Increasing Social Justice in Psychiatry

As chair of the upcoming session, “Champions of Social Justice: Psychiatry in Marginalized Communities (Docuseries Project of SCPS Psychiatrists Working in Marginalized Communities)”¹ at the 2023 American Psychiatric Association Annual meeting, Ijeaku hopes to breach the gap in mental health care by addressing the both the psychiatric and psychosocial issues of patients.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the fact that zip code may be more important than genetic code in terms of obtaining and having good mental health care, Ijeaku explained. Thus, it is vital that clinicians understand the psychosocial issues as well as the psychopathology issues with which patients present, she added. By doing so, psychiatric clinicians can best support their patients.

As part of her presidency of the Southern California Psychiatric Society, Ijeaku received a grant from PRMS to explore and showcase clinicians’ work in marginalized communities. This work resulted in a 9-episode docuseries that spotlights the clinicians working in these communities, lessons learned, and best practices that can be implemented in other practices across the country. The session at the annual meeting will explore these issues and will provide a forum for attendees to discuss challenges and foster creative solutions to support all patients.

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Dr Ijeaku is an associate clinical professor of health sciences at the University of California, Riverside School of Medicine and an attending child, adolescent and adult psychiatrist with the Riverside University Health System, Behavioral Health. She is past president of the Southern California Psychiatric Society, a local district branch of the American Psychiatric Association. She is also a member of the board of directors of the Mount San Jacinto branch of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Reference

1. Champions of Social Justice: Psychiatry in Marginalized Communities (Docuseries Project of SCPS Psychiatrists Working in Marginalized Communities).2023 Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association. San Francisco, California. Saturday, May 20, 2023, 8:00am – 9:30am pacific.

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