Abstract
In clinical psychology and the wider psychological professions, racialised disparities are
longstanding and well-documented. These inequities are exacerbated by the dearth of attention
afforded to racism and cultural humility within training curricula, and difficulties experienced
by trainees, qualified clinicians and trainers alike related to talking about race and racism.
However, given the pervasiveness of racism throughout our society, and its traumatic impact,
psychological professionals, trainers and supervisors must be equipped to respond sensitively
to racial trauma to avoid perpetuating further racial harm. This thesis aims to explore how these
issues might be addressed. Part A of this portfolio presents an empirical study of racially
minoritised people’s experiences of disclosing racial trauma in psychological therapy in the
UK. The findings highlighted a range of harms and burdens imposed on participants by
therapists’ insensitivity, ignorance or inadequate containment of their own emotional responses
to disclosures, as well as ways in which therapists were experienced to demonstrate
understanding and validation, and to promote healing. Part B presents a conceptual paper which
reviews the concept of cultural humility and its relevance to clinical psychology; explores a
variety of pedagogical approaches used to promote this stance across a number of disciplines;
and considers how the cross-disciplinary literature informs our understanding of how cultural
humility can be promoted within the competence-based field of clinical psychology training.
Taken together, both papers’ findings emphasise the critical importance of both: a) increasing
knowledge of racialised operations of power, privilege, marginalisation and oppression and our
collective socialisation into these systems; and, b) increasing racial self-reflexivity in order to
safeguard and minimise harm towards racially minoritised clients, trainees and colleagues we
work with, in order to promote greater racial equity within our professions. A whole-systems
commitment is required from trainers and trainees, supervisors, professional bodies and policy
makers for meaningful and sustained change to occur.