Creating Culturally Safe Space in Clinical Practice and Service Provision: A Primer for Practitioners’ Multicultural Development and Cultural Competence | November 15, 2024

An On-line Workshop by Dr. Ben C. H. Kuo, Ph.D., Certified Psychologist (Ontario), Professor, Clinical Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Windsor 

Date: Friday, November 15th, 2024 

Hours: 9:00 am – 5 pm 

Costs: APNS Member – $200 before October 15 | $225 after October 15
APNS Student – $75
Non Member – $225 before October 15 | $250 after October 15

Register Here

Description of the Workshop: 

This workshop will introduce participants to the foundational knowledge and concepts related to culture, diversity, and clinical practice and supervision, as a means of promoting cultural safety in psychological and mental health services. Specifically, the concepts of cultural competence and cultural humility, as the two complementary frameworks for facilitating clinicians’ multicultural development and identity, will be discussed. This workshop approaches cultural training from an experiential, personal-growth and professional-development perspective and a social justice stance. Using mental health counselling and therapy intervention as an example, this workshop will survey and guide participants in reflecting and thinking through critical cultural diversity issues about themselves and others. Practical and evidence-based examples will be used to illustrate the content and to help participants integrate their learning with their personal and professional experiences.     

Learning Objectives of the Workshop: 

Participants in this workshop will be introduced to the following topics, and engage in guided reflection on these subject matters:     

  • Intersection of culture and diversity issues and clinical/health care and supervision training
  • Definition and Illustration of multicultural competence and cultural humility in practice  
  • Issues on clinicians’ intersectionality of identities and implicit biases 
  • Strategies to enhance individual-level and institutional/organizational-level changes to promote racial equity and cultural safety 
  • Paths forward for clinicians’ continued cultural/multicultural learning, education, and development 

Brief Biography of Dr. Ben C. H. Kuo 

Dr. Kuo is a Full Professor and the current Director of Clinical Training for the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA)-Accredited Clinical Psychology Program at the University of Windsor, and a registered and practicing psychologist in Ontario. His research focuses on the intersection between culture and psychology, particularly in the areas of multicultural counselling and training and cross-cultural psychology. Dr. Kuo is an experienced and active clinical supervisor who teaches and supervises clinical psychology graduate students in multicultural psychotherapy courses and practicum with diverse clients, including refugees and immigrants. As a clinician, Dr. Kuo has worked and treated international students, immigrants, refugees, racial/ethnic minorities, and non-minority individuals in the U.S., Canada, and Asia. Dr. Kuo works very closely with various community and health agencies/networks and is involved in policy initiatives, provincially and nationally in Canada. Dr. Kuo has traveled, lectured, provided training, and consulted internationally, as a distinguished visiting professor, in Taiwan, China, Thailand, New Zealand, Russia, Brazil, Poland, and the U.K. In 2018 Dr. Kuo served as the guest editor for the special issue of Psynopsis – the official communiqué of the CPA – on “Refugee Mental Health.” This year (2024), Dr. Kuo once again collaborated with Dr. Eleanor Gittens, the current President of the CPA, as co-editors for another special issue of Psynopsis on People, Culture and Psychology: Diverse Voices from the Field.”  

Dr. Kuo is a recipient of many awards across research, teaching, service, and advocacy work; they include the Outstanding Research Award: Establish Research/Scholar Category (2017); the Faculty of Arts, Humanities, and Social Science’s Dr. Kathleen E. McCrone Teaching Award (2017); and the Mary Lou Dietz Equity Leadership Award (2019). Most recently Dr. Kuo’s academic and professional contributions were recognized by the CPA, as the recipient of the John C. Service Member of the Year Award in 2021, and the Public Community Services, Human Rights and Social Justice in Psychology Award in 2023. 

Previously Dr. Kuo delivered a workshop hosted by APNS in Halifax in October 2022.  

Child and Adolescent Psychology Interest Group (CAP-I) Meetings in 2024

Earlier this year, we let you know that we would be resuming Child and Adolescent Psychology Interest Group (CAP-I) Meetings in 2024. 

We are pleased to share that we have scheduled the first official meeting for:

 Saturday, June 15th at 10 to 11:30 am

3rd Floor, Room 301, Halifax Central Library (5440 Spring Garden Road, Halifax, NS B3J 1E9)

This first meeting will be a relatively informal, ‘meet-and-greet’ after a couple of year hiatus.  Incoming chairs, Lindsay Bates and Rachel Panton, will provide a brief overview of CAP-I (history and future), and then there will be some discussion around potential speakers and topics for the 2024/2025 year.  The initial overview will be streamed via video conferencing – allowing greater CAP-I meeting access to psychologists from across the province.     

Attendees are encouraged to bring along a potluck brunch item to share (e.g., muffins, timbits, fruits, etc.). 

 If you are interested in receiving information around future CAP-I meetings, please contct admin@apns,ca and you will be added to our new CAP-I group email.  All NS psychologists are welcome.

The Town of Kentville and APNS invite you to “sit and chat” to promote wellness

Kentville/Halifax:  The Association of Psychologists of Nova Scotia (APNS) and the Town of Kentville are reviving the old saying: “sit and chat a while”.

APNS has been donating park benches to raise awareness of the value of personal interaction as a way to enhance mental and physical health. We kicked off the initiative in Yarmouth in 2017, followed by Stewiacke in 2018 and Blockhouse in 2019. This event in Kentville is the first since our shutdown for the pandemic.

The unveiling will take place at the Kentville Visitor Information Centre at 125 Park Street on Friday, June 2nd, 2023 at 2 pm.

Read more “The Town of Kentville and APNS invite you to “sit and chat” to promote wellness”

Nova Scotia Psychologist Spring 2022: Annual Report Issue

The Nova Scotia Psychologist Spring 2021-22 is now available.  This is our Annual Report Issue which will provide the documents that will be addressed at our AGM on Friday May 27th 12 noon.

Please select this link to download.

What’s Inside:

President’s Report

Last Year’s AGM Minutes

Honours, Awards & Bursaries 2022

APA Council Report

APNS New Staff

Committees & Volunteers:

  • Strategic Planning Report
  • CPAP Report
  • Committee Reports

Continuing Education

Acknowledgements

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Committees & Representatives