Founded in 2020, the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Office (DEIO) at McLean Hospital is a critical resource in upholding the hospital’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) across policies, programs, and practices.
Under the leadership of Stephanie Pinder-Amaker, PhD, McLean’s chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer, the DEIO drives structural and systemic change to promote inclusivity, lifelong learning, and the celebration of McLean’s diverse community.
The DEIO’s mission is to cultivate sustainable, equitable, and inclusive frameworks within the McLean system using a shared responsibility model. We are committed to supporting all McLean employees, patients, and the broader community as we learn and grow together in our practice of cultural humility (Teravlon and Murray, 1998). We urge all McLean employees to commit to lifelong curiosity and learning.
Evolution of the DEIO
In response to the growing global conversation about race, McLean Hospital established the Antiracist, Justice, and Health Equity (ARJHE) Task Force in June of 2020. The ARJHE task force was charged with identifying short- and long-term goals to address systemic racism and establish a culture of healing and equity within our own hospital system and the communities we serve.
Stemming from the task force’s first recommendations, McLean inaugurated the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Office, launched the ARJHE web-based resource library, implemented a system-wide Empowered Listening Tour to better understand the experiences of employees of color, and established McLean’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Four Pillars.
Propelled by the ARJHE action plan, the DEIO continues to expand and evolve their initiatives, prioritizing equity across all aspects of identity throughout all facets of patient care, employee relations, and community engagement.
A natural progression for our initiatives has been the active engagement of the entire McLean and Mass General Brigham system in promoting the DEI Pillars throughout all mission elements.
These efforts have included targeted anti-bias projects within clinical programs, the expansion of outreach efforts to historically underserved populations, and the implementation of standards of DEI engagement across hospital roles. The systems created to implement the ARJHE task force’s recommendations are now being expanded through the DEIO to address all “isms.”
Our goal is to promote equity and safety for all with rising identities at McLean. Alongside our community as a whole, the DEIO continues to evolve and adapt to incorporate best practices for promoting social justice, health equity, and belonging.
McLean’s DEI Pillars
To create a cohesive structure and framework for McLean’s multifaceted DEI initiatives, the DEIO introduced these four pillars.
Pillar One: Healing, Support, and Empowerment of McLean Community for Individuals with Rising Identities
The first pillar, and our number one priority, is to foster employee healing, support, and empowerment for individuals with historically marginalized identities.
For too long we have not allocated sufficient space, thought, or resources to counteract the effects of oppression in our system. We aim to create opportunities, structures, and processes for all McLean community members who hold rising identities due to race, ethnicity, ability status, sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic status, religion, indigenous heritage, and/or national origin to heal from trauma, find support, and thrive in our organization.
Pillar Two: Multiculturally Informed Clinical and Workforce Consultation
Leveraging the expertise of our Multicultural Psychology Consultation Team, Pillar Two both utilizes existing resources and builds capacity to provide multiculturally informed clinical and staff consultation to McLean divisions and programs.
Pillar Three: Multiculturally Informed Workforce Training and Standards of Engagement
As McLean is a leader in the field of mental health, Pillar Three represents our commitment to lifelong learning and education on best practices for promoting cultural humility.
We aim to provide scalable, multiculturally informed, and anti-racist training, education, and standards of engagement for all McLean staff. Our emphasis is on system-wide shared responsibility and sustainable models, leveraging Mass General Brigham DEI resources and developing norms and expectations for engaging ARJHE resources.
Pillar Four: Corrective Action, Policies, and Standards of Care
Pillar Four prioritizes the implementation of anti-racism/anti-bias patient policies, creating a centralized process for reporting of bias/racist incidents, and establishing clinical and research standards for identity-informed resources and assessments.
McLean commits to taking corrective action to ensure our environment is inclusive and welcoming of all identities and that marginalizing terms, practices, and images are identified and removed. We are implementing necessary policies and research/clinical standards to ensure structural integration of DEI best practices.
For Employees
A core initiative of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Office is to develop sustainable practices and resources that foster growth, safety, and belonging. The DEIO Resource Page is an ever-evolving, internal resource for McLean and Mass General Brigham employees throughout the system to access educational materials, remain up to date on DEI events, and contribute to McLean’s DEI initiatives.
More information is available via McLean’s employee intranet (employees only).