This Program has been organized by the Students Multicultural Committee of the Doctoral Program in Counseling Psychology at Felician University.
This program will provide 4 hours of continuing education. This program is co-sponsored by NJPA and Felician University. NJPA is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. NJPA maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
Program Narrative: Multicultural competency is required area of training by the American Psychological Association for doctoral programs in health service psychology. Psychology training programs are to teach students about the effects of socioeconomic and political factors that impact the psychosocial, political, and economic development of ethnic and culturally diverse groups. There is also a growing need for conducting research involving ethnic and culturally diverse populations to study the effects of economic and health disparities on the wellbeing of these populations. Furthermore, psychological service providers need to understand and apply a sociocultural framework to their assessment, intervention, and outreach practices for successful outcome. This means to not only consider diversity of clients’ values, but also to understand how culture, race, ethnicity, and sociopsychological factors play a role in peoples’ interactional styles and their views on health and disease, and of self and others. The present conference aims to provide a perspective, on various issues important in gaining multicultural competency, through the presentation of four following topics:
9:15am-9:30am
Welcome and Opening Remarks
9:35am to 10:35am (1 CE Cr.)
“Understanding and Addressing Implicit Biases in Psychological Practice” is a lecture that will be presented by Dr. Milton Fuentes. As noted in the American Psychological Association’s ethical code, “Psychologists try to eliminate the effect on their work of biases based on those factors, and they do not knowingly participate in or condone activities of others based upon such prejudices.” While these are critical endeavors that can be fostered and maintained by intercultural competence; regretfully, implicit biases may compromise these efforts. Implicit biases are cognitive traces that are informed by past experiences and inform our current performance. These biases may lead to problematic attitudes, discriminatory practices, and maladaptive dynamics in our clinical work; hence, psychologists need to be equipped with the necessary knowledge, skills, and attitudes to adequately address these biases and promote intercultural competence. To this end, this session will highlight best practices informed by social psychology research for understanding and monitoring implicit biases and promoting a diversity-centered practice.
10:40am – 11:40am (1 CE Cr.)
"Black Lives Matter World Tour: Is Psychology Watching and Listening?" is the title of Dr. Shawn Utsey’s presentation. Dr. Utsey will be presenting on the meaning of the “Black Lives Matter” as a movement that has been formed to end racially motivated violence against black people. The lecture will focus on disparities, social justice issues and racism-related stress and quality of life within African Americans. Social justice, equity and equality, issues and the implications for counseling and preventing prejudice will be highlighted and discussed.
11:40am- 12:40pm
Lunch Break
12:45pm- 1:45pm (1 CE Cr.)
“Beyond Multicultural Competence: Examining the intersection of Social Justice, Cultural Humility, and Diversity” is the title of a lecture by Dr. Azara Santiago Rivera. Multicultural competencies have had an enormous influence, not only, in reshaping the training of mental health professionals, but also in revising ethical principles and the code of conduct such as the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct of the American Psychological Association. Since the development of these competencies, leaders in the field have stressed the importance of considering social justice advocacy in one’s work with diverse individuals and communities. This lecture highlights the important concepts that are relevant to a social justice orientation, which involves working in a community setting to tackle systemic barriers and using one’s power and privilege to advocate for change. Dr. Santiago Rivera explains and will emphasize the importance of cultural humility, as an essential means to deepening our understanding of individuals from diverse backgrounds. Specifically, cultural humility is defined as a “virtue or disposition important to one’s MCO [multicultural orientation] that involves having an interpersonal stance that is other-oriented in relation to another individual’s cultural background and experience, marked by respect for and lack of superiority toward another individual’s cultural background and experience.” She will further focus on the research that has shown that clinicians who have a cultural humility stance commit fewer microaggressions in therapy and establish a positive working relationship with clients.
1:50pm – 2:50pm (1 CE Cr.)
All Systems Affected: The Multidimensional Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on the Lives of Doctoral Psychology Students is the title of a panel discussion. The panel will pinpoint the experiences of stress, trauma and resilience as narrated by Felician University Psy.D. students. The panel will be moderated by Dr. Ann Guillory. The students will highlight their challenges and strides during the COVID-19 Pandemic. They will share their stories about the ways in which they were affected by environmental factors such as parenthood, social justice movement, health disparities and other challenges. These discussions are embedded in the related literature regarding experiences of psychology doctoral students, and implications for psychology training programs for support of their students are considered.
