The Intercultural Counseling Connection, founded by 2012 OSI Community Fellow Lauren Goodsmith, has been selected to receive an American Psychiatric Association Foundation 2021 Award for Advancing Minority Mental Health, which includes a $5,000 financial contribution, an award plaque, a featured in the July APA PsychNews, and an invitation for a representative from the Connection to attend the virtual APA Foundation Board of Directors Meeting that month.
The award announcement reads as follows:
Since being established in 2003, the Awards for Advancing Minority Mental Health has recognized community-based organizations that have undertaken innovative and supportive efforts to raise awareness of mental health in underserved populations including the need for early recognition, access to quality care and overcoming cultural barriers. We believe that Fusion Partnerships Inc./Intercultural Counseling Connection has made a great impact in the Baltimore area doing so and is well deserving of this award!
Intercultural Counseling Connection serves as a referral network of mental health professionals who provide culturally responsive counseling and therapeutic services for asylum seekers, refugees, and other forced migrants in the greater Baltimore area.
“We are so very grateful for this recognition and for the accompanying contribution, which will help sustain our services for vulnerable forced migrants during this challenging time,” Goldsmith said in an email announcing the award. “Provision of these vital therapeutic services is made possible by our amazing and dedicated cadre of pro bono therapists, for whom our appreciation is boundless.”