I liked how Professor Belay incorporated covid into the presentation and lead it into health disparities. I thought it was interesting how she mentioned that there were health disparities existing in the black community before covid and how that pre-existing condition is what contributed to the heightened risk of covid among Black Americans. Also, when she was talking about the ICU she said “nurses who work in the cancer, in the oncology unit or manage patients with cancers, they do have a lot of responsibilities treating not only the disease, the cancer, or the treatment but also the emotional health of the patients.” This may not be about my topic but it inspired me because I will be a nursing student soon.

I like how Khadija said that when she does her treatment of an individual, she keeps in mind whether the client has religious preferences or not and, whatever the answer, she respects it and uses there preference in their treatment plan. I kind of knew she would go in that direction because she is religious herself. To have that perspective is helpful to my topic because I can get to know what works in incorporating spirituality into a treatment plan. I will be interviewing her in the next week or so and I want to get her opinion if educating non-religious mental health professionals in religion is a good idea or if it should be an area of study for all who are on the mental health tract in college no matter what their religious preference is. I would also like to know if she has ever experienced religious bias within the mental health field and what she thinks about it happening to clients. Also if she has any alternative methods of dealing with religious bias withing the clinical setting. I like how she said she wants to make sure she knows where the client is coming from before she administers any treatment and makes herself aware of any bias she might harbor against, for instance, a Christian, because she Muslim. This tells me that she understands religious bias more so than some of her secular counterparts in the mental health field. I love the fact that she believes religion and hope and therapy work hand in hand.