month, in honor of MLK Day, we wanted to share what Equity means to Josselyn.
The stigma around mental health is more acute in communities of color. It’s understandable that once someone works up the courage to seek help, it is easier to share deeply personal thoughts and feelings with someone who shares and understands one’s culture and background. Josselyn has been working to align the racial and ethnic makeup of our staff and board of directors with the clients we serve. We have made great strides in the past few years, and we have two dozen Spanish speaking staff members to support our Latinx community, and a number of clinicians of Asian, African, and eastern European cultures. And, we still have more work to do to support the Black community.
To this end, we are exploring a scholarship fund for Black undergraduates to pursue a master’s degree in social work or professional counseling. They will then work and train under our highly experienced supervisors for a number of years at Josselyn to serve our clients of color who seek a therapist that shares the same culture. We will create an advisory board of staff, professors, students, and community leaders to advance and promote this opportunity.
Finally, we will incubate initiatives that further increase Equity in our program and services. In other words, we will not rest on our laurels.
This work has taken commitment and intentional time. I want to thank Brian and Kellie Corley Ed.D, founders of Single Story, LLC, for guiding Josselyn through this process. Their leadership has challenged us to do more…to be better.
As someone who straddles the Baby Boomer and Generation X, my generation is stereotyped as people who did not wish to concern themselves with societal pressures. My daughter who straddles Millennials and Gen Z describes us as such:
After the assassinations of MLK and RFK, your generation just gave up, and became Yuppies instead.
Out of the mouth of babes… But this boomer/Gen X wants to continually grow, learn and strive to achieve Josselyn’s vision of mental health for all. As does Josselyn’s Board of Directors. To that end, Josselyn features Equity as one of our five strategic plan goals.
In the words of Martin Luther King, Jr.:
“The time is always right to do what is right.”
