SUGANYA
In 2012, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) funded an Addressing Health Disparities (AHD) Leadership Program to be implemented by the National Council for Behavioral Health (the National Council). Ms. Mohini Venkatesh, who was then President of Programing at the Council, was leading the effort and invited me to co-facilitate the program with Ms. Jeanne Supin of Watauga Consulting.
The program supports mid-level managers to develop their voice, agency, and power to advance health equity within their organization and across their broader communities. Participants graduate from the program equipped to lead and sustain efforts to eliminate health disparities among the people and communities they serve.
We are now in our ninth year of the AHD Leadership Program and numerous developments have occurred. From the third year on, the Council entirely funded the program because their leadership including the Board saw great value in developing a cadre of emerging, passionate and committed leaders who will address disparities in health throughout their career. What was once a two-day training has evolved into a nine-month training program.
Over the preceding cohorts the faculty and program administrators have integrated coaching sessions, buddy and individual assignments, two stretch projects one addressing each leader’s personal growth journey during this program, and the other a disparities project that they plan, implement, and evaluate as a deliverable of the leadership program. Cohort members meet thrice during the program for 2.5 to 3 days of on-site training sessions in different cities. These emergent leaders have an opportunity to visit an exemplary behavioral health program in which the training occurs to gain ideas of innovative and culturally responsive services. They also meet the leaders who run these programs and National Council Advisory Board members and learn through listening inquiry. Over the years we have had many AHD alumni members attest to the life changing nature of their leadership experience.
This year the ninth cohort, as expressed so many times by so many others, has been experiencing an unprecedented leadership program. This year the AHD program has been provided as a virtual training experience by me, with support from Dana Lange (Program Coordinator) and Ayla Colella (Program Director) from the National Council, and with consultants Dr. Tonicia Foster-Freeman (AHD alumni) and Shannon CrossBear (Strongheart Consulting) and Jeanne Supin.
It was with some trepidation that we developed the curriculum for this virtual program. One of the most invaluable outcomes of the program is that each cohort creates a very strong connection amongst the cohort members and that has been sustained well past the training itself. Several of the past cohorts have stayed connected via Facebook, Zoom meetings, and had even planned for a get-together this year that has ‘had to be postponed not canceled’ according to the cohort. As faculty, I was concerned that this cohort would not experience a similar connection because they would not be able to meet and spend time with each other to create those long-standing connections.
During the mid-program virtual meeting we facilitated the cross-cultural communication framework developed by Change Matrix which is a three-phase process that allows participants to prepare themselves emotionally and intellectually to have courageous conversations (part of the curriculum). In the mid-program, we usually address the Acknowledgement phase wherein we first address our own cultural identity and how we come to our work, and then the Engagement phase in which we explore how our identity influences our experiences in our workspace and the ‘isms’, bias and microaggression we have to address both in our professional and personal lives.
After these two interactions, the cohort expressed greater understanding of each other and a desire for closer and more sustained connection with each other and expressed their desire for cementing the connections and relationships during the final Integration phase. Additionally, quite a few have expressed that the opportunity to learn more about themselves during the training and the coaching has changed how they see themselves as leaders and change agents for equity.
Written by CM Founding Partner Suganya Sockalingam
