OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
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At CAPS, we are committed to growing multiculturally as clinicians and as an organization. We are aware that there are different stages in this process. The process starts with increasing self-awareness and understanding of systematic oppression, that is present across the many institutions, including government, education, healthcare, legal, and others. We have many different life experiences and socioeconomic histories, which shape our worldviews that may grant power and privilege to some groups. By facing how we may have benefited from and/or discriminated against based on our histories, by identifying our biases, power, and privilege and their impact on our interactions with our clients, and through increased cultural humility we become better therapists. Finally, we are committed to flourishing as a healthy multicultural organization through diversifying the organization, seeking input from diverse voices and groups, and working to serve under-represented populations in our community (see CAPS Statement on Anti-Black Violence & Statement on Anti-Asian Violence).
With these goals in mind, we ask several things of our doctoral interns. First, we encourage each intern to serve on the Diversity Committee. The Diversity Committee facilitates staff development by identifying needs for training in relation to diversity, social justice, equality, and inclusion. The interns will have opportunities to contribute to the Diversity Committee’s ongoing assessment of CAPS’ training needs and/or identification of new agenda items.
Next, interns participate in the Diversity Seminar, a bi-weekly meeting that includes the interns and different speakers on varied topics, such as white privilege, social identity markers, intersectionality, socioeconomic differences, etc. Even though the topics covered may change year to year, interns will have the opportunity to process reactions, increase self-awareness, and explore how to implement these learnings into their clinical work.
Through mental health promotion involvement, interns have the option to focus on an individualized opportunity to extend competency by working with diverse groups on campus, such as engaging in cultural centers through liaison activities or developing and offering workshops on issues specific to the particular population.