Black, indigenous, and trainees of color stress and resilience: The role of training and education in decolonizing psychology.

OBJECTIVE

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has instigated a paradigm shift in psychology graduate training and education. As these system-wide changes are being implemented, Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) continue to be disproportionately impacted as they simultaneously experience, witness, and relive the deleterious consequences of systemic and institutional racism as trainees and members of minoritized communities. The field requires a radical culture shift to counteract the effects of ongoing psychological harm on trainees of color.

METHOD

Our analyses are grounded in two decolonizing frameworks, Critical Race Theory and Liberation Psychology. We also provide a systems-based analysis of how BIPOC trainees are impacted by systemic racism and examine how these -isms are perpetuated in psychology training. Testimonios are used as examples on how to center trainee's experiential knowledge.

CONCLUSIONS

Psychology is uniquely positioned to transform how science and practice informs, builds, and sustains equitable systems for trainees and the public. The profession must question and disrupt the status quo and system inequities to build capacity and foster resistance. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).