On addressing ‘Whiteness’ during clinical psychology training

Abstract

In discussing 'Whiteness', a context is provided as to current issues facing British clinical psychology, with an overview of the history of clinical psychology in the United Kingdom (UK), with a particular focus on how issues of immigration, diversity and racism have been addressed. Following this, the constantly changing training context of clinical psychologists within Britain is explored, with lacunae evident around confronting institutional racism and Black trainee experiences. The history of addressing this issue within the University of East London's clinical psychology training programme is outlined, as well as the recent introduction of workshops to focus on 'Whiteness' and 'decolonising' the profession, in response to consistent trainee concerns. This is integrated with respect to focusing on the sorts of psychologists that might be needed to advance and transform the profession positively in the current global political climate.

Gender and Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Undergraduate and Graduate Students’ Mental Health and Treatment Use amid the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Asian and Black individuals are also more likely to believe that mental problems are a matter of willpower (Leong & Lau, 2001) or would improve on their own (Anglin et al, 2008) compared to White individuals. In addition to cultural factors, institutional racism, including culturally insensitive diagnostic criteria and treatment approaches (Baima & Sude, 2020;Halvorsrud et al, 2019;Rathod et al, 2018), erroneous assumptions regarding race and history (Burr, 2002;Williams & Williams-Morris, 2000), minimal diversity and cultural competence training in the mental health workplace (Wood & Patel, 2017), may serve as a barrier to mental health treatment use in Asian and Blacks students. Although there could be more factors contributing to the negative interaction between internalizing problem severity and Asian or Black identity, it does not change the alarming level of a mismatch between treatment use and needs indicated by internalizing problem severity in Asian and Black students.…”

Confronting racism in counselling and therapy training—Three experiences of a seminar on racism and whiteness

“…Dania: There are definitely unmet needs and our profession needs to think more about what's going on here. Perhaps ‘the continued fear of Black People towards mental health services' (Wood & Patel, 2017, p. 2) should also be considered when addressing institutional racism. This fear may have been in part fuelled by disproportionate numbers of Black men in the UK being admitted to psychiatric wards and being under compulsory care over the course of several decades (Wood & Patel, 2017).…”

“…Perhaps ‘the continued fear of Black People towards mental health services' (Wood & Patel, 2017, p. 2) should also be considered when addressing institutional racism. This fear may have been in part fuelled by disproportionate numbers of Black men in the UK being admitted to psychiatric wards and being under compulsory care over the course of several decades (Wood & Patel, 2017). Furthermore, minority ethnic communities in the UK have often condemned therapeutic services for being too Eurocentric, deeming it as ‘White psychology for White folks’ (Wood & Patel, 2017).…”

Workplace bullying from the perspectives of trainee clinical psychologists

“…Whilst the gender and ethnic demographics of participants were similar to the population of British trainee clinical psychologists in terms of female to male ratio, were not requested, and therefore it is unclear how diverse the sample was in relation to these characteristics. Studies have shown that minority groups within clinical psychology face particular challenges (Shah, Wood, Nolte & Goodbody, 2012;Wood & Patel, 2017). Future research on bullying could focus on the perspectives of trainees in mental health professions who identify with one or more minority groups.…”