‘Exploring Race and Culture in the Supervisory Relationship’ with Usha Tummala-Narra

There is a growing call to integrate the examination of sociocultural issues in psychoanalytic/psychodynamic supervision. Clinical supervision is a critical means through which conscious and unconscious thoughts and feelings concerning the client’s, therapist’s, and supervisor’s sociocultural location and identity can be explored. This workshop will focus on the dynamics of the supervisory relationship, and specifically how the supervisee and the supervisor can examine transference and counter-transference rooted in sociocultural issues, develop an ability to tolerate and engage with anxiety, fear, and shame in discussing issues, such as race, culture, religion, social class, and sexual orientation, and discuss relevant power dynamics.  Notably, minority supervisees and supervisors are in the position of initiating discussions on diversity and becoming “holders of cultural information,” contributing to a sense of loneliness within their training and practice. The workshop will address both the interpersonal dynamics centered on race and culture for minority and majority status supervisees and supervisors, and the experience of the supervisee and supervisor within a broader training and institutional context. 

Usha Tummala-Narra, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist and the Director of Community-Based Education at the Danielsen Institute and Research Professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Boston University. Most recently, until December 2021, she was Professor of Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology, and the Director of Training in the Doctoral Program in Counseling Psychology at Boston College. Her research and scholarship focus on immigration, trauma, race, and cultural competence and psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Her publications include over 90 peer-reviewed articles and chapters in books. She is also in Independent Practice, and works primarily with survivors of trauma from diverse sociocultural backgrounds.

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