Running head: WEBINAR REVIEW 1

Webinar Review

Janay Whittaker

Wake Forest University

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Webinar Review

Summary of Webinar

I watched a webinar from Chi Sigma Iota (CSI) called “Psychopharmacology From a

Multicultural Perpective: Addressing Cultural Bias, Stigma, and Medication Use in Diverse

Populations.” The presenters were Victoria Sepulveda, Ph.D., LPC, CSAC, NCC and Caroline

O’Hara, Ph.D., LPC, NCC. Dr. Sepulveda is a professor and a clinician in a private practice. Her

research interests include wellness, substance use, multicultural needs, and psychopharmacology.

Dr. O’Hara is also a professor, and her research interests include advocacy and multicultural

counseling competence. Their learning objectives for this webinar were (1) to review the impact

of traumatic historical aspects on diverse populations in the United States, (2) to learn about

psychopharmacological treatment among diverse populations and best practices given this

information, and (3) to understand how to work with and treat diverse populations in a culturally

responsive rather than a generalized way.

I decided to watch this webinar on psychopharmacology and multiculturalism because of

my relationship to both of those areas. Multiculturalism and counseling is a personally resonant

area for me as a black woman. It is something I am also drawn to because of the increasing

prevalence of cross-cultural encounters due to things like globalization, because of the lack of

diversity in the counseling field, because of our current political climate, and because of my

interest in global health. On the other hand, psychopharmacology is an area I am unfamiliar with

and honestly, a little uncomfortable with. I am comfortable with pharmacology overall, but I

think my lack of understanding around some mental health disorders contributes to my

discomfort with psychopharmacology. I also think the emphasis on talk therapy and de-emphasis

on diagnosis thus far in my education could be making me feel that psychopharmacology is less
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necessary even though cognitively I can understand its importance. Even though I am more

comfortable with one aspect of this webinar than the other, overall, this webinar bridges my

science background and my current counseling interest.

I not only learned about psychopharmacology in this webinar, I learned history and

trauma. One thing I took away from this webinar is the consideration of the impact of historical

events and not just current cultural stressor. The presenters discussed the historical and

transgenerational trauma of six different cultural groups in the United States and how that trauma

might be at play currently. Another thing I learned about was the physiology of

psychopharmacological drug metabolism in diverse populations. I appreciated the fact that their

discussion of treatment differences for diverse populations emphasized physiological differences

rather than focusing on personality tendencies, which can feel like stereotyping. I also learned

about a number of ways I as a culturally-competent counselor can contribute to the success of

psychopharmacological treatment. The described these aspects that could influence adherence to

treatment: understanding client beliefs and expectations about treatment with medications,

understanding client preferences regarding treatment with medications, developing a good,

culturally-responsive therapeutic alliance, addressing language preferences, and using a variety

of inquiry styles and topics regarding medications.

Reflection on Learning

They presented the information in a very practical way, emphasizing things we as

counselors can be aware of and do in regards to psychopharmacological treatment and

multicultural competence. Therefore, I can see myself using almost every portion of the webinar

in practice. I can use the historical piece to conceptualize clients as well as to add to my

multicultural knowledge by further researching the events and experiences mentioned by the
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presenters. I can use the discussion of psychopharmacological treatment and drug response

differences for diverse populations as part of my effort to provide culturally-competent and

evidence-supported treatment. Finally, I can use the counseling relationship suggestions

throughout my counseling practice to have discussions with clients about psychopharmacological

treatment and their perspectives on it. This webinar and the research therein are directly

applicable to my future practice, and I appreciate the way it helps me integrate aspects of

counseling and understand more systemic ways of conceptualizing and practicing individual

counseling.

Given my current feelings about psychopharmacology and the new information I gleaned

from this webinar, I am looking forward to my course that covers diagnosis and the DSM-V

where I can get more comfortable with mental health disorders, especially those that often

require medication management. This class could also afford me an opportunity to make an

initial foray into the neurophysiology of our work and the mental health disorders we will

encounter, whether on my own or as part of our coursework.

Regarding seeking continuing education in the future, I think it is something I will

definitely continue to do, especially if they tend to emphasize applicability like this one did. Not

only can I use them in the future to impact my practice, it seems I can even use them throughout

the next year to supplement and inform my coursework at Wake Forest (and other coursework in

the future if I decide to pursue further education). Continuing education also can help me

integrate the learning from my courses that are pretty discrete entities at the moment. It seems

that through this one webinar experience, I have become aware of the myriad of ways continuing

education can be useful to my education and to my counseling practice.