How would you describe the culture of your residency?
Our program aims focus on training physicians to utilize knowledge of social determinants of health, positively impacting the health of the greater Tulsa area, reducing healthcare disparities, and contributing to a more just society. We aim to accomplish these goals by training our residents in community-integrated sites, emphasizing psychiatry’s focus on the intersection between medical/biological and psychosocial factors that lead to illness and impairment.
How has your program supported resident wellness?
Our program supports robust, comprehensive wellness programming that include regular activities on each weekly academic afternoon, resident wellness half-days each semester (no didactics scheduled), and a departmental wellness retreat each spring. Additionally, we cultivate a culture of valuing wellbeing both tangibly (baskets of thank you notes available in the mailroom) and intangibly (both faculty and residents eagerly step up to support those in need, to cover clinical duties when someone takes leave, and to share struggles with one another to decrease stigma around seeking help). We no longer use the stigmatizing concept of "mental health days," instead recognizing that mental health is health and should not be treated separately.
How has your program supported diversity, inclusion, and equity (DEI) either at your institution or in the surrounding community?
We have developed and continue to refine curricula to enhance resident and faculty awareness, reflection, and empowerment on issues pertaining to diversity, equity, and inclusion in educational and patient care settings. We are collaborating and disseminating these resources with others in our institution as well as nationally. We have enhanced recruitment efforts of underrepresented minority residents. As a program we have committed to the lifelong journey towards cultural humility and the pursuit of social justice and health equity.
Specifically, our residents have created and run classes and courses related to Native Mental Health, and LGBTQ+ mental health. Our residents make up a large portion of participants in our institution's Minority Housestaff Association. The program director is highly involved in institutional, local, and national DEIJ and anti-racism educational initiatives and actively works to sponsor residents/faculty from marginalized or underrepresented backgrounds.
What are unique features of your program that you would like to highlight?
Our university-affiliated, community-based program allows trainees the educational benefits of a large university while being able to rotate at diverse sites across Tulsa to see the full breadth of the city's populations, pathology, and systems of care. We have a strong focus on psychotherapy, robust neuroscience didactic curriculum, and comprehensive resident-led wellness initiatives. We are a family-friendly program. Our assertive community treatment (IMPACT) team provides residents the highest level of exposure to community-based patient care.
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