Unveiling Unconscious Bias: Navigating Microaggressions in Mental Health Practice

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DeAngela Cooks, AMFT

Presented by DeAngela Cooks, LMFT

Presenter Bio

DeAngela (she/they) is the Founder and President of Voice & Vision and the previous Co-Founder of the international DEIA (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility) firm, Momentum Collaborative. With over a decade of immersion in the DEIA landscape, she recognizes its transformative power. However, her extensive work worldwide revealed challenges, with DEI often reduced to a buzzword or insufficient response to oppression.

DeAngela’s intersectional identities as Black and queer shape her work as a parent and a Marriage & Family therapist for HIV+ people. Her voice serves as a catalyst, inspiring individuals to explore their unique narratives through curiosity, levity, and storytelling. Her ultimate vision is a community where individual voices and collective visions align, anchored by radical accountability.

Drawing from her background in observing social interactions, DeAngela founded Voice & Vision to facilitate critical conversations and center equity. She holds a B.A. in Philosophy and Religion from the University of LaVerne, an M.A. in Counseling Psychology from John F. Kennedy, and is a trained Marriage and Family Therapist. Her clients include Cal State University Chico, California Academy of Sciences, Community Solutions, Data & Society, Eleven, Facing History and Ourselves, International Rescue Committee, Save The Bay, UC Berkeley, and more.

This training explores how different types of bias are created and maintained, as well as the ways in which it reinforces power and privilege dynamics. Participants will make basic connections between bias and microaggressions and its impacts. The term microaggressions was coined by psychiatrist and Harvard professor, Chester M. Pierce in 1970. The term refers to brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative prejudicial slights and insults toward culturally marginalized groups. Participants will learn how to identify the 3 aspects of a microaggression, how microaggressions affect those impacted, and how they can impact the clinical relationship.

Course Objectives

At the conclusion of this course, participants will be able to:

  1. Analyze the Interconnections between Social Categories and Systemic Structures
  2. Evaluate and Address Various Forms of Oppression and Bias
  3. Understand and Navigate the Dynamics of Cancel Culture and Change
  4. Develop and Implement Strategies for Addressing Bias and Microaggressions

Instructional Level

Advanced

Licensed mental health professionals employed through Kaiser Permanente and psychological assistants performing under supervision of a licensed psychologist.

This CE program is free to Kaiser Permanente employees.
Instructional Methodology
Lecture
Audio/Visual
On-line Presentation

Continuing Education Information

Kaiser Permanente Northern California Mental Health Training Program is approved by the California Psychological Association to provide continuing professional education for psychologists. The Kaiser Permanente Northern California Mental Health Training Program maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

Refund and Attendance Policy

All programs offered on KP Learn for CE credit through the KP Northern California Mental Health Training website are free of charge to Kaiser Permanente Staff and trainees. Once a course is selected in the KP NCAL MH Training Website, the registration process begins, and it will appear in the individuals KP Learn profile for completion within 90 days.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Those who attend the program in full and complete the appropriate evaluation form will receive CE credits. Please note that credit will only be granted to those who attend the entire program. An attestation of attendance will be given once the individual has completed viewing the program, which will then initiate the final steps of completing the evaluation forms to receive a certificate of completion.

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