Black Trainees’ Experiences of Reflective Practice Spaces during DClinPsy Training in the UK

Abstract

Reflective Practice (RP) is widely used within Clinical Psychology (CP) to support personal and professional development. There is evidence to understand how trainee CPs experience reflective practice groups (RPGs) in training. However, there is little research exploring the experiences of racialised trainees on the Doctorate of Clinical Psychology (DclinPsy). This study explored how Black trainees experienced RPGs on the DclinPsy in the UK. Methodology Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 trainee CPs exploring their experiences of attending regular RPGs during training. The trainees attended seven different training institutions across the UK. The sample ranged from trainees in the first 12 months of training to 24 months post-training. Findings Reflexive Thematic Analysis (RTA) of the interviews was conducted and four themes with 10 sub-themes were found. (1) “What could have been and what was” had two subthemes “(un)met expectations” and “sharing: what gets in the way”. (2) “A relative struggle” had three subthemes: “it’s not for us”, “navigating (un)safe spaces” and “the general gist that you get it”. (3) “Silent or silenced” had two subthemes, “it’s harmful” and “under cared for and under protected”. (4) “RPGs do not exist in silos” had two subthemes “it’s exhausting” and “you are challenged and pushed back” Conclusion & Implications Trainees suggested that facilitators should encourage embodied practice and bring to awareness different ways of contributing in RPGs. Reflecting on the Black experience was often met with silence and therefore trainees found these spaces to be “harmful”. Having exclusive “all-black” spaces to discuss race and racism was deemed supportive and helpful. There are implications for the DclinPsy to imbed anti-racist praxis in their training programmes on multiple levels starting with governing professional bodies to more individual level practices.