Valuing Diversity

Both the Womack Clinical Psychology Internship Program (CPIP) and Clinical Psychology Residency Program (CPRP) emphasize diversity by fostering an atmosphere and environment that respects, supports, and values multiple perspectives. We recognize the importance of training interns and residents to become culturally competent psychologists, as this is critical in reducing health-care disparities and providing quality care to service members and their Families with diverse values, beliefs, and practices.

The faculty of the CPIP and CPRP strives to enhance diversity competencies by integrating diversity into all aspects of the training program including the didactic training curriculum, supervision, all direct service delivery experiences, ongoing educational opportunities, and recruitment and retention efforts of faculty, staff, and interns.  This commitment is mirrored in the larger Department of Behavioral Health and in the Womack Army Medical Center itself, both of which provide robust funding for training and resources specific to increasing knowledge of and best practices for the provision of healthcare services to one of the most diverse organizations in the world: the U.S. Military.

We seek diverse applicants among interns, residents, faculty, and staff as well as those who have strong interests and experience working with diverse people and organizations. During the course of training, supervisors focus on and model multicultural competence in the supervisory relationship, and interns are encouraged to develop the skills necessary to practice within a multicultural framework and to incorporate diversity into all aspects of their clinical work.

Diversity Committee

The CPIP and CPRP maintain diversity committees that include interns and residents respectively, supervisors, and the directors of each program. The mission of the diversity committees is to facilitate training opportunities in diversity education and the development of multicultural competence for staff and trainees.  The committee also advises the programs on the maintenance of a comprehensive, multi-year plan to ensure a supportive learning environment and to recruit and retain diverse staff and trainees.

Didactics

Diversity is consistently addressed as part of the CPIP and CPRP didactic curriculum. Didactic topics in diversity include:

• Cultural Competence with Military Populations
• Women’s Issues in the Military
• Diverse Spirituality within the Armed Forces
• Marital Status Discrimination
• Evidence-based Care for Transgender Service Members
• Supervision with Diverse Supervisees
• Developing Multicultural Competence Through Supervision
• Assessment of Physically and Culturally Diverse Patients