Decolonizing Mentorship In Psychology: Experiences of Accessible and Culturally Responsive Support Among Diverse...

The diversity of graduate psychology trainees has increased in recent decades. Yet many historically underrepresented doctoral psychology trainees lack adequate support throughout their graduate psychology training. Lack of support during graduate training has been linked to stunted professional identity formation, isolation from the larger professional community, and attrition. Insufficient attention has been paid to support historically underrepresented students navigate psychology doctoral training. Decolonizing mentorship is one way to support historically underrepresented psychology trainees. This study explores the experiences of racially and ethnically psychology doctoral interns at a mentoring-scientist-practitioner APA-accredited internship program in the United States. The eleven interns of the 2022-2023 cohort participated in a focus group to gather testimonios about their mentored training experiences. Thematic coding was applied to analyze the data. Results highlighted past oppressive training experiences with inadequate support, components of the internship program that decolonize mentorship, and training outcomes of decolonizing mentorship. We found that accessible and culturally responsive mentoring increased professional identity and community among trainees. Strategies for practicing accessible and culturally responsive mentorship are discussed.