July Faculty Monthly Highlight: Dr. Lois Stepney

July is Minority Mental Health Month in the United States, and the College of Social Work would like to take this time to recognize Dr. Lois Marie Clay Stepney, whose expertise lies in part in addressing the collective mental health and holistic wellbeing of Powerful Groups Targeted for Oppression (PGTO).

PGTO is a term coined by Dr. Joseph N. Cooper, from the University of Massachusetts Boston’s Department of Counseling and School Psychology, to shift our language from terms like minority to terminology embodying a sense of empowerment.

Stepney, MSW, LISW-S, is a double alumna of The Ohio State University, and has served in the Columbus community since 1995 in the mental health and medical fields as a master’s level social worker in both clinical and administrative roles. Most recently, Stepney served as one of the primary trainers for the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Behavioral Health Workforce Education Training (BHWET) Grant. BHWET was designed to support the professional growth and development of graduate students in the social work, psychiatric nurse practitioner and school psychology programs at The Ohio State University. BHWET also supports current behavioral health workforce colleagues throughout Ohio serving children, adolescents and transitional aged youth and their adult caregivers/families from the PGTO. Regarding minority mental health, Stepney, as an African American woman herself, sees the importance of applying a healing justice framework to support the ways communities come together to center collective care and healing in support of the mental, emotional, relational, physical, financial and spiritual wellbeing of PGTO.

PGTO has been embraced by Stepney who learned from her cultural tradition the power of words to both create and to destroy as referenced in the Biblical verse Proverbs 18:21. It says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue….” Terms such as “minority” and “minoritized” to describe people from communities like hers sounds like people being acted upon because they are somehow lesser than, versus taking charge of their own destinies as powerful people.

When it comes to mental health, PGTO must come together to help reduce mental health stigma and to address the root causes contributing to mental illness through a healing justice framework. The invitation is for PGTO people to embrace the divine gifts of spending more time in the space of joy, peace, and in movements to create spaces of thriving, especially for PGTO children and families.

This month, Stepney invites people to reconsider the power of words, and the necessity to back up words with powerful, life affirming actions in support of mental, emotional, relational, physical, financial and spiritual wellbeing. Seeking professional help through a trained, culturally responsive, mental health provider is an example of taking action now!

” To support our collective mental health, let’s consider the power of our words to promote life,” says Stepney. “And then let’s add action to our uplifting words! There is nothing wrong with Black people and other people from PGTO seeking mental health care from a culturally responsive clinician. It is time we focus on our holistic healing community!”