Baylor University Counseling Center
Doctoral Internship in Psychology
Diversity and Cultural Competency Training
As a training facility we strongly embrace the ethical imperatives that guide the identity
development of Psychologists, in particular the mandate to be culturally sensitive professionals.
We strive to create an environment of support and acceptance with our internship training as
well as our work with clients, and with each other. Interns can expect that we will honor and
respect their uniqueness while at the same time help them grow as a therapist and a future
psychologist. Our Diversity Statement below captures our vision for who we want to be:
Diversity Vision Statement
As a center we are committed to engaging in a journey of multicultural competency. We seek
growth in our understanding of diversity as it relates to both the Baylor community and the
global community. Our commitment extends not only outward in service but inward, as we each
pursue awareness of our own experience of diversity.
As a center we share core values that promote and celebrate diversity. An expression of these
values is evident in our respect, empathy, compassion, and acceptance of all people. We pride
ourselves on providing services in the areas of clinical treatment, outreach and prevention,
consultation, liaison, training and education. We envision our values, as they relate to
multicultural competency, to be visible in all the ways in which we interact with Baylor and the
Waco community, as well as, our day to day functioning within the walls of the Baylor University
Counseling Center.
As a center we strive not only to increase awareness of diversity issues such as oppression and
discrimination, but also to foster reconciliation as we affirm movement towards healing. We
believe the spirit of the Christian faith embraces the spirit of multiculturalism: both emerging
from the spirit of love. In being compelled by love, we show hospitality, dignity, and humility in
our work with all people and in our interactions with one another.
Training Philosophy
We think about culture and diversity broadly, allowing our definition to encompass racial and
ethnic differences, gender and sexual identity, socioeconomic status, nationality, acculturation,
religious affiliation, and ability status, as well as the intersectionality of these and other
identities. Comprehensive understanding of the impact of culture is seen by our staff as an
integral ingredient of competent psychological practice.
We are therefore deeply committed to developing our own multicultural competencies and those
of our interns. We believe that all counseling is multicultural counseling, and being an effective
counselor requires being intentional about building healing relationships with clients where
attention to issues of diversity is paramount.
Serving a Diverse Public
We train interns to be well-rounded professional psychologists with the competencies to serve
clients representing different forms of diversity. In providing this training, we commit ourselves
to creating a supportive training environment that allows for self-exploration and the
development of cognitive flexibility. Interns training in our center are expected to develop
competencies to effectively serve diverse populations, including clients whose identity, beliefs,
worldview, or cultural background may create personal conflict with that of the intern. We
believe that in working through these conflicts interns will have the opportunity to grow and
obtain valuable skills and experiences that will enhance their development as clinicians.
Supervision is encouraged as a useful tool to obtain support during challenging diversity related
experiences. We ascribe to APA’s position statement “Preparing Professional Psychologists to
Serve a Diverse Public: A Core Requirement in Doctoral Education and Training” which can be
found at: http://www.apa.org/pi/lgbt/resources/policy/diversity-preparation.aspx (See App. E).
Supervision
Our training in diversity has been structured in an intentionally developmental and systematic
manner. We consider it very important to train interns to think in a culturally competent way,
rather than just learn certain facts about certain groups and apply them in a more stereotyped
fashion. Though some supervisors are responsible for different aspects of diversity-related
didactic training, we do not want those supervisors to be seen as the only “go-to” people in the
realm of diversity, since we all hold a commitment to diversity and to personal growth in this
area. All supervisors are expected to attend to diversity factors and collaborate with one another
in training interns in this realm, to assure clear feedback and a thoughtful training experience.
While we consider supervisors as having important responsibilities in the area of diversity, we
also believe that interns need to develop awareness, take initiative, and challenge themselves
and one another as needed to ensure a meaningful learning experience. We also recognize that
cultural competency is a journey in which no one, even those considered to be experts, ever
reaches a destination. Interns are encouraged to respectfully bring to light issues of diversity
that might have gone unnoticed by even their supervisor, as our clinical staff are also engaging
in their own journey of cultural competency.
Supervisors assess how well interns address the training goal of increasing knowledge,
awareness, and skill in individual and cultural diversity, evaluating them along the following
objectives:
A. OBJECTIVE: KNOWLEDGE OF INDIVIDUAL AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY
Demonstrates a working knowledge of various forms of client diversity; committed to the
ongoing process of learning about diversity issues.
