Educating and training the next generations of traumatologists: Development of cultural competencies.

Abstract

Cultural competence in trauma training, education and research has become a necessity given the changes in the U.S. population and the forces of globalization. With few exceptions little attention has been paid to the cultural training of traumatologists and the development of cultural competencies in this field. This paper will focus exclusively on examining the case for cultural competence in trauma psychology. The author reviews three factors that are key in the education and training of culturally informed trauma therapists, including best practices for educating mental health professionals in this field. These include: 1) The development of a trauma psychology curricula and training practices which give a thorough account of cultural factors; 2) The meaningful inclusion of cultural context in trauma psychology research and; 3) The promotion of organizational structures and culture within psychology that support cultural competence. The author offers future practice recommendations that are based on well established cultural competencies in the field of psychology.

Competent Poverty Training

“…Important, related precedents for using the Benchmark Competencies have come from Lewis’ () work on social justice competencies, Chu et al's (2010) community mental health competencies, and Mattar's () description of culturally informed trauma competencies. These will be integrated with the recommendations that have emerged from other prominent authors when considering socioeconomic issues in clinical work and training.…”

“…Faculty members and supervisors who are involved in training serve as key role models for their students. In this capacity, they may wish to consider expanding their professional identities to include roles such as social justice or policy advocate, community liaison, or organizational consultant and change agent (Chu et al, ; Mattar, ). Embracing a different perspective on professional and personal boundaries may be a needed shift in identity for trainers who wish to model the kind of close, collaborative, and often hands‐on, in‐the‐trenches service work recommended in serving poor individuals within their own communities (Sells et al, , Smith ; Weintraub & Goodman, ; Willie, McFarland, & Archwamety, ).…”

“…It includes a focus on self, others, and their interaction, as well as application to all areas of professional work. The resounding consensus regarding ICD competencies is that trainers absolutely must start with their own self awareness, including acknowledgement of their own biases, prejudices, privilege, power, and if relevant, oppression as regards social class in general and poverty and poor trainees or clients in particular (Mattar, ; Sells et al, ; 2010; Smith et al, 2008; Weintraub & Goodman, ). Only with class consciousness as a first step can trainers assist developing students in their own self‐exploration, and effectively handle the difficult dialogues that often occur around social class, poverty, and other aspects of diversity.…”

“…This final component of the Professionalism competencies includes the abilities to be reflexive, accurate in self‐assessment, self‐monitoring, and self‐corrective, to use self‐care as it relates to effective professional functioning, and to seek and use supervision effectively. Trainers are not immune to societal messages; therefore, competent poverty training will mean that those involved in training will need to commit to reflexivity as they work through their own biases, blind spots, and reactivity regarding ingrained attitudes and prejudices around social class, poverty, and poor clients (Lott & Bullock, ; Mattar, ; Sells et al, ; Smith, ; Smith et al, 2008; Weintraub & Goodman, ). Self‐monitoring for nuances of classist language, everyday behaviors, and underlying assumptions in all aspects of teaching, supervision, and training are important components of this competency.…”

Practicing What We Teach: Trauma-Informed Educational Practice

“…Several clinical educators have documented their experiences teaching trauma courses and have provided valuable recommendations for maximizing student resilience and reducing student risk (Black, 2006;Cunningham, 2004;Graziano, 2001;Mattar, 2011;McCammon, 1999;Miller, 2001). Most, if not all, stressed the importance of teaching self-care, titrating exposure, eliciting and responding both emotionally and intellectually to student feedback, creating networks of support both in and out of the classroom, being mindful of power imbalances, and maintaining effective boundaries.…”