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The Counseling and Mental Health Center is committed to the promotion and affirmation of diversity in its broadest sense. Our mission requires that people of every background be able to use our services with an expectation of respectful treatment. The professional ethics and standards of the various mental health disciplines represented at CMHC place a high value on the dignity and worth of individuals regardless of their gender expression and identity, ethnicity, race, sexual/affectional orientation, age, physical and mental abilities, religious beliefs, and socioeconomic class. Therefore, as part of their professional functioning, all staff members are expected to respect the dignity and worth of the individual, and to strive for the preservation and protection of fundamental human rights.
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A major goal of our agency is to maintain an atmosphere of respect and trust in which we feel free to explore and discuss our attitudes, beliefs, values, and behaviors in relation to others who are similar to and different from ourselves. As part of our service and training mission, we require of ourselves a commitment to work toward the recognition and elimination of prejudice and discrimination, especially those kinds which have traditionally affected mental health practice. In particular, prejudice and discrimination on the basis of gender expression and identity, ethnicity, race, sexual/affectional orientation, age, physical and mental abilities, religious beliefs, and socioeconomic class run counter to our professional ethics as an agency. Such prejudice and discrimination are detrimental to the practice of psychotherapy, supervision, training, consultation, developmental programming, and research; and to the development of effective colleagueship among staff members. We further emphasize that all staff members and trainees will fulfill the agency's expectation and their ethical obligation to accept and support the right of colleagues and clients to affirm a gay, lesbian, or bisexual orientation and/or transgender identity.
As we strive to educate ourselves and others about the mental health issues of a pluralistic society, we recognize that an examination of personal prejudice and discrimination and their impact on our professional work is best accomplished within a climate of safety and respect. Therefore, staff members are expected to support each other in exploring their individual prejudices, and in cultivating positive attitudinal and behavioral change in one another. We also recognize that the promotion of diversity has an inherent tendency toward clashes in values and perspectives. Thus, continual examination and discussion of such conflicts are crucial for their effective resolution.
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