Continuing education programs on racial equity

In this special issue of the Monitor, we present a CE that diverges from our usual format. Instead of focusing on a single subject, we are highlighting seven pivotal CEs from the past several years, each dedicated to the challenges faced by different marginalized groups and how psychologists can help.

In each CE article, psychologists from the marginalized group provide overviews, insights, and context. They offer valuable skills and practical strategies for enhancing quality of care, from understanding cultural nuances to addressing systemic barriers.

Our goal with this compilation is to equip psychologists with the knowledge and skills necessary to foster inclusive and effective therapeutic environments. By highlighting these CEs, we aim to draw attention to this valuable information, encourage practitioners to complete the training and earn a continuing-education credit for each, and inspire ongoing learning and commitment to cultural competence in the field.

We hope this collection serves as a valuable resource for both seasoned practitioners and those new to the field, encouraging a deeper understanding and appreciation of the diverse experiences of the patients psychologists serve.

Learning objectives

After reading this article, CE candidates will be able to:

• Learn about psychological and physiological health disparities in Native American communities.
• Discuss limitations of the Western models of treatment in addressing mental health issues in American Indian and Alaska Native populations.
• Describe how to embrace Native American values, customs, and beliefs in research and clinical settings.

Key points

• Researchers recommend the field work to develop treatment approaches based on Native American worldviews.
• Therapists can start by giving Native American patients time to share whether and how they want to bring their Indigenous perspective into therapy and what their tribal identity means to them.
• It is important to use culturally sensitive assessment tools to avoid misdiagnosing Native American patients.
• Psychologists who spend time in tribal communities and participate in gatherings can build trusting relationships that facilitate discussions about mental health challenges.

“By understanding that what we have learned in school is quite limited in helping these communities, we can begin to see how much they can teach us.”
— Art Blume, PhD, clinical psychology professor, Washington State University

Further reading

• A new psychology based on community, equality, and care of the Earth: An Indigenous American perspectiveopens in new window
  Blume, A. W., Bloomsbury Publishing, 2020
• Community mental health services for American Indians and Alaska Natives: Reconciling evidence-based practice and alter-Native psy-enceopens in new window
  Gone, J. P., Annual Review of Clinical Psychology , 2023
• The association between adverse life events, psychological stress, and pain-promoting affect and cognitions in Native Americans: Results from the Oklahoma Study of Native American Pain Riskopens in new window
  Huber, F. A., et al., Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities , 2022

Learning objectives

After reading this article, CE candidates will be able to:

• Identify the components of racial-ethnic socialization and preparation for bias in Asian American and Pacific Islander families.
• Learn about cultural stressors and mores across a heterogeneous population.
• Learn strategies to help Asian American teens identify and address racial dilemmas.

“That [model minority] stereotype has been so pervasive that people don’t see the vulnerabilities, or the struggle, or really even the need, to focus on this population.”
—Tiffany Yip, PhD, professor of psychology, Fordham University

Key points

• Psychological issues unique to Asian American teens can include feeling invisible, feeling pressured to fulfill the “model minority” stereotype, and navigating microaggressions and racist encounters.
• Therapists can work with parents of these teens to help them understand the reality of discrimination and not minimize it, as well as help teens respond to microaggressions.
• As a therapist working with Asian American teens and families, displaying cultural competence and building trust and rapport are more important than one’s ethnicity.
• Successful therapy with Asian American families and teens involves setting practical goalposts so patients feel they are gaining something immediately useful and valuable from the treatment.

Further reading

• The healing trauma workbook for Asian Americans: Heal from racism, build resilience, and find strength in your identityopens in new window
  Hsu, H. H., New Harbinger Publications, 2024
• Decolonizing mental health practice: Reconstructing an Asian-centric framework through a social justice lensopens in new window
  Millner, U. C., et al., Asian American Journal of Psychology , 2021
• Gendered Racial Microaggressions Scale for Asian American Women: Development and initial validationopens in new window
  Keum, B. T., et al., Journal of Counseling Psychology , 2018
• Navigating marginalization and invisibility as Asian Americans in the U.S.opens in new window
  Mistry, J., & Kiyama, F., American Psychologist, 2021
• Promoting pride but missing the need for preparation for bias: Racial-ethnic socialization among Indian American families living in the southeast U.S.opens in new window
  Patel, P., et al., Asian American Journal of Psychology , 2022
• Reducing mental health disparities by increasing the personal relevance of interventionsopens in new window
  Hall, G. C., et al., American Psychologist , 2021

Learning objectives

After reading this article, CE candidates will be able to:

• Identify emerging models, theories, and ideas on bringing racial, cultural, and identity factors into supervision and the supervisory relationship.
• Discuss practical ways that supervisors can bring ideas like critical consciousness and cultural humility into their work with supervisees and their clients.
• Describe the state of the field in adopting these approaches.

