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All of us, particularly if you are a member of a marginalized group, have likely been in a situation in which other people’s behaviors have made you feel uncomfortable (or worse) and have made it difficult to respond. Some of these situations are likely a result of microaggressions: comments (but sometimes actions) that offend marginalized groups based on their race, gender, body size, religion, disability or sexual orientation, for example.
Many people everywhere experience microaggressions regularly in their lives. Even when a microaggression is unintentional, the comment or action causes pain to the recipient.
On occasion, some Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine students, faculty and staff have been on the receiving end of a microaggression and struggled with formulating an appropriate response. To help reduce the frequency of these microaggressions and give people the skills to recognize and respond when they happen, CCCLM established the Microaggression and Allyship Action Group, one of 10 action groups at CCLCM focused on diversity, equity, inclusion and, most importantly, belonging.
Tim Gilligan, MD, MS, Associate Director of Communication Skills and DEI Officer for Graduate Medical Education at Cleveland Clinic, says that the Microaggression and Allyship Action Group provides a space for students, faculty and staff to make a difference and work toward a more inclusive future.
One way has been through microaggression training. A two-hour workshop, launched in early 2022, is available not only to those at CCLCM, but also to any caregiver at Cleveland Clinic. More than 300 people have participated in the workshop so far, and the group hopes the workshop can be offered to first-year CCLCM students starting next year.
“One of the group’s big impacts was the development of this workshop, ensuring that it teaches people about microaggressions, why learning about them is important, the different forms microaggressions can take and skills for responding to them,” says Dr. Gilligan.
In addition, CCLCM faculty who teach communication skills are educating students and faculty on how to respond when patients commit microaggressions.
“Students have reported that one source of microaggressions is patients, and it can be difficult to figure out how to respond given that our students are put in a caretaking role. It can become problematic when they’re faced with behavior that’s offensive. We want to give them the skills to respond effectively,” says Dr. Gilligan.
The number of microaggressions someone may experience depends on their identity, varying from person to person. The biggest challenge the group has faced is figuring out how to train as many people as possible and supply them with the skills to respond to those microaggressions.
The group is currently developing a workshop for all CCLCM students on recognizing and managing bias and microaggressions in learning and clinical environments. In collaboration with the Cleveland Institute of Art, the group is designing the microaggression and allyship segment of the workshop in a comic book/cartoon format. The workshop is scheduled to launch in 2023.
Within the Cleveland Clinic Education Institute, a group of faculty members is developing a training workshop on how to give professional development feedback to people who identify differently from the person giving the feedback. The group is also developing a DEI curriculum for Cleveland Clinic and CCLCM educators.
Throughout CCLCM and Cleveland Clinic, many groups are committed to expanding diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging throughout the learning and clinical environments, and across the enterprise, within our communities and beyond. At the end of the day, we want everyone to honestly feel that, whether they are at Cleveland Clinic or CCLCM, it is a place for a person like them.
