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

Kathleen McCoy, DNSc, APRN-BC, PMHNP-BC, PMHCNS-BC, FNP-BC, FAANP, FNKF

Steering Committee

Jasmine Bratton- Robinson, MSN-Ed, PMH-BC
Nadia Ali Charania, PhD, RN
Natalie Hart, DNP, MS, RN, PMHNP-BC
Kosuke Niitsu, PhD, ARNP, PMHNP-BC
Lindsey Schweiger, DNP
Kimberly Sennet, APRN, CNM, MSN, RN
Briana Snyder, PhD, RN-BC, CNE
Neinguii Suokhrie, RN
Antonio Zapata, MS, RN

Advisory Panel

Shirin Ahmadieh, RN, BSN
Beth Al-Qudah, DNP
Michelle Baker-Bartlett, RN
Mekeshia Bates, DNP, CRNP-PMH
Griselle Batista, PhD, RN, CTN-A
Thia Baugh, BSN
Larisa Belisle, PMHCNS
Leslie Binford, DNP, RN, PMHNP-BC
Jasmine Bratton-Robinson, PhD, RN, MSN-Ed, PMH-BC
Nicole Brodrick, DNP, PMHNP-BC, RN
Rani Busse, RN
LaTonia Chalmers, DNP, APRN, PMHNP-BC, APHN-BC, NC-BC, RYT-200
Nadia Ali Charania, PhD, RN
Daphne Coats, APRN
Somatra Connolly, MSN, RN, PMHNP-BC
Lynda Creighton-Wong, MS, RN, PMHNP-BC, PMHCNS-BC
Erica Cuscina, BSN, RN, PMH-BC, SANE-A, CA-CP SANE
Joanne DeSanto Iennaco, PhD, APRN, PMHNP-BC, FAAN
Dennis Doering, DNP, PMHNP-BC
Joy Eguavoen, DNP, APRN, PMHNP-BC
Kimberly Ferguson, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, PMHNP-BC
Mihaela Fletcher, DNP, MSN, CNE, PMHNP-BC, FNP-C, CARN-AP, FIAAN
Toni Fuentes, BSN
Mary Green, PhD, MN, RN
Patricia Hall-Stevens, PMHNP-BC, RN
Lyons Hardy, EdD, MSN, PMHNP
Patricia Jacobowitz, DNP, PMHNP, RN
Jayne James, RN, MSN, APRN, PMHCNS-BC, PMHNP, DNP(c)
Eudora Jones, DNP, RN, PMHNP-BC
Erica Joseph, PhD, DNP, APRN, PMHNP-BC, NP-C
Anthony Knatt, MSN, PMHNP
Aparna Kumar, PhD, MSN, MPH, MA, PMHNP-BC
Kate Lindsay, MSN, RN
Cene’ Livingston, DNP, APRN, FNP-C, PMHNP-C, CNE
Brandee Madden, DNP, PMHNP-BC
Nita Magee, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, MHNP-BC
Mary Malone
Kathleen Martin, APRN-BC
Karen Massiah, RN
Therese Mathews, PhD, APRN-NP
Kathleen McCoy, DNSc, APRN-BC, PMHNP-BC, PMHCNS-BC, FNP-BC, FAANP, FNKF
Christine Moriconi, PsyD, MA, MSN, LMFT, PMHNP-BC
Erin Muladore, DNP, RN, PMHNP-BC
Venetta Mwengella,
Caroline Nestro, PhD, MS, RN
Kosuke Niitsu, PhD, ARNP, PMHNP-BC
Fausat Odubiyi, DNP, MSN,PMHNP-BC
Eda-Joyce Patrick, DNP, APRN, PMHNP-BC
Nicole Piquant, PMHNP
Mechelle Plasse, PhD, PMHNP-BC, Psychiatric CNS-BC
Vincent Prasad, BSN, RN
Fritzie Schimmel, MSN, RN, PMHNP-BC
Lindsey Schweiger, DNP
Kimberly Sennet, APRN, CNM, PMHNP-BC, MSN
Carole Shea, PhD, RN, FAAN
Marie Smith-East, PhD, DNP, PMHNP-BC, EMT-B
Briana Snyder, PhD, RN, PMH-BC, CNE, RYT 200
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
Neinguii Suokhrie, MS, BSN, RN-BC, PMHN
Mary Louise Tatum, MPH, MSN, PMHNP-BC, RN
Khadijah Tuitt, DNP, PMHNP-BC
Mary Tulinnye, DNP
Michael Valenti, Ph.D., APRN, PMHNP-BC, NEA-BC
Barbara Warren, PhD, APRN, PMHCNS-BC, FNAP, FAAN
Stacia Wilbourne, RN
Della Williams, RN, MSN, PMHCNS-BC
Antonio Zapata, MS, RN

*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).”