Everybody Hates Me: Let's Talk About Stigma

Dr. Lisa Bowleg is Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychology at GW. She is a leading scholar of intersectionality in behavioral and social science research. She is the Director of the DC CFAR's Social and Behavioral Sciences Core. Learn more about Dr. Bowleg's work here and follow her research here.

We talk about Dr. Bowleg's work documenting intersecting stigma and discrimination, and the foundation of intersectionality in the works of Audre Lorde, bell hooks, and Sojourner Truth. We discuss how racism and other forms of discrimination: limit people's potential, rights and freedoms; manifest in health problems; and reduce opportunities to thrive.

Episode hosted by Dr. Carmen Logie. Supported by funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and Canada Research Chairs program. Original music and podcast produced by Jupiter Productions, who have various production services available to support your podcast needs.

Dr. Angela Mashford-Pringle is an Algonquin (Timiskaming First Nation) Assistant Professor and Associate Director at the Waakebiness-Bryce Institute for Indigenous Health, Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. Angela is the Director of the Master of Public Health – Indigenous Health program, Director of the Collaborative Specialization in Indigenous Health and Founding Editor of the Turtle Island Journal on Indigenous Health. She works with Indigenous communities in urban and rural settings with issues related to Indigenous health including cultural safety, land-based learning, and climate action. You can find Angela here and the Turtle Island Journal here.

In this podcast Dr. Mashford-Pringle talks about her journey to promoting Indigenous cultural safety inspired by the Oka Crisis. She describes the current and historical contexts of discrimination and violence toward Indigenous peoples, including residential schools,  forced sterilization, and mistreatment by police and healthcare workers. Dr. Mashford-Pringle explains the 3 P's-power, privilege and positionally-central to understanding Indigenous cultural safety. We also discuss the significance of sports teams changing their names, respect for Mother Earth, and the interconnectedness underlying climate change. 

Episode hosted by Dr. Carmen Logie. Supported by funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and Canada Research Chairs program. Original music and podcast produced by Jupiter Productions, who have various production services available to support your podcast needs.

Angelique Jenney, PhD, RSW, is an Assistant Professor and the Wood’s Homes Research Chair in Children’s Mental Health in the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Calgary. Dr. Jenney has over 20 years’ experience in intervention and prevention services within the child protection, children’s mental health and violence against women sectors. Dr. Jenney’s research and program development has been devoted to understanding and responding to the impact of violence in families. Find a recent blog post Angelique wrote on stigma and children's mental health access and experiences.

We discuss how stigma is a barrier for children and adolescents accessing early interventions for mental health--despite its potential to change the trajectory of their lives. Mental health stigma contributes to bullying and social isolation of children, and blaming of parents. We discuss stigma, fear, stereotypes and misinformation toward parents and families with children with mental health issues. Angelique shares how we need more dialogue about complicated feelings (and the magic of Inside Out!) and how we can use our range of emotions to know ourselves. Angelique recommends saying yes to opportunities that you may be afraid of, and being ok with being uncomfortable so we don't reject everything that we are afraid of. We also invite dream future podcast guests: Barack Obama, Dan Levy and Bruce Springsteen.

Episode hosted by Dr. Carmen Logie. Supported by funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and Canada Research Chairs program. Original music and podcast produced by Jupiter Productions, who have various production services available to support your podcast needs.

Professor Voisin has served as Dean of the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work since 2019. He holds the Sandra Rotman Chair in Social Work. Prior to his appointment at the University of Toronto, he was Professor at the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago for two decades where he was a Faculty Affiliate at the Center for the Study of Race, Culture, and Politics and the Center for Health and the Social Sciences. A central focus of Voisin’s scholarship is examining the impact of structural, neighborhood and police violence on the life chances and behavioral trajectories of urban youth and the protective factors that protect youth in the presence of such adversities. His latest book is America the Beautiful and Violent: Black Youth and Neighborhood Trauma in Chicago, published by Columbia University Press in 2019. You can find more of Dr. Voisin's work here.

We talk about Dr. Voisin's work on race, class and place-based stigma and the implications for people's lives and wellbeing. We talk about the costs of stigma and how we all pay the price for not addressing social inequalities. Dr. Voisin shares how COVID-19 has laid bare how race, place and class-based inequalities in one area of a city impact a city's wellbeing. We discuss who we pay attention to in situations of police violence toward Black persons, including how women and gender diverse persons' names may be less known to the general public. He talks about how people engage in stigmatizing practices to feel superior, and how how we are all sinners, sufferers and saints when it comes to stigma. Moving forward we need to find true power innate within ourselves, rather than illegitimate forms of power from stigmatizing.

Episode hosted by Dr. Carmen Logie. Supported by funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and Canada Research Chairs program. Original music and podcast produced by Jupiter Productions, who have various production services available to support your podcast needs.

Dr. Kaitlin Schwan is Lead Researcher for the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing, and Director of Research for The Shift. Kaitlin teaches social policy at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Social Work, where she is appointed Assistant Professor, Status Only. She is also a Senior Researcher at the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness (York University). Since completing her PhD in Social Work at the University of Toronto, Kaitlin’s research has focused on homelessness prevention in Canada and beyond, particularly for women and youth. Across her work, Kaitlin uses research to build bridges between evidence, advocacy, policy, and lived expertise in order to advance housing justice for all. You can follow The Shift here and Kaitlin here.

