How STIM was developed
The STIM curriculum was supported by a Catalyst award from the Josiah Macy, Jr Foundation. In our institution, STIM was embedded within a robust, existing curriculum dedicated to health equity, encompassing over 30 hours of content (Education for CHANGE, uweducationforchange.com). Through this curriculum, learners were exposed to conceptual knowledge regarding microaggressions and low-realism practice such as role play and fishbowl exercises. Yet, trainees still expressed that when witnessing a microaggression in real life, the stress response was often still so high that they usually had a “freeze” or “flight” response. The STIM curriculum was designed to bridge this gap, providing trainees with practice responding to microaggressions in high realism situations.