We envision a world where every justice-involved individual has equitable opportunities, including access to occupational therapy, to pursue the lives they want to live.
All persons deserve the individualized opportunities, resources, tools and skills required to live the lives they want and need to live. For many individuals, trauma, mental illness, substance use, racial profiling and socioeconomic hardships lead to higher incidences of incarceration. We believe in enabling people to overcome their past experiences, manage their current situations and become better equipped with the skills they need to reenter their communities successfully, emphasizing there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution. We are on a mission to provide every single justice-impacted person with the opportunities to engage. We believe these services and opportunities should have been available all along.
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Ariana Gonzalez
Executive Director, Founder, Doctor of Occupational Therapy
LAITR’s Anti-Racism Statement
Acknowledgements: Racism is at the core of the very system we work to try to change, both historically and currently.
We still see police brutality targeting people of color (POC).
We still see POC incarcerated at disproportionately higher rates than their white counterparts.
We still see that POC are more likely to be stopped, frisked and sentenced to harsher terms than their white counterparts.
We still hear stories from our clients about subtle and blatant racist remarks and actions against them while they are in contact with the system.
Racism is still a public health crisis.
This causes justified mistrust in the system that is meant to protect us.
Commitments: We appreciate accountabili-buddies as we work harder to demonstrate our commitment to anti-racist work. Join us by filling out the form below.
Advocacy: We know that inaction is just as bad as overt racism. We commit to continued advocacy in professional and personal capacities including the commitment of the executive director to be involved in equity and/or advocacy-related groups within our community. We will continue to advocate for our clients and beyond.
Professional Advocacy: We cannot ignore the fact that occupational therapy is a predominately white profession. We commit to work with leaders of our profession and advocate for DEI polices that will eradicate barriers to discrimination.
Listen and Learn: We will actively listen to those impacted by systemic racism and be open to learning how our work can impact this. We will accept that we will not handle every situation perfectly and will ask for feedback and apologize when necessary/appropriate. We will plan to have regular team meetings regarding equity and racism to determine actionable steps we can make as an organization to use our reach to empower underserved and underheard populations.
Trauma-Informed Care: If racism is inherent to the justice system, trauma is inherent to the justice system. Our team members are Certified Trauma Professionals. The lens in which we work with each and every individual is a trauma-informed care lens. We know that justice-impacted individuals have significantly higher rates of trauma than the general population. We will continue to learn about racial trauma and the systems’ impacts.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
