Our creativity as Black clinicians is not only the thing that sustains us while working in healthcare but the thing that will save us and those we serve in healthcare.
Witnessing so much injustice in medicine as a physician, I thought my writing solely helped me to process what I was experiencing as I did this work.
Then I started sharing my writing. I recognize many might be confused, as writing is often deemed as interesting but not as important as my work as a physician and health equity advocate.
However, I have recently come to realize that my writing not only helps the work, but it is the work. Equally important, if not more.
It is the space where I learn to be strong, be happy and be brave, which allows me to bring that into the rest of my life.
We must be strong.
As Black clinicians seeing patients from diverse backgrounds, we've had to do more. We have the double burden of learning what we are taught and then having to remix it, because we know medical training that centers whiteness is insufficient and inadequate for those we serve.
We must be happy.
Too many of us are told our creativity is a distraction to our work, when it is the restorative space that our work needs. These gifts we possess, yet suppress, are critical to ensuring we can deliver healthcare and giving the space to reflect on how healthcare can evolve.
We must be brave.
With this new lens, we integrate what we learn in practice with what we learn from our families & communities to create new solutions that actually see, support, strengthen and truly serve our people. These solutions will often require change and we cannot cower in fear of the negative reactions that arise when one disrupts the status quo.
When we are armed with this strength, joy and courage, we reclaim the creativity that we possess and reject the demand to silence our gifts.
And in the process, we find ourselves recreating healthcare.
#healthequity #healthcare #blackclinicians #blackgirlinhealthcare #innovation #creativity #newsletter
P.S. This is inspired by this week's private audio newsletter on Substack, "We Bring the Art to Medicine: Why Black Creativity is Critical for Health Justice". To subscribe, check the link in the comments.
