Lynette Lau, PhD

07/20/2022

Reposting with the full flyer.

I'm presenting a free 3 hour talk on rethinking mental health for neurodiversity equity next Friday, July 29th through the Center for Innovation and Resources, Inc. I've been giving various iterations of this ever-evolving talk now for the past 4-5 years and this is the *first* time that it will be available to the public. Please join me and feel free to share with others who may be interested!

3 hours of LMFT/LCSW CE credits available for $30. Not sure if other disciplines can also get CEs.

Click through for more information and to register:
cirinc.org/events/event-pages/rethinking-mental-health.html

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A flyer with black text on light backgrounds containing event details as follows:

Rethinking Mental Health for Neurodiversity Equity and Inclusion
Date: July 29th | Time: 9:30 am - 12:30 pm PDT | Location: Virtual
Please note this is a free virtual training

Course Description
Amplifying the voices of and building on the work of autistic and
other neurodivergent self-advocates, this presentation by Dr.
Lau compares differences between the medical and social model of
disability, highlights historical and societal factors resulting in inequity for neurodivergent individuals, and provides suggestions for moving forward in the field of mental health to improve equity and inclusion for neurodivergent individuals.

Learning Objectives
* Compare the medical model of disability with the social model of disability, with particular attention to neurodiversity and the Neurodiversity Movement.

* Identify three ableist ways of thinking/practicing that are embedded in the medical model of disability and/or current societal standards and practices.

* Identify three neurodiversity and disability affirming practices that can be incorporated into our standard operating practices, in service of increasing equity and inclusivity for autistic and other neurodivergent individuals.

* Identify five neurodiversity and disability affirming resources that one can refer to for ongoing support and growth in becoming neurodiversity and disability affirming.

Click the button to register or visit:
cirinc.org/events/event-pages/rethinking-mental-health.html

Our Presenter
Lynette Lau, PhD is a licensed clinical psychologist with specialized training and research interest in infant and childhood mental health, couple and family relationships, stress/resilience/trauma, gene-environment interactions, as well as systems change and the building and maintenance of trauma-informed systems of care. She has worked extensively with children and families from low-income, minority, and/or marginalized backgrounds, as well as children and families in foster care.

Prior to her current position at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (HUMC), she was the Psychology Training Director for the University of California Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (UC-LEND), where she developed curriculum and on-campus programming to increase acceptance of and equity for neurodivergent individuals. Currently, she sees clients across the lifespan and leads the Intersectional Inclusion, Diversity,
and Equity Accountability (IIDEA) workgroup and Neurodiversity Clinical Consultation Group at HUMC. She is also an Assistant Clinical Professor in Psychology at UCLA.

Continuing Education Units: All attendees will receive a Certificate of Attendance. Participants may apply for continuing education credits (CEUs) when they fill out the follow-up survey. Certificates for CEUs will be mailed to participants within two weeks following the event. Course meets qualifications for 3 hours of Continuing Education Units (Provider #128510) as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences). The Center for Innovation and Resources, Inc. (CIR) is approved by the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists to sponsor continuing education for LMFTs and LCSWs. CIR maintains responsibility for this program/course and its content. CEUs will be available at the event for a fee of $30.

Please contact Ari Ocegueda at ciriassistant@cirinc.org or at (805) 876-0291 for any questions or concerns or if you require any accommodations to participate in this training.

Produced by the Serving California’s Survivors with Disabilities Project of the Center for Innovation and Resources, Inc. with funding provided by Ability Central.

08/04/2021

Gave my first ever grand rounds to today on Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI). Even though I've spent the past three years leading the Harbor-UCLA Psychology Division's Intersectional Inclusion Diversity and Equity Accountability (IIDEA) workgroup and I've spent longer just doing the work for myself, presenting to the larger departmental audience today felt nerve wrackingingly momentous. Especially since this was the presentation to kick off our department's JEDI series and lay the foundation for future talks and improved climate to come.

Imposter syndrome was definitely at a high, but I embraced it and did the thing anyway. Yay! Does this now make me a JEDI Master? 😁 Looking forward to the rest of series. I'll be doing another on Becoming Actively in two weeks, after next week's talk on .

05/02/2021

May is Mental Health Awareness month. It comes right on the heels of April's Autism Acceptance month. And every April*, I do a seminar on rethinking mental health for autistic** and other neurodivergent individuals.

Neurodiversity refers to the fact that there is beautiful variation in brains. All brains are worthy. But some brains are pathologized and marginalized more than others, and most approaches to assessing and providing intervention for mental health do not adequately nor equitably account for neurodivergent ways of thinking and being. It's time for a change, don't you think?

* I happily do the seminar any other time of the year too, but I try to for sure do it in April, in concert with other events.

** I use Identity First Language because it has been identified as preferred by autistic self-advocates. (Google it... There're a few great blog posts by and other individuals on the issue.)

07/24/2020

Play is the language and the work of children. Play therapy helps kids make sense of their world, including things they are currently struggling with or traumatic events that they have experienced. That's why kids can sometimes get stuck in repetitive play after a trauma has occurred. Not all repetitive play is an indication of trauma. And not all play therapists are equal. Longer post to follow about what to look for in a good play therapist...

Play is the language of children — which is why play therapy can help kids speak the unspeakable.

