By Zufan Bazzano and Hannah Fleischman How hard could it possibly be to find a good therapist? You could go to PsychologyToday.com and type in your zip code and your insurance provider and they will list over four pages of verified clinicians. But what if you’re looking for a therapist who specializes in specific types of issues — attachment, grief/loss, adoption, domestic violence, LGBTQ, etc? What if your lived experience intersects with multiple identities? How about if you’re looking specifically for Black and Latino therapists? At the beginning of the COVID pandemic, there was a staggering increase in the need for mental health counseling from the general public. The psychological stressors the pandemic created exacerbated the mental health field, leaving many clinicians overbooked and unable to accept new clients. According to the federal government's mental health and substance abuse referral hotline, the referral hotline rose from 833,598 calls in 2020 to 1.02 million in 2021. Fast forward to 2022 and these demands still haven’t been adequately met. But are these services beneficial for everyone? Searching for a culturally competent clinician is essential for anyone who wants to take the step toward prioritizing their mental health. But for marginalized groups, finding a culturally competent clinician can be a challenging process. Ostensibly, therapy is for everyone yet, only some people have to consider cultural competence while searching for a therapist. Cultural identity is rooted in gender, race, class, and ability, but of course, the list goes on. Marginalized groups hold identities that don’t hold much social power as privileged groups. As a result, these groups are more likely to struggle to connect with an adequate psychiatrist. Cultural competence should be taught through a social justice lens that utilizes the clinicians' lived experience as a learning opportunity. Take the words of Shamyra Howard-Blackburn, LCSW who believes that “Trust in a therapist isn't granted because that therapist attended a three-hour workshop on cultural competence, led by someone who isn’t a person of color. We need therapists who are willing to do deep anti-racism work, who present with cultural humility.” Finding a therapist that's culturally competent means different things for different people because we all hold different identities, however, the bottom line is that a therapist should be able to provide mental health service to their client that is non-stigmatizing, non-traumatic, and social justice-based. Modern talk therapy practices were developed largely by and for a white, middle-class demographic. The effects of this still reverberate in therapeutic spaces today. Therapists are rarely equipped to holistically address the trauma that invariably accompanies experiences of discrimination. Searching for someone who's both accessible (physically and/or financially), as well as able to understand one's experiences/identities while navigating mental health stigma is challenging enough. Add in fearing a potential microaggression from a clinician and for many, that’s enough of a deterrent to stay away from therapy entirely. How many people want to be retraumatized in the process of seeking help? Finding a therapist with a shared cultural background or understanding shouldn’t require medical expertise. Currently, though, it often does. One of the reasons for this is how overwhelmingly white therapeutic spaces remain. According to a 2021 Census Bureau report, about 18% of people in the United States identify as Hispanic and 13% as Black, but an American Psychological Association report found that a mere 5% of psychologists are Hispanic and only 4% are Black. Or, in other words, a staggering 86% of therapists are white. Of course, sharing similar cultural roots does not necessarily guarantee a better therapeutic outcome, but a workforce should at least slightly mirror the populations they serve. The demographic imbalance in therapist offering betrays a deeper issue in psychology. While the American Psychological Association requires programs to cover cultural competence, and some states have begun to require such training for licensure, many psychology programs tack cultural competence training on as an afterthought. What would comprehensive, intentional cultural training look like? For starters, it would last longer than a single unit, or even a single semester long course. It would emphasize being mindful of verbal and non-verbal interactions, and the importance of life-long learning. Cultural competence cannot be a peripheral component of psychological training, but must be fundamentally integrated. Therapists cannot sufficiently provide mental and emotional support when they expect their clients to share the same context. When counselors assume their clients should experience their emotions and behavior in accordance with dominant cultural attitudes they can cause harm. Still, why is it so difficult to connect to culturally competent therapists? Sure, resources like Psychology Today do provide an option to filter therapists by specific issue, but in the process, it often advances the notion that cultural competence is optional. We need service providers that center cultural competence. Taking care of one’s mental health during a pandemic is overwhelmingly enough, no one should endure microaggressions while seeking help.