2:50pm – 3:15pm
Questions and Answers; Closing Remarks; CE Information
Learning Objectives:
At the conclusion of the workshop, participants will be able to:
1. Define implicit bias
2. Explain at least one strategy to assess implicit bias
3. Describe at least three awareness-raising and prejudice-reduction exercises that can lead to the lessening of implicit biases
4. Identify key concepts of the multicultural and social justice competencies frameworks
5. Identify key tenets of the cultural humility framework
6. Explore the relationships between one’s cultural identity and systems of systems of power and privilege
7. Describe the intersectionality of social justice and cultural humility, and implications for practice
8. Identify racism-related stress
9. Identify areas for future research
Intended Audience and LevelThis presentation at the intermediate level is appropriate for psychologists, counselors, graduate students, and educators who have some familiarity with the content.
About the Presenters:
Dr. Shawn Utsey is a Professor of Psychology and Chair of the African American Studies Department at Virginia Commonwealth University. His research is focused on an understanding of how race-related stress impacts the physiological and psychological well-being of African Americans. He was a professor and Fulbright Scholar in Department of Psychology and Simlando Institute for Oral History and Memory Work, University of KwaZulu Natal, Pietermaritzburg in South Africa. He also has previously served as the editor-in-chief for the Journal of Black Psychology.
Dr. Azara Santiago Rivera is the Coordinator of the Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology at Felician University, Lodi, New Jersey. Her publications and research interests include multicultural competencies in the counseling profession, bilingual therapy, behavioral activation as a treatment for depression in Latinx adults, and the impact of environmental contamination on the biopsychosocial well-being of Native Americans. Her current work involves assessing depression in Latinx adults and the challenges associated with the use of translated measures from English to Spanish. Dr. Santiago Rivera’s leadership positions in professional organizations include President of the National Latinx Psychological Association. She is the Founding Editor of the Journal of Latinx Psychology and is a Fellow of Divisions 45 and 17 of the American Psychological Association (APA).
Dr. Milton Fuentes is a professor in the psychology department at Montclair State University and a licensed psychologist in New Jersey and New York. He is the 2012 President of the National Latinx Psychological Association. He has served as an ethnic minority delegate to APA’s Council of Representatives and as a member of APA’s Board for the Advancement of Psychology in the Public Interest, APA’s Committee on Ethnic Minority Affairs, and the APA Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Collaborative. Dr. Fuentes’ research and clinical interests are in the areas of Latinx, multicultural, and family psychology, program development, pedagogy, and motivational enhancement. He serves as a consultant to several organizations, including the former Violence Prevention Office of the APA as well as numerous institutions of higher education, community-based agencies, and corporate clients.
Ann Verret Guillory, Ed.D. [Student Panel Moderator] is a full professor of Counseling Psychology. She has taught at Felician University since 1983. She was the first director of the Felician Educational Opportunity Program, coordinated the development of the gerontology concentration, supervised the Academic Student Support Services, and co-coordinated the Institute for Gerontology. Dr. Guillory’s doctorate is in Applied Human Development with a specialization in Aging. She has lectured to senior groups as well as other organizations and has conducted workshops for professionals in the field of aging. She currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Care Plus NJ and Care Plus Foundation and has served as Foundation president and Vice President. She is currently the chair of the Board of Trustees of Paradigm Therapeutic Day School on Midland Park. She is the past president of the Bergen-Passaic Chapter of Jack and Jill, Inc, Dr. Guillory has been a member of the Bergen County Chapter of the Links, Inc since 1994.
Felician University Doctoral Student Panel:
Marlene G. Taylor Edghill, M.A.
Diana Spieker, M.A., LAC
Mike Almasri, M.Ed.
Suryia Parmanand, M.A., Ed.S., NCSP
Brendan Guarino, M.A., LAC
Proprietary Information: NJPA ensures that permission to use proprietary information, and steps to safeguard such information, are discussed with presenters at NJPA co-sponsored programs. No materials (physical or electronic) provided to attendees at such programs may be shared.
This program did not receive any commercial support, and there are no conflicts of interest to report.
Americans with Disabilities Act: Felician University makes the CE programs accessible to individuals with disabilities, according to the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Please contact Nouriman Ghahary, Ph.D., at [email protected] if special accommodation is required.