There are no sidelines: a reaction to Legha’s “getting off the racist sidelines: an antiracist approach to mental health supervision and training”

ABSTRACT

We present a reaction to Legha’s (2023) anti-racist model of clinical supervision. We start by outlining the strengths of Legha’s model, including the need for supervisor self-awareness and the understanding of racism from a historical perspective. We then outline ways in which the model could be enhanced by focusing on epistemic violence, and conclude by discussing potential barriers to clinical and institutional implementation of Legha’s model. We appreciate Legha’s anti-racist model and view it as an important step forward toward the eradication of racism within mental health practice.

KEYWORDS:

• Racial identity
• anti-racist model
• clinical supervision

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Alex L. Pieterse

Alex L. Pieterse, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Counseling, Educational and Developmental Psychology at Boston College. His areas of research focus on the experience of racism, racial trauma, and antiracism advocacy. He received his PhD from Teachers College, Columbia University.

Michael M. Gale

Michael M. Gale is an Assistant Professor of Counseling Psychology at Springfield College. His research focuses on racism and mental health disparities, social justice, biracial identity/experience, and multicultural training. He earned his Ph.D. at the University at Albany, SUNY.