2024 Professional Continuing Education Online Webinar
Mental Illness Among South Asian Americans
Wednesday, April 3, 2024, from 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM
Online Workshop – 1.5 CE Credits
Fee: $19/person
FREE for Active PBC Volunteer Clinicians
Featured Presenters: Vani Rao, MD; Nalini Juthani, MD; Bhagirathy Sahasranaman, MD
Session Description: Despite the fact that South Asians are a fast-growing minority population in the United States, there is still a paucity of resources to meet the unique mental health needs of South Asians and the population is under-represented in research.
To improve clinicians’ ability to provide and increase access to culturally informed care, this session will provide participants with an understanding of the unique cultural identity, mental health needs and challenges faced by Asian Indian Americans. The workshop features three presenters:
- Dr. Rao will introduce the topic and discuss results of her research studies pertaining to South Asian mental health in the US.
- Drs. Juthani and Sahasranaman will discuss culturally relevant cases and highlight the unique presentations and challenges and successes to treatment.
Learning Objectives:
At the end of this presentation, the participant will be able to:
- Discuss mental illness presentations in the Asian-American population.
- Identify various facilitators and barriers to treating mental illness among Asian-Indian Americans in the United States.
- Describe culturally informed practices clinicians can utilize to provide better care.
Presenter Bio: Vani Rao, MD
Dr. Vani Rao is a part-time associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She also has a private practice in Washington DC.
She served as President of the Indo-American Psychiatric Association from 2013-2015.
She is currently the Chair of the Board of Trustees and the President of the MD/DC chapter of IAPA.
She is very interested in mental health issues among South Asians living in the United States. She has conducted two studies to explore symptom presentation and facilitators and barriers to treatment of mental illness among South Asians residing in the US.
She has co-authored 3 books: The Traumatized Brain: A Family Guide to Understanding Mood, Memory, and Behavior after Brain Injury, published by Johns Hopkins press, 2015.
Mental Illness among South Asian Americans: Twenty Culturally Mindful Case Studies : published by iUniverse 2019.
Healing the Traumatized Brain: Coping after Concussion and Other Brain Injuries. Vaishnavi S & Rao V. A Johns Hopkins Press Health Book, 2023.
Presenter Bio: Nalini Juthani, MD
Dr. Nalini Juthani is a retired psychiatrist and Professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. While she may be retired, she is not yet tired. In her active retirement, she is occupied in activities such as volunteering, mentoring, traveling, artwork, gardening, photography, creative writing and doing other voluntary activities India and the US.
Dr. Juthani has served on several professional and Not-for-Profit advisory Boards and has given several lectures at Not-for-Profit organizations. She has published two memoirs; edited two short compilation of stories, entitled “Enrichments For Life”, part 1 and 2; and most recently, she has co-authored a book entitled “Mental Illness among South Asian Americans: Twenty Culturally Mindful Case Studies.”
She is the past president of the Indo-American Psychiatric Association (IAPA) and served as the Chair of the board of trustees for many years. She is still active in the IAPA, member of the Ethics committee and is always ready to participate in IAPA activities and help whenever necessary.
Presenter Bio: Bhagi Sahasranaman, MD
Bhagi Sahasranaman, M.D. is Board Certified in General Psychiatry and in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. She is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a Distinguished Fellow of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
Dr. Sahasranaman served as medical director of a large behavioral health organization in South Florida for over seventeen years and has been a consultant child psychiatrist for several agencies serving children in the foster care system. She was Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine and has been on various committees and panels at the district and state levels. She was a member of the expert panel for the Florida Medicaid Drug Therapy Management Program for Behavioral Health for several years, which has developed best practice medication guidelines for treatment of various behavioral health conditions in children and adults.
Dr. Sahasranaman has provided numerous presentations, workshops, and trainings and has received several awards and recognitions such as the EPIC award presented by the Mental Health Association of Southeast Florida, TIMES award presented by NAMI Broward County, the Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce Excellence in Individual Healthcare Professional Award and the American Psychiatric Association’s Presidential Commendation Award in 2023. She was president of the Florida Chapter of the Indo-American Psychiatric Association (IAPA) from 2016 to 2019 and President of national IAPA from 2021 to 2023. Presently, Dr. Sahasranaman is a behavioral health medical director at Sunshine Health Plan in Florida.
Workshop registrants will receive a code prior to the webinar to log on to Zoom and participate in the online session.
IMPORTANT: Attendance will be monitored. Participants must be logged on to the meeting by the workshop start time and participate in the entire event in order to earn CE credit.
Pro Bono Counseling is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Pro Bono Counseling maintains responsibility for this program and its content. The Maryland Boards of Social Work Examiners and Professional Counselors and Therapists certify that this program meets the criteria for 1.5 credit hours of continuing education for social workers (Category 1), professional counselors, and therapists (Category A) licensed in Maryland.
CE credit is granted to participants with documented attendance at individual workshops. Attendance is monitored. Credit will not be granted to registrants who log on late or depart early from a session. It is the responsibility of registrants to comply with these requirements.
Please note that upon attendance verification, you will receive your CE certificate within four weeks via email. Please add Pro Bono Counseling to your contacts and check your SPAM folder to ensure delivery.
By registering for this event, all participants agree to abide by the following code of conduct:
Workshop Code of Conduct
Pro Bono Counseling (PBC) is dedicated to providing a positive continuing education experience for everyone of all backgrounds and identities. We do not tolerate disrespectful behavior or harassment of workshop participants, facilitators, or PBC staff in any form. We do not tolerate discrimination or harassment on the basis of characteristics that include but are not limited to: gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, citizenship, veteran status, pregnancy status, race, ethnicity, or religion. Anyone asked to stop unacceptable behavior is expected to comply immediately. If a participant engages in unacceptable behavior, PBC may take any action it deems appropriate, including warning or expelling the offender from the event with no refund.
Workshop Views Disclaimer
The views expressed by the workshop presenter(s) and participants are their own opinions and do not represent Pro Bono Counseling, and do not imply an endorsement of them or the organizations they represent.
