A Cultural Humility and Social Justice Approach to Psychotherapy

Achieving effectiveness of evidence-based psychotherapy across a diversity of patients continues to be a foremost concern, and many training programs and professional societies in clinical psychology are at a loss as to how to systematically approach this issue. In A Cultural Humility and Social Justice Approach to Psychotherapy, Anu Asnaani provides an applied guide for working with clients from a diverse set of intersectional identities within the context of evidence-based practice. Drawing on her extensive clinical experience with a range of clients and therapy protocols/approaches, her active and ongoing research program in addressing health disparities, and considerable work in training clinicians across practice settings to incorporate diversity perspectives into treatment, Asnaani presents practical ways to engage in culturally humble, socially just clinical practice. Guidelines are derived from the consensus across published literature and established practice, and cover the full trajectory of treatment, from assessment through to relapse prevention; the book further offers some considerations for adopting these principles within the context of clinical supervision. Suitable for a broad range of mental health practitioners providing evidence-based clinical care for individuals with psychological disorders, this book provides worksheets, reflection exercises, and short-hand figures, making these concepts as easy-to-use in clinical practice as possible.

Anu Asnaani, Ph.D., is a licensed Clinical Psychologist and an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, where she directs the Treatment Mechanisms, Community Empowerment, and Technology Innovations (TCT) laboratory. She was previously an Assistant Professor at University of Pennsylvania from 2013-2018. She completed her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Boston University in 2013, and her clinical internship from the Brown Alpert Medical School. Her research focuses on understanding the underlying mechanisms of effective treatments for affective disorders and ways to optimize such treatments for diverse local and global communities to address ongoing health disparities in such settings.

Acknowledgements Foreword - Dr. Pamela Hays Introduction and Overview of Topic Chapter 1: Guideline 1 - Exploring Your Own Cultural Identity, Beliefs and Biases Before Providing Therapy Chapter 2: Guideline 2 - Practicing Cultural Humility as a Continuous Process Chapter 3: Guideline 3 - Balancing Culturally-Informed and Individualized Assessment of the Presenting Problem Chapter 4: Guideline 4 - Engaging in Self-Education about Specific Cultural Norms Using a Variety of Sources Chapter 5: Guideline 5 - Addressing Stigma and Other Cultural Barriers to Psychological Treatment Chapter 6: Guideline 6 - Exploring the Impact of Discrimination and Microaggressions on Therapy Chapter 7: Guideline 7 - Identifying and Incorporating Cultural Strengths and Resources into Treatment Chapter 8: Utilizing the Guidelines to Enhance Relapse Prevention and Maintenance of Treatment Gains Chapter 9: Considerations for the Supervisory Relationship with Diverse Trainees and their Diverse Clients Chapter 10: Final Thoughts Appendix Index