Inclusivity

The Youth and Family Research Program is committed to fostering diversity, equity, and inclusivity among our faculty, staff, trainees, and research participants. As such, we embrace attitudes and actions that instantiate this critical aspect of our mission.  

  • Diversity and equity among our staff, postdoctoral fellows, students, and faculty
    • We value diversity in our teams and proactively recruit staff and trainees of diverse identities and backgrounds (e.g., racial, ethnic, gender, and sexual orientation identities; religious affiliations; disabilities).  
    • We monitor career advancement for equity, support skill growth, and provide professional development opportunities to retain and promote a diverse workforce.
    • Our faculty are actively involved in training programs committed to increasing representation in science. Examples are:
  • Cultural humility and inclusivity 
    • We recognize the need for ongoing learning. We host and participate in continuing education and in-house group discussions that inculcate this philosophy and strengthen behaviors against microaggressions, other forms of discrimination, and marginalization. Our program leadership models this stance and is engaged in ongoing learning.
    • We challenge our biases on an ongoing basis and take responsibility for our attitudes and behaviors.
    • We update our physical and virtual environments to make them welcoming, inclusive, safe spaces. 
  • Equity and inclusivity in research 
    • We conduct innovative research examining the social determinants of health inequities in substance use.
    • We strive to recruit diverse and representative samples in all of our studies.
    • We solicit feedback from participants about their experiences in our studies and incorporate changes to further inclusivity and ensure stakeholder partnerships. 
    • We regularly update our questionnaires and monitor our scientific writing to reduce bias in our language and interpretation of results.
  • Commitment to action, advocacy, and allyship
    • We translate our ideas into action. YFRP Co-Director Sarah Pedersen, PhD, leads our efforts to accomplish our objectives and hold ourselves accountable.  Once/year the YFRP develops a new action item list. Staff, faculty, and trainees select actions they will spearhead. Timelines are articulated and progress on action items is discussed throughout the year in program-wide meetings.  
    • We recognize YFRP members for their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
    • We seek out opportunities at departmental, university, community, and national levels to effect sustained and meaningful change.
      • Department of Psychiatry Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity workgroups
        • Recruitment and Retention (Molina)
        • Community (Wang; Pedersen)
        • Research Equity and Community Health Collaborative (Joseph; Pedersen)
        • Training and Education (Kennedy)
      • Department of Psychiatry Clinical Psychology Internship Diversity, Inclusion, Cultural Humility, and Equity Committee (Pedersen)
      • Research Society on Alcoholism Diversity Committee, subcommittee chair (Molina)
    • We promote research conducted by under-represented and diverse scientists in our journal club, through invited talks to YFRP, and by citing their research in our publications.