“I see supervision as a process that invites deep appreciation for the super complexity of culture by asking explicitly about how issues of cultural difference, power, and oppression play out in the lives of our clients and in the therapeutic work in which we’re engaging.”
—Jeffrey Ansloos, PhD, associate professor and Canada research chair in critical studies in Indigenous health, University of Toronto

Key points

• Psychology is still in the early stages of understanding how to best bring racial, cultural, and identity factors into supervision.
• Many supervisors practice supervision the same way they experienced it, so getting training on new approaches is vital.
• Culturally responsive supervision includes learning about social justice perspectives such as critical consciousness and decolonization.
• The work is important because society, students, and clients require it for self-awareness, mental and physical health, and psychological empowerment.

Further reading

• Critical consciousness in vocational psychology: A vision for the next decade and beyondopens in new window
  Cadenas, G. A., & McWhirter, E. H., Journal of Career Assessment , 2022
• Lens on international clinical supervision: Lessons learned from a cross-national comparison of supervisionopens in new window
  Falender, C., et al., Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy , 2021
• Indigenous peoples and professional training in psychology in Canadaopens in new window
  Ansloos, J., et al., Canadian Psychology/Psychologist canadienne , 2019
• Liberation psychology: Theory, method, practice, and social justiceopens in new window
  Comas-Díaz, L., & Torres Rivera, E. (Eds.), APA, 2020
• Attending to racial trauma in clinical supervision: Enhancing client and supervisee outcomesopens in new window
  Pieterse, A. L., The Clinical Supervisor , 2018
• Multidimensional ecosystemic comparative approach (MECA)
  opens in new window Falicov, C. J., in Lebow, J., et al. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy , Springer, 2017

Learning objectives

After reading this article, CE candidates will be able to:

• Describe the intersectional challenges facing Black women and understand the impact of racism on Black women’s mental health.
• Explain the Strong Black Woman schema and adultification bias.
• Identify interventions that can reduce stress and improve coping among Black women.

“[The Strong Black Woman schema] helps us to be resilient. It helps us to keep going in the middle of difficult circumstances. But the consequence is that strength often means not paying attention to feelings of distress, not paying attention to the impact of familial, relationship, and race-based trauma and how it impacts our thoughts, feelings, and behavior.”
—Inger Burnett-Zeigler, PhD, clinical psychologist and associate professor, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Key points

• Black women face a unique type of gendered racism.
• Therapists should understand how systems of oppression and racism operate in society and in their own training.
• Community support and strategies for coping with stress can be healing for Black women.

Further reading

• Underneath the mask of the Strong Black Woman schema: Disentangling influences of strength and self-silencing on depressive symptoms among U.S. Black womenopens in new window
  Abrams, J. A., et al., Sex Roles , 2019
• Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen: The emotional lives of Black womenopens in new window
  Burnett-Zeigler, I., Amistad , 2021
• The unapologetic guide to Black mental health: Navigate an unequal system, learn tools for emotional wellness, and get the help you deserveopens in new window
  Walker, R., New Harbinger Publications , 2020
• 14 mental health resources for the BIPOC community
  opens in new window Wilkins, V., Travel + Leisure , May 25, 2021

Learning objectives

After reading this article, CE candidates will be able to:

• Describe how Black men’s mental health is challenged by racism.
• Discuss the most critical intervention points for Black men’s mental health.
• Describe successful treatment types for Black men, both traditional and innovative.

“We should place less emphasis on whether Black men are resistant to therapy and more on understanding the contexts in which they already feel comfortable talking about their feelings and traumas. If a Black man is able to find a culturally responsive treatment that he understands, and that embraces the uniqueness of his difference, he is more likely to use that service.”
—Howard C. Stevenson, PhD, clinical psychologist and director, Racial Empowerment Collaborative, University of Pennsylvania

Key points

• Black men have less access to and poorer quality of mental health care than White men despite significant needs.
• For contextual reasons, including poverty and racism, Black men are more likely to endorse traditional masculinity norms such as toughness than White men.
• Interventions that are culturally competent, understand and address diversity among Black men, and use trauma-informed principles hold the most promise.

