Reimagining Clinical Psychology

In this invited companion article to the Canadian Psychological Association Award for Distinguished Contributions to Education and Training in Psychology, I detail my thoughts, experiences, and recommendations for creating a more socially responsive clinical psychology profession. This article builds on my professional and personal learnings and experiences in the field of clinical psychology to reimagine who we are training and how we are training them, and how changes in both regards could solidify our field as a socially responsive health science profession. I define a socially responsive clinical psychology profession as consisting of an inclusive science and a diverse and just community. To achieve these aims, as a profession we must address the composition of faculty and students in our programmes, update student recruitment and retention processes, broaden our conception of science and knowledge systems, and train students for a variety of careers. Public Significance Statement This article is a call for the field of clinical psychology to take its place as a socially responsive health science profession, defined by an inclusive science and a diverse and just community. To do so, the profession needs to reimagine who it trains and how it trains them. By doing so, the clinical psychology will solidify its mission of care for all, especially the most vulnerable.

Automated summary

This article calls for the field of clinical psychology to become a socially responsive health science profession, defined by an inclusive science and a diverse and just community. To achieve this, the profession needs to reimagine who it trains and how it trains them.