(Re)assessing Clinical Spaces: How do we Critically Provide Mental Health and Disability Support and Effective Care for Black and Brown Young People who are Impacted by Structural Violence and Structural Racism?

Abstract

We open this article by asking you to consider that the magnitude of racism present in clinical spaces is much larger and more in depth than we can ever begin to cover. In this spirit, we are going to provide you with some context to think about the problem of racism and mental health and disability and ways to deconstruct the problem through the lens of structural violence and structural racism. We offer you a brief discussion on and a definition of structural violence and structural racism and then tie them to two case studies to help contextualize how racism currently exists within the medical field. We hope that the language and framework of structural violence and structural racism will help you think anew about racism and your own interactions with it. Although the difficulties with racial and structural violence are much too pervasive and will take collective action to dismantle, we do think that giving a framework to think and talk about racism may help the ways that you choose to interact with your patients, engage in clinical assessments, diagnosis, treatment, and navigate systems from your current role within the medical field.