By Zufan Bazzano On Wednesday, April 6th, I woke up feeling groggy and sluggish. I felt a pang of anxiety when my grogginess wouldn’t go away even after having my morning coffee, which usually woke me up energized and ready to go. Wednesdays are my busiest days of the week. I shuffle from class to class (one of which was my three-hour seminar) to soccer meetings and night practice. Trusting my own instinct I decided to send an email to my two professors to ask if I could zoom into class instead of attending. They said yes with ease and I was thankful for their accommodation. When our classroom consisted of staring at computer screens while in the comfort of our home (with pajama pants of course), I was in heaven. I felt more comfortable participating and speaking up in Zoom classrooms. Maybe it was the relief of not having to constantly check myself (my body posture, appearance, eye contact, etc) when I’m around people. Or the convenience of the mute and camera off/on the button. Or the easy escape to make tea or coffee at any moment. Three years ago, before the COVID pandemic and virtual classes, casually asking a professor if you can zoom into class would not have been an immediate thought for most people. Whether you get the flu, get severely injured, or miss the train to class, it would have resulted in you missing a day, a week, or weeks' worth of class. The COVID-19 pandemic drastically disrupted and changed the system of higher education. Within a span of a few weeks, students and teachers were sent packing home and had to readjust every aspect of teaching and learning. Virtual settings became an everyday part of life. Fast forward to a year and a half since the beginning of the pandemic and platforms like Zoom and Google Classroom are still being used today (though not as much) to host events, office hours, meetings, and guest speakers. Although the pandemic disrupted higher education, it also introduced us to a new way of learning that’s more accessible and equitable for students. If a student “feels groggy” but wants to participate they can join virtually. Or vice versa; if a professor were to get sick or had a circumstance that forced them to stay home, they could simply move the class virtually. This semester one of my professors moved class virtually for a week because his five-month-old daughter was sick. Signing in virtually to class can benefit a wide array of students: those with health and medical needs, international students dealing with immigration delays, and active-duty military students with conflicting schedules. Professors and institutions that provide a virtual option to class can accommodate students that can’t be on sight due to lower classroom capacity or accessibility needs. The onslaught of COVID and virtual learning raised issues of equity and inclusion for BIPOC and low-income students. Virtual classes exacerbated the inequalities in higher education, however, it also allowed space for more equity and inclusion initiatives, especially amidst the “racial reckoning” of summer of 2022 which prompted privileged institutions like higher education to have urgent conversations about equity and inclusion. Administrations in higher education that help accommodate professors (by training them how to navigate the virtual space) who wish to provide a virtual option to their students can be helpful for people's mental and physical needs. Being uprooted from the social structure of school and transitioning to virtual classes isn’t always the best option for everyone. Numerous studies have focused on the downside of virtual learning: zoom fatigue, distractions, lack of structure, social isolation, etc. But there isn't nearly enough focus on the advantages. I wouldn’t want to relive quarantining and living every aspect of our social lives online. However, I appreciate the comfort and social connections brought to me through the convenience of virtual communication. Virtual communication is a step towards a more equitable and accessible environment for all. Whether it’s a professor holding virtual office hours, virtual meetings, or having a virtual option to class if circumstances come up. As the pandemic stagnates and more and more scientists are hoping for the SARs virus to become the “next common cold,” will the convenience of the virtual services continue to be available? Or will higher education “retreat to the old, pre-pandemic habits?” Prior to the pandemic, I can recall countless times when I’d either been too injured, sick, or unmotivated to walk 10 or 15 minutes to class and played tug of war with myself to decide if staying home was worth missing an important lecture, a project presentation, or important conversations. Now, if any of these scenarios were to happen I would feel reassured knowing I can zoom into class instead of missing out on important lectures.

