Implicit Bias: Awareness and Management for Mental Health Professionals

Course overview

Mental health care providers must be familiar with existing interventions that are designed to address bias. Implicit bias refers to prejudicial attitudes toward and stereotypical beliefs about a particular social group or members therein. Implicit bias exists outside of one's awareness and can be more difficult for clinicians to identify and work through. Mental health care providers should strive to identify and address their own biases and the biases held by others, which will help clinicians maximize care efficacy and minimize discrimination. This intermediate-level learning material describes implicit bias and outlines existing research into its pervasiveness, nature, and history. It also describes the effects of implicit bias, how to screen for it, and ways to mitigate its influence on care. It is necessary for clinicians to learn about the evidence base for these approaches and to recognize the importance of interventions beyond implicit bias training. Doing so helps them address inequity in health care service delivery and client outcomes. Clinical examples are provided throughout to offer insight into real-world examples of implicit bias in clinical encounters. This learning material also includes illustrations of implicit bias prevention as well as interventions to inhibit its influence on behaviors and repair the harm it may cause. Please visit CE4Less.com for information about our unlimited plan.