A Letter from President & CEO, Dr. Shari Brink
Dear Friends,
While an early mantra in the pandemic was “we’re all in this together,” as the crisis has evolved, we have learned over and over of wildly divergent realities. As someone put it, “we’re all in this storm together, but we’re not all in the same boat.” Whether Asian, Black or Brown, we’ve seen the vastly unequal impact of the pandemic, and all that it has churned up, on individuals and communities.
Blanton-Peale’s Asian and Asian-American colleagues and clients, and people of Asian descent across our country, are experiencing a uniquely distressing reality. Sometimes singled out and scapegoated for the pandemic itself – a ruse for racism, rooted in cultural stereotypes – we’re seeing a rising tide of violence and hate. With each new swell comes more feelings of vulnerability.
On behalf of Blanton-Peale, I want to express our solidarity with our Asian-American and Pacific Islander clients, staff, therapists, supervisors and residents, and with the faculty and students of our Korean Care and Counseling Training Program. You are beloved members of the Blanton-Peale community and we condemn all acts of hate and violence as assaults on human dignity.
The pandemic has laid bare our society’s deepest failings. Blanton-Peale will continue to support those who have been hardest hit by this pandemic and its emotional and economic fallout.
To each of you, we stand with you in your pursuit of mental health and wellbeing. May each of us have the opportunity to flourish and become our best selves,
Dr. Shari K. Brink
President & CEO
