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Evaluation ViewAttendees 3

Panel Discussions

Culture / Ethnicity / Race

Panel Discussion 15 - Recruitment, Retention, and Reverence: ABCT as a Partner in Building Diverse Doctoral Training Communities

Saturday, November 16, 2024
10:30 AM – 12:00 PM EST
Location: Franklin Hall 10, Level 4, Downtown Marriott
Earn 1.5 Credit
Keywords: Culture, Education and Training, Professional Issues
Recommended Readings:

Gillborn, S., Woolnough, H., Jankowski, G., & Sandle, R. (2021). “Intensely white” psychology curricula and the (re)production of racism. Educational Review, 75(5), 813-832. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2021.1978402

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Jones, C.T., Welfare, L.E., Melchior, S. & Cash, R.M. (2019). Broaching as a strategy for intercultural understanding in clinical supervision. The Clinical Supervisor, 38(1), 1-16. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07325223.2018.1560384

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Sawyer, B. (2023). Liberated cognitive behavioral therapy: Liberating CBT From the cognitive distortions of white Western European culture. the Behavior Therapist, 46(8). 320-326. 

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“Recruitment and retention” is the language of accrediting bodies that oversee the training of behavioral health professionals. While speaking to essential processes, these terms can feel instrumental and somewhat antithetical to a stance of true inclusivity and the welcoming and celebrating of cultural diversity and individual differences. “Reverence” might more fully express a stance of reflection, cultural humility, and the realization that we all stand to benefit when we come together, with awareness of our histories and power/privilege dynamics, and connect around shared values and the potential of our fields to alleviate suffering and foster liberation and vitality. 
Such a stance is reflected in admissions, supervision, mentoring, and other training contexts (e.g., Jones et al., 2019). While acknowledging complex histories at systemic and personal levels (e.g., related to racism and conversion therapy), how might we use the tools and frameworks of CBT, including contextual behavioral approaches and liberated cognitive behavioral therapy (Sawyer, 2023) to foster this stance? For example, we might draw on mindfulness practices to help individuals from majority groups relate to thoughts and feelings stemming from their complicity in oppressive practices. Related, how might we consider recruiting and retaining as means to forge and nurture coalitions (Dabiri, 2021) of professionals and students from diverse backgrounds to address critical needs of our communities and population? How can ABCT (and similar organizations) be a particular partner in this process? These questions involve recognizing the differences in power and privilege "baked into" our educational and professional systems and the positionality of each person at the table (Gillborn et al., 2021). The proposed panel brings together university and doctoral program administrators, faculty, trainees, and ABCT leaders to deeply explore relevant history and consider these essential questions.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this session, the learner will be able to:
  1. Explain two aspects of the history of behavioral health that contributed to discrimination and oppression toward minoritized communities.
  2. Describe a stance toward recruitment and retention characterized by reverence, reflection, and cultural humility.
  3. Present two practices from within CBT that may help foster a stance of reverence, reflection, and cultural humility.
  4. Describe ways that a stance of reverence, reflection, and cultural humility may be valuable in forging coalitions that address community needs.
  5. Discuss three ways that ABCT may help foster diverse doctoral training communities.
  6. Goal 1: Engage in ongoing reflection on the history of minoritized communities and how this affects opportunities and challenges.
  7. Goal 2: Consider one's own position and areas of privilege and how they might contribute to the cultivation of diverse training communities.