
CEO & Founder
BHETC, LLC
I am a resounding voice, championing health equity and justice for BIPOC communities marginalized by structural racism, through innovative collaborations that will increase lifespans by transforming zip codes.
With the help of my JDEI (Justice, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) partners at BHETC, LLC, we are reshaping the direction of wellness and mental health for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color through services of advocacy, mentoring, public speaking, training and the development of educational resources so that we can achieve health equity for women, children, adolescents and their families in their communities.
Thoughts and viewpoints expressed are my own , OAMO” (opinions are my own) and “retweets do not equal endorsements” , and in no way a direct reflection of any organization.
In addition to numerous academic lectures, Dr. Kim Gordon has sponsored national and local CME and CEU events. Dr. Kim Gordon has been an invited speaker at many national meetings including The Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation, Black Mental Health Alliance, National Center for School Mental Health (NCSMH), American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry , Psych Sign, American Psychiatric Association; IPS and Annual Meeting, Black Psychiatrists of America, and American Academy for Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training.
Highlighted topics include sexual trafficking, juvenile justice, COVID 19, microaggressions, community trauma and violence, black mental health, intimate partner violence, burnout, women’s mental health, ADHD, ODD and the
school to prison pipeline.
Her leadership has been instrumental in providing mentorship, sponsorship and leverage for many BIPOC psychiatrists to develop educational resources, networks and supports to advance the cause of dismantling all forms of oppression and racism in medicine.
She is also lead author of the Origins of Racism in American Medicine and Psychiatry In: Medlock et. al book, Racism and Psychiatry: Contemporary Issues and Interventions.
Dr. Kim Gordon graduated Cum Laude from the only Catholic, Historically Black College and University, Xavier University of LA, where she was awarded Early Acceptance into Tulane University School of Medicine. After graduating from Tulane University School of Medicine, and surviving Hurricane Katrina as a Louisiana Native, she elected to complete her general psychiatry and child psychiatry fellowship at Tulane University School of Medicine to further explore the dualities of her identity as a black women and psychiatrist through and within the cultural lens of living in New Orleans Post Hurricane Katrina, that devastated the Gulf Coast in 2005.
She is recognized as the first Tulane Alumna to be awarded the SAMHSA/American Psychiatric Association Minority Fellowship Program to promote research and career development in the field of cultural psychiatry and mental health disparities. Dr. Kim Gordon became the first Tulane black psychiatrists to hold a position on the Board of Trustees of the American Psychiatric Association and also become Chair of the Minority Fellowship Program.
A talented educator and national leader, Dr. Gordon has dual appointments at Tulane University School of Medicine and the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Dr. Gordon has developed curriculums for Addressing Cultural Competencies and is recognized for her leadership as a clinician and educator. Through BHETC she aims to expand her work and advocacy to train communities and organizations on structural competency, social justice , diversity, health equity and inclusion for BIPOC men, women, children and adolescents.
Implicit bias and microaggressions affect all levels of medical care. Far from being subtle or small, an emerging literature suggests these phenomena can have big effects on access to care, care effectiveness, and even stigma. Manifestations can range widely, from assumptions about patient socioeconomic status or personality to recommending a different treatment depending on a patient’s ethnicity, gender, or disability status, not to mention countless mental health-related disparities among racial and sexual minority and underrepresented groups that suggest these populations have worse prognoses. These injustices are not new and can have a significant impact on health, both physical and mental, at the individual, institutional, structural and population levels. They are among the forces that contribute to burnout and compassion fatigue among so many in health professions. This can erode patient trust, undermine therapeutic alliances, discourage patients from seeking care, and potentially worsen outcomes. A recent study found that a black, working-class man would have to call 16 times as many therapists before finding care. This is unacceptable. Providers also experience these biases and microaggressions, which undermine their ability to provide excellent care. Interestingly, minority and underrepresented psychiatrists may self-select to work in underserved community clinics, and even there find discrimination from their peers and patients due to the subtle microaggressions of an oppressive health system. Experiences of discrimination based on gender, race, or identity may contribute to burnout and worsen provider well-being. Indeed, many academic institutions struggle to foster diversity at the highest levels of their organizations. An understanding of these factors is essential to increasing access to care, providing quality care, and fostering well-being among providers and patients. This highly interactive workshop will involve participants engaging in exercises to understand power, privilege, and microaggressions that occur on a daily basis in our offices, clinics, and hallways. A panel of facilitators will lead group discussion regarding the types of microaggressions, common reactions, and how they might affect our interpersonal interactions. Participants will be provided with resources to examine their own implicit biases, and we will conclude with strategies both individually and systemically to combat microaggressions and implicit biases in our daily practices and become allies with those who are oppressed.
BHETC (Bringing Health Equity to Communities) is a consulting firm founded and directed by Dr. Kim Gordon to support diversity, inclusion and health equity initiatives for children, adolescents and their families through collaboration with communities, systems, organizations and naturally occurring social networks.