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Graduate students in the
individuals both through educational
and practicum training. As clinicians
in training, it is imperative for
graduate students to remain informed
initiatives in the state of Florida is
of debate and consideration for the
students- are unaware of the nature of
the campaign.
legislation that permits clinical
been approved in several states,
including New Mexico, Louisiana,
Illinois, Iowa, and Idaho, as well
as Guam, USPHS, the Indian
Health Service and all branches
itself does not grant prescriptive
postdoctoral studies and training
Furthermore, the medications that
those indicated for mental health
Clinicians in Training and the RxP Movement
By Rita M. Rivera, MS, FPAGS Chair
continued on page 9
FEATURE
Florida Psychologist •
medications and help patients wean
off medication.
movement has the support of the
of the FGCMP is to assist the APA
students of the FGCMP recognize
and invite clinicians in training to
become informed of the movement
and its implications. If passed in
for individuals across the state.
graduate students- seek to support
health care of others.
Clinicians in Training and RxP continued from page 7
trend. According to the Harvard
Center for Population and
Development Studies (Chen,
Waterman, & Krieger, 2020),
Covid-19 death rates among
People of Color are greater
among cities where there are
larger communities of color, more
concentration of poverty, housing
overcrowding, and economic
segregation. Some areas were
noted have 40% higher death
rates. How is this possible?
What is contributing to this huge
difference? What is going on? As
the pandemic has forged ahead,
these early ndings have been
supported in state after state.
The American Psychological
Association sprang into action
and developed the campaign
#EqualityFlattenstheCurve
to raise awareness about this
troubling trend, to examine the
systemic issues that contribute
to such a trend, and aims to
use psychological science to
nd solutions. FPA joined this
campaign by posting articles
on our social media platform to
spread awareness of this issue.
There are too many incidents
of unnecessary force used against
the Black community. One must
only watch a few minutes of news
each day to see some of these
tragedies unfold. Shortly after an
ofcer shot Jacob Blake seven
times in the back, we witnessed
a White man walking down the
street with a gun after killing
people with no show of force
from the police ofcers in the
vicinity. This is a public health
crisis and deserves more attention.
The most recent killings of Black
lives represent only a few lives in
the context of hundreds of years
of violent racism against Black
lives that has been allowed in this
country. Without social media,
many of us were simply not
hearing about these hate crimes.
Now with social media, we all see.
And many, many, many of us have
had enough. Without social media,
the police departments involved
in these events would not have
taken action. When the videos
went viral, then these institutions
began to investigate. This is what
racism is. . We have seen story
after story of police brutality and
senseless murders of Black people
in our country. Enough is enough.
We must say their names. The
#BlackLivesMatter movement is
not new, and the dissension has
intensied. The folx who tout
“all lives matter” are essentially
saying Black lives are expendable
and equates to the “colorblind”
mentality that further oppresses
Black Indigenous People of Color
(BIPOC). It is promising to see
so many people protesting. White
contributions to the protests
have certainly been noticed more
than ever. This momentum must
continue as allies are critical
to lifting up Black voices and
shattering long-standing racist and
anti-Black systems of oppression.
Complacency is not an option,
and we have a unique stance and
platforms as psychologists to
speak about the pervasive impacts
of racism, police brutality, and
more. FPA has created a special
afnity group for BIPOC to
support one another in a safe
space. The goals of this group are
continued on next page
There are too many
incidents of unnecessary
force used against the
Black community.
Florida Psychologist •