Nurturing the Next Generation of Culturally Competent Clinicians

The RAMS Summer Bridge program presented a workshop at the Northern Region Cultural Competence and Mental Health Summit XVII titled, “Promoting Equity in Health Services:  The Power of Community Based Services.”  The presentation, which was held on June 27, 2011, was given by RAMS Summer Bridge Program Coordinator Yuka Hachiuma, MFT, and RAMS Deputy Chief & Director of Clinical Services Christina Shea, MFT, along with two program graduates.

The presentation introduced the audience to the overarching mission of the Summer Bridge program, which is to nurture the next generation of culturally sensitive, linguistically competent, clinicians.  Christina Shea spoke of how she experienced the lack of such clinicians in the workforce as an issue that could be addressed by providing a mentoring program that reaches out to youth from under-represented communities and introducing them to psychology and the various career opportunities in the helping professions.  Yuka Hachiuma explained how the program was designed and implemented in its pilot year, and described the curriculum and how it was made possible through numerous partnerships with other providers in the community.  The program is funded by the Mental Health Services Act. 

One program graduate shared his experience in the program, and how it changed perception of himself and encouraged him to apply to college instead of going into the military.  He shared that he will be starting at San Francisco State University in the fall and is planning to study nursing or psychology in hopes of becoming a pediatrician in the future.  Another program graduate shared her experience of the program, which allowed her to focus her interest in psychology to becoming a psychotherapist in the future.  She also spoke of her continued involvement with RAMS through joining the Youth Council and starting her own youth-led organization that builds on what she learned in Summer Bridge, called the Bridge Project.  

The presentation was enthusiastically received by the audience who asked numerous questions and expressed excitement for this novel approach to increasing cultural competence in the field of mental health. Several audience members were eager to find out how to implement similar programs in their communities, which bodes well for the future of our profession.  

Christina Shea speaking about the need for programs such as Summer Bridge

Yuka Hachiuma describes the Summer Bridge program