Further reading

• Black men need friends: Social support moderates the connection between gendered racism and psychological distressopens in new window
  Ramseur, K. II, et al., Psychology of Men & Masculinities , 2024
• Exposure to neighborhood violence and suicidal thoughts and behaviors among adolescents in the USA: Findings from a population-based studyopens in new window
  Baiden, P., et al., School Mental Health , 2024
• Mental health among African Americans: Innovations in research and practiceopens in new window
  Turner, E. A., Lexington Books, 2019
• Recovering your sacredness
  opens in new window Tello, J., Sueños Publications, 2018
• The racial healing handbookopens in new window
  Singh, A. A., New Harbinger Publications, 2019
• Increasing the visibility of providers of color
  Calkins, H., Monitor on Psychology , September, 2020
• Community needs and recommendations for multilevel mental health interventions among young Black men with previous trauma exposureopens in new window
  Bauer, A. G., et al., Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology , 2022
• My grandmother’s hands: Racialized trauma and the pathway to mending our hearts and bodiesopens in new window
  Menakem, R., Central Recovery Press, 2017

Learning objectives

After reading this article, CE candidates will be able to:

• Learn strategies to help Black teens process and problem-solve racial dilemmas.
• Identify the components of ethnic-racial socialization and their protective benefits in raising Black children.
• Better understand how to introduce the element of race when there is a dichotomy between psychologist and patient.

“[Ethnic-racial socialization] is a process by which race-related messages about the meaning or the value of race and racism are transmitted [to adolescents] by their parents, clinicians, and everybody around them. It’s been found to be one of the most critical development processes of Black youth.”
—Thomas Vance, PhD, postdoctoral psychology fellow, New School for Social Research

Key points

• Ethnic-racial socialization is a critical developmental process for Black youth, helping them to prepare for and cope with racial stressors and discrimination.
• To effectively support Black teens and their families, psychologists must become comfortable discussing ethnic-racial socialization and racial identity, incorporating those concepts into therapy.
• Once psychologists have identified racial stressors affecting Black teens, they should validate their experiences and work with them to develop appropriate responses.

Further reading

• Reclaim yourself: The homecoming workbookopens in new window
  Bryant, T., Tarcher, Perigee , 2024
• Black families in therapy: Understanding the African American experience (2nd ed.)opens in new window
  Boyd-Franklin, N., The Guilford Press, 2006
• The unapologetic guide to Black mental health
  opens in new window Walker, R., New Harbinger Publications, 2020
• Healing interpersonal and racial trauma: Integrating racial socialization into trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy for African American youthopens in new window
  Metzger, I. W., et al., Child Maltreatment , 2021
• Racial/ethnic discrimination and well-being during adolescence: A meta-analytic reviewopens in new window
  Benner, A. D., et al., American Psychologist , 2018
• Perceived racism and discrimination in children and youths: An exploratory studyopens in new window
  Pachter, L. M., et al., Health & Social Work , 2010

Learning objectives

After reading this article, CE candidates will be able to:

• Discuss the diverse circumstances immigrants and refugees face and list some of the common mental health concerns affecting these populations.
• Describe how psychologists can train and prepare to work with immigrant communities in clinical and forensic settings.
• Understand what clinical skills and strategies are helpful for assessing and treating immigrants and refugees.

“The most important thing that any clinician who’s working with immigrants can do is listen to the stories of individuals.”
—Laura Minero, PhD, licensed psychologist, Yolotl Libre Therapy

Key points

• Immigrants may face a range of challenging circumstances, including racism, acculturation, and trauma.
• Training in culturally competent care and knowledge about immigration issues can help psychologists better support immigrants and refugees.
• Trauma-informed care, narrative therapy, and cognitive behavioral therapy are effective treatment modalities for immigrant populations.

Further reading

• Refugee mental health
  Aten, J. D., & Hwang, J. (Eds.) APA Books, 2021
• A guide to providing mental health services to immigrants impacted by changes to DACA and the COVID-19 pandemic (PDF, 302KB)opens in new window
  Cadenas, G. A., et al., Informed Immigrant , 2020
• Working with refugees from Syria and surrounding Middle East countries (PDF, 7.35MB)opens in new window
  Abdulrehman, R., et al., Clinic Psychology Public Mental Health Initiative , 2016
• Latinx Immigrant Health Allianceopens in new window
• Psychological science and immigration today
  APA Presidential Task Force on Immigration and Health, 2024