Quick facts

• Year: 2020-2026

• Country: United Kingdom

• Institution: Newcastle University

• Learners: Trainee clinical psychologists (doctoral level training)

• Aims: The aim of the intervention was to create an educational space that challenges Eurocentric assumptions within clinical psychology, enhances trainees’ understanding of racialised inequities, and equips them with the knowledge and skills required to deliver culturally responsive and socially just clinical practice.

Why was the education intervention developed?

The objectives of this intervention were were to:

• Develop trainees’ clinical skills in self‑awareness and reflexivity, particularly in relation to their own positionality, biases and assumptions within anti‑racist practice.

• Introduce and critically examine decolonial perspectives and alternative, culturally grounded models of psychological distress that move beyond dominant Eurocentric frameworks.

• Strengthen trainees’ capacity to engage in anti‑racist clinical practice, including recognising and responding to racialised disparities in assessment, formulation and intervention.

• Develop confidence and competence in applying anti‑racist and decolonial principles at a systemic level, enabling trainees to challenge inequities and influence change within clinical and academic contexts.

• Foster a learning environment that supports open dialogue, critical reflection and collaborative exploration of how racism operates within the profession and wider mental health systems.

What was involved in the education intervention?

The intervention consisted of a structured teaching session on anti‑racist and decolonial clinical practice, delivered as part of awider programme of anti‑racist education within the Newcastle University Clinical Psychology Doctorate.

The teaching took place within the course's taught curriculum and form a three‑year developmental sequence:

• Introduction to Whiteness (Year 1)

• Decolonising Clinical Psychology (Year 2)

• Anti‑Racist Leadership (Year 3).

Each teaching session is accompanied/combined with a 3-hour intersectional reflective group, where trainees are encouraged to critically engage with and reflect upon the material presented in the lecture.

The teaching incorporates a range of learning activities, including short lectures, videos, role plays, case‑based discussions, and small‑group reflective exercises.

Content includes: the historical and contemporary Eurocentrism of clinical psychology; racialised inequities in mental health; decolonial and culturally grounded models of distress; whiteness and institutional racism; and the application of anti‑racist principles to clinical, organisational and academic contexts.

This teaching was co‑produced by qualified, trainee and aspiring clinical psychologists from racially minoritised backgrounds, drawing on their lived experience and professional expertise, as well as evidence from the research base.

Since its conceptualisation in 2020, the teaching has been iteratively revised in response to ongoing trainee feedback. Sessions are led by clinical psychologists from racially minoritised backgrounds and co‑facilitated by white clinical psychologists.

Consideration is given to the emotional wellbeing of all learners. Small‑group discussions were facilitated by lecturers to ensure psychological safety and prevent uncontained or harmful dialogue.

Racially minoritised trainees were placed together in facilitated breakout groups to reduce isolation and mitigate the burden of racialised labour. Facilitators remained available for debriefing and individual support following the session.

How was the education intervention evaluated? 

The intervention is evaluated through the programme’s standard Feedback on Professional Training form, which trainees complete after each teaching session.

This provides both quantitative and qualitative data on the effectiveness of the intervention. Trainees rate the extent to which the session enhanced their knowledge, confidence and skills in relation to anti‑racist and decolonial clinical practice, alongside offering written/qualitative reflections on what they found impactful or challenging.

This approach enables ongoing monitoring of learning outcomes and informs iterative revisions to the teaching to ensure it remains responsive to trainee needs and aligned with the programme’s wider anti‑racist training aims.

What was the impact of the education intervention?

Feedback gathered from trainees across all three years of the programme indicates that the intervention has had a significant impact on their learning, confidence and professional development.

Trainees consistently report increased knowledge and understanding of racialised inequities, alongside greater confidence in applying anti‑racist and decolonial principles within clinical practice.

Graduates describe feeling more competent in recognising how racism operates at individual, organisational and systemic levels, and more able to challenge inequities within services as qualified clinicians.

A key outcome has been the development of deeper self‑awareness and reflexivity.

Trainees describe becoming more attuned to their own positionality, biases and assumptions, and more able to critically evaluate Eurocentric models of distress. Many report meaningful shifts in their clinical formulations, assessment approaches and therapeutic interventions, with greater attention to context, culture and structural factors.

Several trainees have also initiated or contributed to anti‑racist service development projects, policy reviews and staff training within their placement settings, indicating sustained and tangible impact beyond the training session, reflected in observable changes to clinical practice and team culture that positively influence service-user experiences.

Key learnings, challenges and recommendations

A key learning from this work is the necessity of a whole‑system approach, particularly within the context of systemic accountability, as meaningful anti‑racist change depends on collaborative and co-ordinated action.

One of the central challenges was pitching the teaching appropriately for cohorts with highly diverse levels of prior knowledge, confidence and readiness.

Trainees enter the programme at very different points in their journey towards becoming anti‑racist practitioners, and balancing the needs of those with limited exposure to these concepts alongside those with more advanced understanding was complex.

This highlighted the importance of differentiated learning approaches and the need for ongoing scaffolding across the three‑year curriculum.

Secondly, it has been challenging identifying and involving facilitators with the necessary skills, insight and lived experience to deliver the content safely and effectively. Anti‑racist teaching requires a high level of reflexivity, emotional intelligence and theoretical grounding, and the pool of suitable facilitators (particularly those from racially minoritised backgrounds in the North East of England) remains limited.

In addition to this, the current economic context of academia means that restricted funding to adequately compensate facilitators has significantly contributed to this challenge. Limited financial resources make it difficult to remunerate facilitators appropriately, particularly those from racially minoritised backgrounds, who often carry a disproportionate share of responsibility for delivering anti‑racist teaching.

This constraint reduces the pool of available facilitators with the necessary expertise and risks perpetuation the very inequities the intervention seeks to address, as racially minoritised staff may feel pressured to take on additional labour without appropriate recognition or remuneration.

Managing emotional responses from trainees also presents with challenges.

Discussions about racism can evoke defensiveness, discomfort or resistance, particularly among white trainees being confronted by these ideas for the first time.

This underscored the importance of structured and facilitated group spaces, and accessible debriefing spaces.