What racialised aspiring clinical psychologists need from a mentoring scheme

Abstract

It has been long recognised that there is an increased gap between the application and acceptance rates of racialised applicants to clinical psychology training in the UK, relative to White applicants. In 2020, Health Education England released funding for UK training programmes to develop mentoring schemes for aspiring clinical psychologists from racialised groups. This study was undertaken to explore how such mentoring schemes might best support racialised applicants. Three focus groups, comprising a total of 24 racialised aspiring, trainee, and qualified clinical psychologists, were undertaken to gather views regarding how a mentoring scheme could support racialised aspiring clinical psychologists. Data was analysed utilising reflexive thematic analysis. Three themes were developed: ‘Gaining Access to a White Profession – What’s the White thing to say?’ captured participants’ views that mentoring schemes should support mentees to present themselves in ways that fit with what selection assessors will be looking for. ‘A Safe Space to Explore the Impact of Racialisation’ related to the importance of mentoring schemes creating safe opportunities to make sense of the impact of racism within their career. ‘Troubling Whiteness’ spoke to the importance of mentees being empowered to think with other racialised individuals about ways they could actively address Whiteness within the profession and services. The three themes have implications for the delivery and evaluation of mentoring schemes for racialised aspiring clinical psychologists.