Moving from Inclusion to Belonging in an Ethics Committee

Ethics committees tend to be a diverse group of people with varied backgrounds. Diversity is important because in evaluating ethical and moral issues, multiple points of view facilitate full and robust understanding of the issue at hand. Yet, we need to work hard to ensure we are fully engaging with and continuously growing our group’s diversity. Simply having diversity is not enough. We must ask what aspects of diversity we have and broaden our idea of diversity. We must also ask whether we have created a safe space for folks to speak up from their diverse viewpoints. Like any other group intended to be a safe moral space for open sharing, ethics committees need to foster a sense of belonging to ensure members are comfortable speaking up and feel that their voices are valued. Belonging goes beyond inclusion. Diversity is only the first step towards belonging. This presentation will describe the journey of a community hospital’s ethics committee towards fuller inclusion and belonging. The presentation will differentiate between inclusion and belonging and discuss ways to evaluate group diversity, advance inclusion, and move towards belonging. I will offer lessons learned from our journey and discuss our future growth.