This plan is a proposal for a more transparent and community oriented plan towards racial justice at Smith. As I am limited by only the injustices that I see, I would love feedback on ways to make this more inclusive! I welcome all feedback and suggestions on either the forum page or down below! The image above is a mock up of what the Towards Racial Justice plan would look like with some of the suggestions made in this transparency model. The Smith administration needs to create a transparent system easily accessible to the Smith community, to serve as a tool for checking on administration progress and actions. ​ Key Needs When a task was requested, and when the task was started What process is happening Who is involved, with links to their contact information Ability to submit comments both as the original poster and as community members ​ We envision something like the Towards Racial Justice Plan, but instead of allowing administration to choose the benchmarks of progress, the community would raise concerns or goal they would like met and Administrators would build a plan to try to meet them. These demands and corresponding actions would be banked on the Smith website, which would require a Smith log on to view in order to keep this information within the Smith system. If viewing the extended demands system required a Smith log in, it would be important to ensure that all Smith employees have a Smith log in. This system would be an institutionally transparent way for people to raise issues for change and get regular updates. Format wise, I envision a combination between the Towards Racial justice plan expanded to include the request format of Teamworks Live, which would allow the user to select the building on campus where this occurred, select multiple staff/faculty/administrators who might be able to help with the solution, or might be interested in the incident/demand. This ability to tag locations is important for highlighting accessibility demands as well, and this could also be a way to tag access buttons that don’t work, lack of elevators, etc. It would also have an option to select from accurate lists of departments/programs at Smith that the request might pertain to. ​ From the Towards Racial justice plan, this model should retain the Initiative Area, Action Item, Campus Partner and Status update format, which allows administration to update the community on the progress of task, but in more depth than the current model which is either: in progress or done. Beyond expanding transparency of the various stages a project was in, it is also important for this system to track when the request was placed, and when each stage of the project was initiated to keep the the timeline transparent and to hold everyone accountable. Part of this increase in transparency will be expanded updates on these requests at regular intervals, similar to community addresses from the President, and the CIRT emails, which should include not only as place to add commentary on the process online, which can be referenced during administrative meetings, but also listing about if the meetings where this is being discussed are public and people can voice their opinions in person. Multiple avenues for the Smith community to submit commentary and thoughts on action items would be essential, as our community has a wealth of experience, and one failing that administration constantly runs into is the lack of diverse experiences on an administrative level which means their proposed solutions often have holes which would have been easily identifiable to a marginalized community member. Such a system could create opportunities for clearer dialogue between students and administration. If created, the formation of this system should itself be a collaborative process between Smith community and administration. Students, staff and faculty involved in the process would need to be compensated for their labor in this collaboration, as often BIPOC and marginalized students are asked to speak on panels, advocate for themselves and others in lieu of hiring diverse administration and staff to facilitate this. This need for compensation extends to BIPOC staff who are routinely asked to act as mediators for incidents involving racism.

The fight for justice within our institution, By Aoife Smith in collaboration with Charlie Diaz, Ramona Flores, Lexi Luckett, Lauren Holland and Lucía González In April 2019, Smith students dressed in red turned out en masse to join a protest led by Students For Social Justice and Institutional Change (SSJIC) against racism and discrimination towards students of color, undocumented students, low-income students, trans students and other marginalized students. Standing on the front steps of John M. Green Hall, surrounded by avid listeners, SSJIC members presented a list of the 28 “most basic and most immediate concerns” separated into categories such as space, admission and recruitment, and facilities and accessibility. One protest flyer passed out and posted around campus ahead of the event featured an archival photo of Smith students participating in a College Hall sit-in in 1990. Blazoned across the front of the flyer was the message “Smith College will be held accountable,” a rallying call for change. SSJIC’s 2019 list of demands expanded on decades of student demands that had still not been met by the Smith administration, including those of the 1990 College Hall sit-in and of student protests led by the Black Students Alliance (BSA) in 1969. During the latter protest, the BSA demanded that Lily Hall — which currently houses the school for social work — be designated the Black Cultural Center; this demand was echoed in 2019 demands for making the entire Davis Building into a space for marginalized students. While the Davis Building currently houses the Mwangi Cultural Center, previously known as the Afro-American Cultural Center, the entirety of the