Symposia
Culture / Ethnicity / Race
Kevin Narine, PhD
Clinical Psychology Doctoral Student
William James College
Newton, Massachusetts
Cindy Chang, Psy.M.
Graduate Student
Rutgers University
Piscataway, New Jersey
Erike Ho, M.S., M.Phil.
Graduate Student
Yale University
New Haven, Connecticut
Christine Francis, BA
Graduate Student
William James College
Newton, Massachusetts
Lindsey Davis, PhD.
Teaching Faculty
William James College and Harvard University
Newton, Massachusetts
Catherine Vuky, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Williams James College
newton, Massachusetts
Objective: The field of clinical psychology is becoming increasingly diverse with AAPI professionals. Although AAPI people comprise 7.2% of the total population in the United States, AAPI individuals represent only 4% of psychologists in the workforce (U.S. Census Bureau, 2015). In addition to perceiving AAPI therapists as more credible and culturally sensitive (Cabral & Smith, 2011; Gim et al., 1991), AAPI patients tend to experience lower rates of premature terminations (Flaskerud & Liu, 1991) and higher treatment satisfaction (Gamst et al. 2003) with AAPI therapists. Therefore, recruiting, retaining, and affirming AAPI trainees in clinical psychology programs is imperative to delivering culturally responsive mental health services. Thus, it is essential to increase support for AAPI trainees as they develop personally and professionally.
Methods: First, we will examine common experiences of prejudice and discrimination that AAPI trainees face during their training. Next, we discuss how training programs can provide culturally responsive support to AAPI trainees through an anti-racist framework (e.g., addressing microaggressions experienced by clinical trainees in clinical settings). We provide specific recommendations for educators, supervisors, staff, and other stakeholders to support and empower AAPI trainees.
Results: AAPI trainees occupy an often invisibilized ethnoracial identity and experience anti-AAPI stress in clinical psychology doctoral programs. Training programs often overlook their specific needs. Based on the experiences of three clinical psychology doctoral students and two clinical psychology faculty members, AAPI trainees experience microaggressions, burnout, and lack of supported related to their ethnoracial identities in academic and clinical settings.
Discussion: The recent rise in anti-AAPI violence in particular has highlighted the urgency of dismantling anti-AAPI oppressive training systems and establishing culturally sensitive and affirming practices for AAPI trainees. Thus, it is important that training programs integrate AAPI trainees’ personal experiences with research evidence to support AAPI trainees in clinical psychology programs.