Still feeling all the emotions after being flown in as an expert panelist for the @samhsagov Black Youth Suicide Panel. A 🧵. 1/? Black youth suicide is a national emergency. The fact that it is gaining attention on the federal level means a lot to me. Personally and professionally. 2/?

We desperately need more Black therapists. I know this. It’s funny because as a Black psychiatrist who does therapy, I’m pulled in to many “therapy expert” conversations which are white-dominated. And I realized something…🧵 1/? These expert therapy conversations are RARELY centered on increasing the pipeline of Black therapists. In fact, most of the time, race is never mentioned, let alone RACISM 2/?

As a Black woman, I am very hesitant to join women’s movements or initiatives. In honor of #InternationalWomensDay2022 and #WomensHistoryMonth, I’ll tell you why. Let me tell you a story…(1/?) Some time ago, I was working on a very sick hospital unit. I watched people on my medical team publicly berate an extremely shy, kind, and knowledgeable Black female pharmacist on OUR team. Yup, we were supposed to be working together. (2/?)

Moments from lectures and examples of what racism looks like in medical education. A THREAD 1/4 Yet again, a Black man was used as the example of an aggressive and agitated patient for us to “learn how to manage” as psychiatrists. The lecturer warned us that she used a Black man for this example because he happened to volunteer