“I was simply trying to make it through the day”: A collaborative autoethnography of couple/marriage and family therapy program directors in a diversity and anti‐racism peer consultation group

Abstract

The COVID‐19 pandemic and widely depicted incidents of racial injustice in the United States caused marked stress and shifts in society in 2020, leading to an acceleration of discussions related to promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ) in family‐oriented mental health professions, including through training. Despite the consequential role leaders of academic programs play in overseeing didactic and clinical training, little research has examined approaches for supporting academic leaders in promoting DEIJ in family science‐related academic training programs. In this collaborative autoethnography, we, six participants in a diversity and anti‐racism peer consultation group for leaders of couple/marriage and family therapy (C/MFT) programs, present our experiences participating in the group over the past two years. At the start of the group, many of us were experiencing profound isolation and stress due to intensified responsibilities subsequent to the COVID‐19 pandemic and broadcast depictions of racial injustice. We experienced the group as a safe, inclusive space to grow personally and professionally, which subsequently inspired us to make changes in our programs. We also recognized the need for greater infrastructure to support program directors in developing DEIJ leadership skills. Future directions for research include examining experiences and outcomes of director‐initiated DEIJ change, as well examination of DEIJ‐focused peer consultation groups among family systems‐oriented academic leaders of diverse disciplines and nations.

A special section: Contributions of family science to anti‐racism efforts

“…This paper also is in the tradition of critical and disruptive family science theory and practice, which places a greater emphasis on social and racial justice explicitly, in that it provides an in-depth examination using critical race theory and critical whiteness studies of the process of self-analysis and personal accountability for transformative change among marriage and family therapists. Both the Rajaei et al (2024) and Sterrett-Hong et al (2024) papers demonstrate the significance of engagement in intentional, and sometimes novel, actions to advance anti-racism, consistent with the action-oriented bent of family science.…”