In this episode Kaitlin shares the importance of understanding the ways that stigma produces invisibility of people who are unhoused. Kaitlin talks about shelter practices that deepen feelings of shame, stigma and increase exposure to violence, as well as human rights violations in public spaces. We talk about the need for a radical redistribution of wealth, a tackling of poverty, and a reflection on policies and everyday practices that exacerbate vulnerabilities of people who are unhoused. We discuss the need to trust people who are unhoused as the experts in their own lives, and engage all people as members of our community. Finally Kaitlin reminds us of the importance of lifting as you climb.

Episode hosted by Dr. Carmen Logie. Supported by funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and Canada Research Chairs program. Original music and podcast produced by Jupiter Productions, who have various production services available to support your podcast needs. 

Dr. Gillian Einstein is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Toronto where she leads the Einstein Lab on Cognitive Neuroscience, Gender & Health. She is also the Founder of the Collaborative Specialization in Women’s Health at the University of Toronto, The Wilfred and Joyce Posluns Chair of Women’s Brain Health and Aging, and Guest Professor of Neuroscience and Gender Medicine, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden. She founded the Canadian Organization for Gender & Sex Research. You can learn more about her work here and find her lab on Twitter.

We talk about how the social can become biological. Stigma and stress are connected to brain health, including Alzheimers and dementia, as well as metabolic issues such as diabetes. We discuss how COVID-19 stigma impacts older persons framed as vulnerable and the need to understand the long-view and wisdom that older people bring to society. Dr. Einstein likes to startle people to get them to shift their perspective to become alert and aware. We shout out the Lofoten Islands as a dream destination. Gillian talks about following your heart and your pleasures to have an honest life.

Episode hosted by Dr. Carmen Logie. Original music and podcast produced by Cozmic Cat. Supported by funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and Canada Research Chairs program. 

Dr. Ramona Alaggia is a Professor at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto where she is deeply engaged in examining gender based violence issues from the standpoint of survivors of child sexual abuse, sexual violence and intimate partner violence. She is an international speaker and her research contributes to developing anti-discriminatory policies and practices for people living with and disclosing gender based violence. Ramona is currently running a large scale study on the impact of the #MeToo movement on gender based violence disclosures in Canada. The 3rd edition of her co-edited book "Cruel But Not Unusual: Violence in Relationships and Families in Canada" will be released in 2020.

In this episode we talk about stigma around sexual violence and how this impacts sexual violence disclosure experiences (and decisions of whether or not to disclose). Ramona provides examples of helpful, and less helpful, responses to sexual violence disclosures. We talk about the intersectional impacts of stigma on who is believed (and who is not) in disclosing sexual violence. Ramona discusses the history of the #MeToo movement, trauma-informed approaches to disclosure, and the need to change public perception (including media) portrayals of sexual violence survivors. 

Episode hosted by Dr. Carmen Logie. Original music and podcast produced by Cozmic Cat. Supported by funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and Canada Research Chairs program. 

Informational resources on violence can be found below:

Assaulted Women’s Helpline (national); 1-866-863-7868; www.awhl.org

Toronto Rape Crisis Centre; 24-hour crisis line: 416-597-8808; [email protected]

Kids Help Phone (national): Text 686868; 1-800-668-6868

Sexual Assault/Domestic Violence Care Centre; Women’s College Hospital, 76 Grenville St., Toronto Room 1305; 416-323-6040

Distress Centres of Greater Toronto; www.dcogt.com; (416) 408-HELP (4357)

This week's guest is Dr. Rob Stephenson, Professor and Vice Chair for Research, Department of Health Behavior and Biological Sciences, at the School of Nursing and Professor, Health Behavior and Health Education, at the University of Michigan. He also directs The Center for Sexuality & Health Disparities. Rob's work focuses on the intersection between sexuality and sexual health, examining how social stressors and inequalities create increased risks for poor sexual health. You can find some more information about Rob's work here and follow him on twitter and the Center for Sexuality and Health Disparities here.

Rob's research is fuelled by the fire of social justice and aims to change people's lives for the better. He shares his journey from volunteering as an HIV tester and counsellor, to his work in Telehealth today. We discuss how stigma is a shapeshifter and how it could easily be an X-Men character (Marvel, we are interested in collaborating on creating such a villain). His work with gay men couples looks at the complex links between stigma and relationship violence. We talk about the need for more representation of relationship types for gay relationships (we shout out Schitt's Creek..again...come on as a guest Dan Levy please). Rob discusses the importance of reducing stigma in the world- not only asking people to cope 'better' with stigma. Finally Rob shares words of wisdom about not chasing two rabbits at once, and when feeling froggy...jump.

Episode hosted by Dr. Carmen Logie. Original music and podcast produced by Cozmic Cat. Supported by funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and Canada Research Chairs program. 

Dr. Nadine Nakamura is a Professor of Psychology at the University of LaVerne and a licensed psychologist. She is committed to understanding the unique needs of multiple minorities, LGBT immigrants and asylum seekers, as well as LGBT international issues. Dr. Nakamura co-edited a book recently, alongside myself, published by the American Psychological Association on LGBTQ Mental Health: International Perspectives and Experiences.

Nadine talks about how stigma can look like omission, and the need to amplify voices on the periphery. Nadine discusses the importance of broadening the conversation of what LGBTQ mental health looks like outside of North America. She talks about LGBT asylum seekers' experiences navigating multiple marginalized identities and finding spaces of acceptance. Nadine discusses how parents can first get comfortable talking about racism, as that will help them have these conversations with their children, and how these conversations need to address power. She also talks about the need for rest to sustain ourselves over the long game. We discuss the importance of celebrating the small wins, loosening the grip of productivity, and the personal project of stopping oppressing ourselves.

Episode hosted by Dr. Carmen Logie. Original music and podcast produced by Cozmic Cat. Supported by funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and Canada Research Chairs program.