The Yale Department of Psychiatry’s Doctoral Internship in Clinical & Community Psychology will launch a faculty development program that will increase training in anti-racism and diversity concepts and promote better understanding of inequalities and health disparities.
The new program is funded with a grant from the American Psychological Association’s Commission on Ethnic Minority, Recruitment, Retention and Training in Psychology Task Force (CEMRRAT) and a match from the Yale Department of Psychiatry.
Amber W. Childs, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Director of Training for the Yale Doctoral Internship Program, is the PI for the grant, which was co-developed with Rebecca Miller, PhD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, and Cindy Crusto, PhD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry. Miller and Crusto will serve as consultants on the project.
The CEMRRAT small grant program provides funds to support commitments to enhance ethnic minority recruitment, retention, and training in psychology. Childs, Miller, and Crusto sought out the opportunity given the clear fit with a longitudinal, multi-pronged strategic plan within the Yale Doctoral Internship Program to support the development of psychologists of racial and ethnic minority backgrounds to become leaders in the field of psychology.
With the increased focus on diversity, training, and leadership development among trainees of color, the Diversity Equity and Inclusion Committee of the Yale Doctoral Internship Program recognized opportunities to increase the knowledge, awareness, and skills within the internship training faculty, including the voluntary clinical faculty.
The work of the grant will include providing internship faculty training in anti-racism, diversity concepts, and practices, and an understanding of the extent to which structural and systemic barriers serve to create inequalities and health disparities to help enhance the supervision and teaching of trainees within the internship program.
The planned work also includes an evaluation of the impact of these trainings, including assessing faculty knowledge and training practices and the creation of a dynamic online database of trainings and resources to support ongoing faculty development and learning.
“We are honored to have been selected by APA for the faculty development priority area,” Childs said. “This is an incredible opportunity to further the five years of foundational and deeply meaningful work of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee for the Internship Program.”
The Yale Doctoral Internship Program is one of the nation’s premier internships in clinical and community psychology. Over 15 students are accepted annually to the program, which has been accredited by the American Psychological Association since 1970.
Interns in the program are referred to as “psychology fellows.” The internship begins on July 1 and concludes on June 30 of each academic year.