The Association for Behavioral Healthcare (ABH) and Wayside Equity Training Center (WETC) are eager to announce our Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Justice Toolkit: Organizational Culture Change. This toolkit is part of a range of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Justice (DEI&J) initiatives outlined in the ABH Annual Plan addressing issues of injustice, inequality, and inequity within the behavioral healthcare system. It was created at the urging of DEI&J Committee members, and in particular ABH CEOs, seeking support in responding to growing calls from people across the country, including provider’s own staff and persons served, for stronger action on issues of equity and justice, following the murder of George Floyd on May 25, of 2020.
This Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Toolkit was commissioned by the Association for Behavioral Healthcare’s Senior Leadership Committee on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice (DEI&J Committee) as we continue our work to achieve equitable access to quality mental health and addiction treatment services for the people and communities of the Commonwealth who face systemic, cultural, ethnic, racial, linguistic, ability, gender, socioeconomic, age, religious, and LGBTQIA+ disparities. This committee addresses structural challenges to providing and accessing services to these marginalized populations through advocacy targeted at critical stakeholders throughout the health care system, including state leadership and payers.
A Note from the ABH DEI&J Committee
This toolkit is part of a range of DEI&J initiatives outlined in the ABH Annual Plan addressing issues of injustice, inequality, and inequity within the behavioral healthcare system. It was created at the urging of DEI&J Committee members, and in particular ABH CEOs, seeking support in responding to growing calls from people across the country, including provider’s own staff and persons-served, for stronger action on issues of equity and justice, following the murder of George Floyd on May 25, of 2020. In particular, we heard from ABH CEOs who recognized the need to focus on critical issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice within their own organizations.
So many of you expressed your deep concern, and desire to initiate or sustain culture change, but were uncertain about how to begin or grow that effort. In response, the ABH DEI&J Committee sought a partner with the capacity to deliver critical DEI&J technical assistance and training services to our members that shared our commitment to a diverse, equitable, inclusive and just behavioral health system. Further, we sought partner that shares ABH’s deep understanding of the behavioral health landscape in Massachusetts, and the unique needs of our eighty one community-based mental health and addiction treatment provider organizations, that make up the primary providers of publicly-funded behavioral healthcare services in the Commonwealth. We found that partner in the Wayside Equity Training Center (WETC).
What Does It Take and Why: The Business Case and Beyond
Many of you may come to this toolkit understanding DEI&J work as critical to your foundation as behavioral health providers, already making and measuring progress in your DEI&J efforts. For some this work may seem urgent, or even overwhelming with no clear starting point, and for others, DEI&J work may be primarily part of a recruiting strategy your HR office is implementing. Each organization comes to this work from a unique place and with its own perspective and experience in addressing diversity, equity, inclusion and justice within your organization. As leaders, we often turn to the business case to build buy-in for new initiatives and justify associated costs, but research shows that the benefits of DEI&J work are often challenging to quantify in the short-term.
Download the Toolkit
Within this toolkit we hope you will find a range of accessible organizational practices and tools to guide you and your team as you work to assess DEI&J within your own agency; develop strategies and take action to advance your own organizational goals; and establish processes for continuous evaluation and improvement of your chosen DEI&J practices.
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Download the DEI&J Toolkit: Organizational Culture Change Now! |