Davis Building is not dedicated exclusively for use by marginalized students. In addition, the Mwangi Cultural center and Unity house, where identity-based organizations can meet, were closed for a large portion of the pandemic, a time when unity spaces have been sorely needed. Furthermore, the assistant director of multicultural affairs, Whitley Hadley, transferred to a different college during the pandemic. While staff and faculty turnover is typical, it happens at much higher rates for staff and faculty of color, making it even harder to create safe spaces for students of color. Why do student demands go decades without being met? There is no one answer. The workings of the upper administration, including the board of trustees as well as President McCartney and her cabinet, are largely unclear to the majority of students. The administration’s continued practice of decision making behind closed doors is entangled with their refusal to take accountability for past and present racism and discrimination towards students of color. This inaccessible and unclear exchange of information, by administration, when meeting student demands, makes it difficult for students to hold them accountable. A central issue is the student body’s rapid turnover rate compared to administration. Students average only four years at Smith. Such a rapid turnover rate means that without institutional reminders, memories tend to fade quickly. Even now, a large number of the student population does not remember the 2019 protests—the memory of it left with the students who participated. Even when administration does communicate plans to move forward with demands, holding the administration accountable is a long-term, time -intensive commitment. In response to the 2001–2002 protests by the Students Grassroot Organizing Group (SGOG), the administration issued a list of responses to student demands that would be met by or during the fall 2002 semester. A letter from the Dean of the College at the time, Maureen A. Mahoney, promised that by or during fall 2002 there would be “a counselor experienced in issues of gender and sexual identity available at least for drop in sessions a few times a week.” My personal experience shows that this is a nonexistent or incredibly inaccessible program. While the Wellness Services website shows they offer drop in sessions, Wellness Services and Counseling Services are separate entities. Counseling services only provides scheduled appointments and the counselors of marginalized identities book up incredibly quickly. This leaves marginalized students to choose between care from a therapist who does not understand their circumstances, or no care. In 2019, President McCartney agreed to meet SSJIC demands for the funding of learning disability testing for low-income students, but time and time again students get turned away from the Schact center without medication because the bureaucracy is out student’ hands. While there is undoubtable progress forward, it is often too little. Mwangi occupies only the ground floor of the Davis Building, above is the Davis Ballroom which regularly hosts large events. The demand for the entirety of Davis to be made into a space for marginalized students by expanding Mwangi to both floors of the building still has not been fully met. The Smith administration needs to create a transparent system easily accessible to the Smith student body, to serve as a tool for checking on administration progress and actions. We envision something like the Towards Racial Justice Plan, but instead of allowing adminstration to choose the benchmarks of progress, the community would raise concerns or goals they would like met and administrators would build a plan to meet them, communicate their progress and take community feedback. Such a system would create opportunities for clearer dialogue between students and administration. If instated, the formation of this system should itself be a collaborative process between Smith community and administration. Students and faculty involved in the process would be compensated for their labor in this collaboration, as Smith College also often asks BIPOC and marginalized students and staff to speak on panels, advocate for themselves and mediate conversations around racist incidents in lieu of hiring paid mediators. Here is a link to our proposed transparency model, and we welcome comments/additions/concerns. What you can do: Look over this list of demands and add any information you have about if these demands are unmet Take this survey and let us know what you want to demand of Smith College Look over current student demands generated by this survey here Check out this resource by the Jandon Center Send a letter advocating for increased administration transparency and accountability, as well as urges to meet existing demands, can be posted to College Hall or emailed to: Kathleen McCartney, President of the College — presidentmccartney@smith.edu Alison Overseth, Chair of Board of Trustees — boardchair@smith.edu Elena Palladino, Secretary of the Board of Trustees — epalladino@smith.edu Baishakhi Taylor, Dean of the College — btaylor44@smith.edu Adela Penagos, Associate Dean of the College — apenagos@smith.edu Do more research on the history of student demands, which can be accessed in person at the Smith College Archives on the 3rd floor of Neilson, in the Special Collections Reading Room, or online with the Weaving Voices Archive. If you’d like to contribute material related to student activism on campus, contact specialcollections@smith.edu. Recently, Smith’s archival team has been trying to create a larger record of student activism and demonstrations on campus. Here is a list of interesting boxes to look at there! Here is a document that talks about the kinds of organizing techniques used at Smith! Here is a link some of the primary documents we loved from the archives Here is an email template