With ongoing news of hardship and suffering in the United Kingdom and throughout the world, and in the context of austerity, shrinking public services and increasing social inequalities, it is sometimes difficult not to fall into despair, to feel hopeless or ineffectual. In this paper we consider counter‐practices to such despair and hopelessness that we hope will be helpful to all clinicians.
IntroductionClinical Psychology has long been criticised as a profession that is rooted in coloniality, that preserves whiteness as the norm through its practices. Arguably, this has led to many racial disparities in the mental health outcomes for racially minoritised groups living in the UK. In more recent years, clinical psychology training courses (DClinPsy) have focused their efforts to develop Equality, Diversity and Inclusion initiatives, leading to changes in the curriculum.AimsThe aim of the current study is to explore how trainee clinical psychologists (TCP) understand racial equity and decolonisation in relation to the DClinPsy curriculum and research practices. Also, to explore whether trainees have experienced any changes in relation to racial equity and decolonisation agendas and what changes would they like to see in the future.MethodThree focus groups were conducted with TCPs across various DClinPsy courses, which were analysed using a thematic analysis.ResultsThe data presented four themes: ‘defining and enacting racial equity’, ‘the DClinPsy course content’, ‘structural and societal barriers’ and ‘the future’.ConclusionsThe findings highlight the various complexities and dilemmas that surround DClinPsy courses. The results also show key areas of progression, development, and recommendations to enhance the racial equitability of the DClinPsy curriculum and research practices, in the hope of improving the mental health service provision and outcomes for racially-minoritised groups.
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