B. OBJECTIVE: AWARENESS OF CLIENT DIVERSITY
Sensitive to the cultural and individual diversity of clients
C. OBJECTIVE: AWARENESS OF OWN CULTURAL AND ETHNIC BACKGROUND
Aware of own background and its impact on clients; committed to continuing to explore
own cultural identity issues and relationship to clinical work.
D. OBJECTIVE: SKILL IN IMPLEMENTING MULTICULTURAL KNOWLEDGE AND AWARENESS IN
THE CLINICAL PROCESS
Skillfully implements multicultural interventions with a wide range of clients, uses
knowledge and self-awareness to deepen therapeutic process; committed to providing
culturally sensitive services.
Didactic, Programmatic, and Clinical Experience
Topics relevant to diversity are regular features of the orientation, in-services, and intern
seminars, and include experiential exercises as well as didactic information. Outreach
presentations and consultations are provided to the campus community on diversity issues
specifically or with diversity in mind in the development and execution of programs. While in
most cases interns naturally experience a reasonably diverse caseload, supervisors assist the
interns in monitoring the diversity of their caseload, and case assignments are intentionally
made when needed to balance caseloads and provide experience. Some examples of the
trainings include:
Establishing framework and raising awareness of the impact of diversity and culture
What to expect in Diversity Trainings
Difficult Dialogues
Power & Privilege Experience
Power & Privilege Analysis
Video Experience and Discussion of Crash
Building Awareness of Cultural Identity with the Arts
Knowledge and Skills for Working with Diverse Populations in Counseling
Diversity in College Counseling: Sexual Orientation
Diversity in College Counseling: Women’s Issues
Miss Representation – Prep for Women’s Issues
Title IX and Sexual Assault on College Campuses
Diversity in College Counseling: Men’s Issues
Tough Guise – video and discussion – Prep for Men’s Issues
Diversity in College Counseling: Race & Ethnicity
Diversity in College Counseling: Ability and Disability
Diversity in College Counseling: Faith & Spirituality
Diversity in College Counseling: International Students
Diversity Training: Color Blind VS Cultural Competency
Cultural Competency in Case Conceptualization
Training Cultural Competency
We approach the development of cultural competency by addressing the areas of therapist
awareness, knowledge, and skills. Leading diversity scholars Sue and Sue (2013) state that
“Cultural competence is the ability to engage in actions or create conditions that maximize the
optimal development of client and client systems. It is the acquisition of awareness, knowledge,
and skills needed to function effectively in a pluralistic democratic society (ability to
communicate, interact, negotiate, and intervene on behalf of clients from diverse backgrounds),
and on an organizational/societal level, advocating effectively to develop new theories,
practices, policies, and organizational structures that are more responsive to all groups .”
Our staff is committed to this journey of cultural competency ourselves, as outlined in our vision
statement. We further extend this vision to our internship training program for psychology
doctoral students and ask them to take the journey with us. We seek to raise our trainee’s
awareness, knowledge, and skills in cultural competence through key training opportunities
including:
A culturally sensitive Individual Supervision Process
A culturally sensitive Intensive Case Conference
Clinical work with a broad range of diverse students
Diversity Seminar (2 hours, every other week)
Multicultural competencies as a part of all didactic seminars (2 hours per week)
A culturally sensitive Supervision of Practicum Supervision experience
A Core-Competency requirement in area of diversity, including a diversity project
Furthermore, we are intentional in developing our cultural competency training in the above
areas to be systematic, developmental, and to progressively build on an intern’s competencies
in the areas of their multicultural awareness, knowledge, and skills.
Feedback and Assessment
Cultural Competency is intimately tied to the establishment of relationships that recognize power
differentials, and invite reciprocity and mutual feedback in both the supervision relationship and
the clinical relationships. Therefore, an integral part of our internship training is inviting feedback
about our training process.
Trainees will complete an assessment of their supervisor, that includes feedback about their
provision of culturally sensitive supervision, and an assessment of the culturally sensitive caseconference. Additionally, all clinicians (both trainees and staff) receive feedback from a client
satisfaction survey each semester, which includes questions about their cultural competency
skills – as experienced directly by their clients. All of these data points become grist for the mill
in the individual supervision process, and help us further our journey in developing continued
competencies – trainers and trainees, alike.
In addition to the mutual feedback process Interns will be rated on a Multicultural Competency
Rating Scale. Interns will be expected to arrive with a beginning to intermediate level of cultural
competence. The goal of the internship is to advance the interns to a more advanced level of
cultural competency, and readiness for independent practice.
And finally, in addition to an ongoing dialogue with the interns on how our program can improve
our training of cultural competencies, we also ask for this feedback in our final overall training
program evaluation.