06/11/2020

Do you know the difference between the calls for reforming versus abolishing the police? Here's a handy guide by Critical Resistance.

Full PDF document here:https://static1.squarespace.com/static/59ead8f9692ebee25b72f17f/t/5b65cd58758d46d34254f22c/1533398363539/CR_NoCops_reform_vs_abolition_CRside.pdf

06/04/2020

Silence is violence and we can't afford to be silent any longer. In our work, we see societal inequities on the daily. We 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 that structural and institutional racism influence social determinants, which in turn can have massive impacts on one's health and life trajectory. So then, what are we — as professionals who have committed to doing no harm ⁠— doing to change this?⁣
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Today's die in at work was just mere minutes of communal silence and reflection, as we chose to either take a knee or lay "dead" on the ground. But our Black brethren face explicit and implicit biases and discrimination every single moment of their lives. I held a sign made by someone else that said "I can't breathe" and felt like the biggest imposter because what do I 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 know of the struggles of being Black in America? But the reality is this: I actually haven't felt able to breathe recently. Not when I see so many folx suffering daily because of the unnecessary trappings that we have created and uphold daily in the contract we consider "society." How can there truly be freedom for any of us when there is not freedom for some of us? Enough is enough.⁣
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When I got up from my prone position of "death" on the ground today, I saw the most beautiful and powerful image of a Black colleague taking a knee in front of me with their fist in the air, looking strong and unassailable. I looked around and saw fine, almost invisible lines of what looked like spiders' web floating in the spaces between the people standing around the courtyard, seemingly connecting us to each other. And I was powerfully stricken by how we might just actually succeed at building a better, more just world if we only continue to persevere and remain interconnected. I have hope.⁣
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Thank you to the Committee of Interns and Residents at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center for organising this moment of solidarity.⁣
⁣

06/02/2020

Here's what it looks like on social media with all the black squares using the hashtag BlackLivesMatter (screenshots from ' tweet attached). It's drowning out everything to do with Black Lives Matter and suppressing information. To avoid this, use instead. If you have already boosted a black square with the BLM hashtag, I understand that simply editing your post with the correct hashtag doesn't update whatever algorithms are being used based on your original post, so the advice is to delete and resubmit your post with the BlackOutTuesday hashtag instead.

I also am struggling with the idea of entirely avoiding posting about anything - today or any other day. I posted the BlackOutTuesday square in solidarity on my social media, but am likely going to continue to post today and the rest of my week, with especial attention to highlighting issues related to BLM/institutional racism/police brutality/ways to support and enact change for a better world, as well as amplifying BIPOC voices. Silence doesn't help me learn; intentional knowledge seeking and sharing does.

Link to original tweet from Feminista Jones, author of Reclaiming Our Space | How Black Feminists Are Changing The World From The Tweets to the Streets: https://twitter.com/FeministaJones/status/1267717076246056961?s=19

Link to the original TheShowMustBePaused website, with links to actionable items of varying levels that we can potentially enact: https://www.theshowmustbepaused.com/

03/31/2020

It's been a really stressful and strange time for many (all?) of us with the various public health measures being put in place to slow the spread of COVID-19. Many of us are stuck at home. Some of us have to keep going to work. And as we are all relearning a new normal for daily life, it's important that we remember:

* There is no script or guidebook for getting through a pandemic.
* Everyone has different responses and thus different needs during this time.
*There is no one-size fits all solution or method for coping. There is no one "right" or "wrong" way to get through this - except maybe not following the instructions to stay at home and shelter in place for as much as we can to slow the spread of the virus and give our health system workers a chance.

I've been working from home, coordinating telework/telehealth for others and providing coping support for our frontline health system workers in Los Angeles, on top of my regular schedule of teaching trainees and seeing my own clients. So, needless to say, it's been an incredibly busy time for me over the last three weeks.

But I got a bit of a break this past weekend, so I took some time to indulge my creative side and collaborate with others on writing up lyrics for a fun musical parody of Under the Sea from Disney's The Little Mermaid. Then I thought that it should be performed and shared with others, so I made this music video to share here. I hope it brings a tiny smile to your heart.

Thank you to Stephen Cole for starting us off with the parody lyrics and Kat Winsor for providing a crucial transition line, as well as Quarantine: The Musical for bringing us all together. Parody lyrics below. No copyright infringement intended; original music composed by Alan Menken for Disney.

p/s: I meant to put a crayon handwritten sign up at the end thanking our frontline health system workers, but failed because: reasons. Still, I'm not letting perfection get in the way of things, so I'm posting the video with this notice. To all our frontline health system workers, grocery store clerks, IT people, and everyone keeping us going: THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! We are staying home for you.

03/27/2020

Thanks to Clinton Nowicke, there is now an ASL version of Once I Was Very Very Scared: https://youtu.be/zvzDYjUVxlg

The story may be helpful to many children who are scared, and we are very happy to have a sign language version in addition to all the other language versions. For other versions, please visit: https://piploproductions.com

Clinton Nowicke signs along to Once I Was Very Very Scared.

12/23/2019

Very excited about the upcoming Learn Play Thrive OT & Autism Summit by Meg Proctor, OTR/L. Register at http://learnplaythrive.com/summit to attend for free.