Getting off the racist sidelines: an antiracist approach to mental health supervision and training

ABSTRACT

Few codified strategies exist for antiracist supervision practices that prepare mental health providers to challenge racism during clinical care. In this paper, the author articulates an antiracist clinical supervision approach comprised of six action steps for identifying the racism and Whiteness shaping clinical care and supervision and dismantling them: (a) recognizing the historical legacy of racism to avoid perpetuating it, (b) identifying racism as the enduring public health crisis of our time, (c) admitting to being racist in order to engage in antiracism, (d) heightening critical consciousness, (e) cultivating foundational knowledge in racism, and (f) dismantling racism during supervision.

KEYWORDS:

• Racism
• antiracism
• clinical supervision

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Annelise A. Singh’s The Racial Healing Handbook and Layla F. Saad’s (2020) Me and White Supremacy also offer practical tools for unpacking biases and racial socialization, dismantling privilege, processing and managing feelings of stress and shame, and healing from the grief and trauma racism inflicts.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rupinder Kaur Legha

Rupinder Kaur Legha is a double-board-certified child and adolescent and adult psychiatrist who has trained and supervised mental health providers in the United States, Haiti, and Perú. She writes extensively about racism and antiracism in mental healthcare, medical education, and clinical care more broadly. Between January 2020 and March 2023, she dedicated over 1,000 hours of unpaid labor to draft, revise, and finalize this paper.