Implicit Bias:  What APS Professionals Need to Know
Channel: APS Technical Assistance Resource Center
Date: 2023-07-20

“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate” -Carl Jung. 
In order to address implicit bias, we have to understand bias. A bias is when, rather than being neutral, we have a preference or aversion toward a particular person, place, or thing. Implicit bias are the biases that we are not aware of, in our unconscious and impacts every decision we make. Implicit bias brings irrelevant factors into the decision-making process, such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, lifestyle, and more. While implicit bias is unintentional and not a result of malicious intent, it can lead to judgements, assumptions, stereotyping, distortions, prejudice, profiling, discrimination, and intolerance without even realizing it. When implicit bias goes unchecked, it can influence every aspect of an adult protective service organization; from hiring and promotions to services provided to vulnerable older adults. The goal is for participants to become more aware of their own implicit bias and feel encouraged/motivated to examine, recognize, and manage their own implicit biases. In this webinar, participants will gain understanding of implicit bias and the impact on APS social work. Strategies on how to minimize the effect of implicit bias will be discussed.

Speaker: Chante Brooks, MSW; Staff Development Officer, Riverside County, CA, DPSS