APNA Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Advisory Committee

Charge

Vision
The Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Advisory Committee will advise the board on how APNA can actively foster diversity, equity, and inclusion* within the organization, as well as for the profession, in order to help address health disparities and create positive and sustainable change for those to whom psychiatric-mental health nurses provide care.

Goals

• Provide guidance to ensure that APNA offers education, resources, and programs which integrate considerations of relevant cultural needs, preferences, and issues.
• Communicate accurate and current information about diversity, equity, and inclusion to leadership in order to inform conversations among the board and the membership.
• Advise the board on an ongoing strategy for addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion for the membership and the psychiatric-mental health nursing profession.

Chair

Barbara Jones Warren, PhD, RN, APRN-CNS, PMH-BC, FNAP, FAAN

Associate Chair

Erica D. Joseph, DNP, APRN, PMHNP-BC, NP-C

Steering Committee

Lisa Atwa, MSN, PHMNP, RN
Cynthia Awadzi, MSN, FNP-BC, PMHNP-BC
Jasmine Bratton- Robinson, MSN-Ed, PMH-BC
Nadia Ali Charania, PhD, RN
Natalie Hart, DNP, MS, RN, PMHNP-BC
Kathleen McCoy, DNSc, APRN-BC, PMHNP-BC, PMHCNS-BC, FNP-BC, FAANP
Sandra Nelson, PhD, APRN-BC
Kosuke Niitsu, PhD, ARNP, PMHNP-BC
Amanda Pekau, BSN, RN
Jasmine Salas, BSN
Lindsey Schweiger, DNP
Kimberly Sennet, APRN, CNM, MSN, RN
Briana Snyder, PhD, RN-BC, CNE
Neinguii Suokhrie, RN
Kristina Torre-Verdejo, MSN, RN, APRN, PMHNP-BC
Danny Willis, DNS, PMHCNS-BC, FAAN
Antonio Zapata, MS, RN

Advisory Panel

Michelle Baker-Bartlett, RN
Diane Barber, DNP, APRN, FNP-C, PMHNP-BC
Mekeshia Bates, DNP, CRNP-PMH
Larisa Belisle, PMHCNS
Leslie Binford, DNP, RN, PMHNP-BC
Nicole Brodrick, DNP, PMHNP-BC, RN
LaTonya Carroll, DNP, APRN, CNP, PMHNP-BC, FNP-C, CPNP-PC
LaTonia Chalmers, RN, MSN, PMHNP-BC
Lynda Creighton-Wong, APRN, RN, PMHNP-BC, PMHCNS-BC
Maria Flodesol Culpa-Bondal, PhD, RN
Erica Cuscina, BSN, RN
Jo Deaton, MS, APRN/PMH-BC
Joanne DeSanto Iennaco, PhD
Griselle Estrada, MSN, RN
Rachel Featherstone, BSN, MSN, WHNP
Kimberly Ferguson, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, PMHNP-BC
Mihaela Fletcher, DNP, PMHNP-BC, FNP-C
Anthony Fyffe, BSN, RN
Mary Green, PhD, MN, RN
Lyons Hardy, MS, RN, P-MHNP
Myrthle Henry, PhD, RN
Jesse Higgins, RN, PMHNP
Patricia Jacobowitz, DNP, PMHNP, RN
Jayne James, RN, MSN, PMHCNS-BC, ONGBO, DNP(c)
Eudora Jones, DNP, RN, PMHNP-BC
Anthony Knatt, BSN, RN
Veronica Leftridge, MSN, MS, RN
Kate Lindsay, MSN, RN
Cene’ Livingston, DNP, APRN, FNP-C, PMHNP-C, CNE
Brandee Madden, DNP, RN, PMHNP-BC
Nita Magee, PhD, MHNP-BC, RN
Therese Mathews, PhD, APRN-NP
Samson Mehreteab, RN, BSN
Osita Mgbendi, BSN, RN
Christine Moriconi, PsyD, MA, MSN, LMFT, PMHBC
Erin Muladore, DNP, RN, PMHNP-BC
Caroline Nestro, PhD, MS, RN
Mechelle Plasse, PhD, PMHNP-BC, Psychiatric CNS-BC
Yvette Rose, DNP MSN RN
Carole Shea, PhD, RN, FAAN
Somatra Simpson, PMHNP-BC
Marie Smith, PMHNP-BC, EMT-B
Jeanne Marie Stacciarini, PhD, RN, FAAN
Shaquita Starks, PhD, APRN, FNP-BC, PMHNP-BC
Cathy Stein, ,RN,PMHCNS-BC
Umeika Stephens, DNP, PMHNP-BC, FNP-BC
Aaron Sylvester, RN
Mary Louise Tatum, MPH, MSN, PMHNP-BC, RN
Camillia Terrell, MSN, APRN, PMHNP-BC
Khadijah Tuitt, DNP, PMHNP
Mary Tulinnye, DNP
Michael Valenti, PhD, RN
Carol Wahlstrom, RN, MS, LCPC
Shawnna Walker, MSN, ARNP
Della Williams, RN, MSN, PMHCNS-BC
Michael Wolf, MSN, RN-BC

*APNA uses these terms as defined by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing in their Diversity, Inclusion, & Equity in Academic Nursing Position Statement (2017):

“…diversity references a broad range of individual, population, and social characteristics, including but not limited to age; sex; race; ethnicity; sexual orientation; gender identity; family structures; geographic locations; national origin; immigrants and refugees; language; physical, functional, and learning abilities; religious beliefs; and socioeconomic status.

Inclusion represents environmental and organizational cultures in which faculty, students, staff, and administrators with diverse characteristics thrive. Inclusive environments require intentionality and embrace differences, not merely tolerate them. Everyone works to ensure the perspectives and experiences of others are invited, welcomed, acknowledged, and respected in inclusive environments. More broadly, equity is interrelated with diversity and inclusion.

Equity is the ability to recognize the differences in the resources or knowledge needed to allow individuals to fully participate in society, including access to higher education, with the goal of overcoming obstacles to ensure fairness (Kranich, 2001). To have equitable systems, all people should be treated fairly, unhampered by artificial barriers, stereotypes or prejudices (Cooper, 2016).”