Mission Statement

The Muses were known for being inspirations for the world simply through the fact of their being born with innate powers to change the populace and encourage a better society. The Muses Program for Minoritized Youth focuses on the indomitable spirits held within each family and each youth who is minoritized. Centered around a strengths-based model, this will be a multi-purpose psychiatric clinic where each facet of a child’s identity is embraced, celebrated, and the staff work with the children and their families to weave a better future for them, and, more importantly, with them. The clinic aims to help youths and their families cope with, heal from, and navigate the various facets of discrimination that occur far too often in our society. At its core The Muses Program will be one of fostering the dreams and hopes of minoritized children. 

Why The Muses Program Exists

The Muses Program for Minoritized Youth seeks to continue addressing some of the glaring disparities that exist in healthcare with regards to the mental health treatment of minoritized youths. Currently, many academic centers do not fully address the ways in which discrimination affects the health of patients, trainees, staff, and faculty. In psychiatry, we are also rushing to catch up in terms of providing nuanced care that truly addresses the discrimination children face every day – too often these factors are still not fully addressed as part of a treatment plan for youths and their mental health. Even worse, sometimes these facets of identity, of being minoritized, are not brought into the conversations that occur with youths and their families.

In psychiatry as well, there is a long history of not respecting minoritized people or, even worse, harming them. This includes our diagnostic manual for diagnosing for several iterations listing homosexuality as a mental illness, the over-diagnosing of mental health diagnoses such as schizophrenia for African-Americans, and inaccurate diagnoses for many minoritized patients who are labeled as “oppositional” or “aggressive” when they are experiencing diagnoses such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, or anxiety. Too much of our society--and academia--is part of perpetuating a cycle of saying that we will “do better” then often not fully supporting the people who deserve help the most.

The Muses Program is one piece of breaking that cycle. Built by faculty and staff who identify as minoritized, the clinic aims to not only provide mental healthcare that minoritized youth often do not have access to, but also provide tools for them to navigate a world filled with bias. Although much of medicine has the deficits-model lens, where even being minoritized can be seen as a problem, this clinic will come from a strengths-based model of highlighting the facets of a youth’s identity as essential and beautiful. Just as importantly, the clinic will center around the families and children as experts, with the staff and healthcare workers providing support and guidance that works with the family and honors their experiences.