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Racial Disparities in Mental Health Diagnosis and Strategies to Avoid Bias
Fri, Nov 07
|The Birch Center
This workshop invites clinicians to critically examine how bias can shape diagnostic patterns and contribute to misdiagnosis, stigma, and ineffective care. Through reflection and discussion, we explore ways to identify and reduce diagnostic disparities across marginalized identities
Time & Location
Nov 07, 2025, 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM
The Birch Center, 3326 Durham-Chapel Hill Blvd, Suite A230, Durham, NC 27705, USA
Guests
About the event
Misdiagnosis leads to social stigma, as well as ineffective treatment for the actual underlying issue. Shalaby et al. noted that initial mental health diagnoses, once submitted, cause treating clinicians to stop looking for evidence that conflicts with said initial diagnosis (2024). To put it another way: once you diagnose someone with a conduct disorder, you’ll stop looking for evidence for conflicting diagnoses such as anxiety or ADHD. This presentation will encourage the attending clinicians to review their diagnostic history, with the goal of determining if they can notice different diagnostic trends based primarily on race, but also to consider gender and other non-dominant identities.
Chad Girard is a graduate student in clinical mental health counseling at Prescott College and a current clinician mental health intern at Three Oaks Behavioral Health and Wellness. Part of his program's focus on social justice encourages students to take a stance on an pervasive issue in the…