Examining White Privilege in Pursuit of Cultural Humility

Conversations about racial privilege are integral to developing a clinical practice of cultural humility. This course talks about the intention of acknowledging this privilege daily in order to ignite change. We will learn how to address privilege and talk about it in a clinical setting as well as model for our supervisees.

You will learn to:

• Discuss the definition of racial privilege, along with its impact on clinical practice.

• Explore the connections between examining racial privilege and developing cultural humility practices.

• Develop an action plan for addressing their own racial privilege in the context of clinical practice.

The course discusses the pillars of cultural humility and as it pertains to white privilege. These pillars are as follows:

• Developing cultural self-awareness: What is my culture and how does it influence the ways I view and interact with others?

• Gaining cultural knowledge: What are other cultures like, and what strengths do they have?

• Understanding and redressing power imbalances: How can I use my understanding of my own and others’ cultures to identify and work to disrupt inequitable systems?

• Holding systems accountable: How can I work on an institutional level to ensure that the systems I’m part of move toward greater inclusion and equity?

Our panelists discuss the discomfort of comfort in white privilege and how discomfort may be the impetus of change. Dr. Froerer has the example of putting someone else’s glasses on, you still wouldn’t be able to see as you have a different prescription (or in some cases, perspective / privilege). You must ask questions about what they see in order to understand.