Crisis Response & Criminalization: A Social Justice Lens Webinar

Webinar Description

In this 90 minute publicly facing webinar, participants will learn about:

• The criminalization of mental illness
• Intersectional perspectives on race, mental health and crisis services
• Existing data trends and the potential implications of Virginia’s data gaps

Webinar Objectives

• Identify the relevance of social justice in mental health in order to re-examine mental health and illness in the context of the U.S. societal structures
• Discuss the impact of social hierarchies on diagnostic processes and classifications in order to better serve patients from marginalized communities
• Self-evaluate the concept of social justice advocacy in order to identify action steps that can be taken to advance justice

This training is appropriate for persons who work with youth or adults in crisis services. This may include:

• Behavioral healthcare professionals
• Emergency healthcare providers
• First responders
• Criminal justice professionals
• Law enforcement
• Public policy makers (especially those working on Marcus Alert)

Webinar Facilitator

Dr. Sarah Y. Vinson is a physician who specializes in adult, child & adolescent, and forensic psychiatry. She is the founder of the Lorio Psych Group, an Atlanta, GA based mental health practice providing expert care and consultation. Dr. Vinson is also the founder of Lorio Forensics, which provides consultation in a wide variety of cases in criminal, civil and family court cases. After graduating from medical school at the University of Florida she completed her general psychiatry training at Cambridge Health Alliance/Harvard Medical School. She then returned to the South to complete fellowships in both child & adolescent and forensic psychiatry at Emory University School of Medicine. In addition to providing mental health care services such as psychotherapy, consultation and psychopharmacology through her private practice, Dr. Vinson is an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at Morehouse School of Medicine. She is also Adjunct Faculty at Emory University School of Medicine. You can learn more about Dr. Vinson by visiting her website.