Awareness to Action: Mitigating Implicit Bias to Optimize Treatment Outcomes for Black Clients - 3 hours

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• CE Hours Included: 3 (please see below for details)
• Format: On-Demand Webinar (“Asynchronous”) ~ At your leisure to be viewed at your own pace. You may pause, rewind, and fast forward at any point during the videos. You are in complete control of how you view this workshop. It also comes with a PowerPoint and references. There is a quiz at the end to ensure viewing and required by all CE approval organizations.
  • NOTE: Your certificate will be dated when you complete the course - Click here for more detailed information on the best way to do this: https://www.theknowledgetree.org/p/help
• Investment: $87 (provides lifetime access!)
• Presented by: Telsie Davis, Ph.D. (see bio below)
• Date of Recording: June 19, 2026
• Instruction Level: Intermediate
• Target Audience: Psychologists, Counselors, Social Workers, Marriage & Family Therapists
• This workshop is not yet available; by pre-registering, you will receive immediate access when it becomes available in July.

Educational Objectives:

After completing this workshop in its entirety, you will be able to:

• Assess the link between clinician implicit bias and treatment disparities for Black clients
• Demonstrate practical, empirically grounded strategies to mitigate the negative impact of clinician implicit bias on Black clients
• Construct targeted clinical interventions to identify and neutralize client internalization of cultural bias

Workshop Description:

Course Outline:

I. Introduction: The Juneteenth Clinical Mandate (15 Minutes)

• Legacy of Liberation: Contextualizing Juneteenth as a call for psychological liberation and equity in health care.
• Framing the Workshop: Moving beyond "Competence" and "Humility" toward behavioral protection of the Black client.
• The Problem Defined: Why intent does not equal impact in the presence of systemic "headwinds."

II. Objective 1: Assessing the Link Between Clinician Implicit Bias and Treatment Disparities (45 Minutes)

• The Neuro-Cognition of Implicit Bias:
  • The "Affective Link": How positive emotions expand "ingroup" perception and how stress/burnout trigger "outgroup" cognitive shortcuts
  • The science of facial recognition and empathy in cross-racial dyads
• The Paradox of the Egalitarian Clinician: Reviewing empirical data on clinicians who hold explicit values of equality but demonstrate implicit racial bias
• Impact on Clinical Outcomes for Black Clients:
  • Data on treatment duration, retention, and outcomes for Black veterans and civilians
  • Analysis of diagnostic disparities (e.g., schizophrenia vs. affective disorders)

III. Objective 2: Strategies to Mitigate Clinician Implicit Bias (60 Minutes)

• Operationalizing cultural competence, cultural humility, and cultural equity to move from passive awareness to action
• Practical, Empirically Grounded Mitigation of Implicit Bias:
  • Affective Regulation: Techniques to maintain a "clinical baseline" that resists outgroup bias.
  • Counter-Stereotypic Imaging: Cognitive exercises to disrupt implicit associations before the session begins.
• Unexamined Power and Privilege:
  • How a clinician’s own cultural identities (race, citizenship, class) can create blind spots and implicit bias
  • Experiential Exercise: Case conceptualization audit, identifying where clinician power might be narrowing the client's treatment potential

IV. Objective 3: Interventions to Neutralize Client Internalization of Bias (45 Minutes)

• Understanding Internalization of Bias:
• Identifying Internalized Bias in Session: Recognizing the language and behavior of internalized oppression (e.g., the "Strong Black Woman/Man" trope as a barrier to vulnerability)
• Targeted Clinical Interventions:
  • Externalizing the Problem: Helping clients distinguish between personal pathology and the impact of systemic bias
  • Restructuring the Setting: Practical ways to make the physical and clinical environment a "sanctuary" from bias
  • Clinical Case Application: Review of a clinical case of a client experiencing internalized racial bias

V. Conclusion: Moving to Accountability (15 Minutes)

• The Action Plan: Finalizing a personal "Equity Mandate" for each participant’s practice
• Summary of Key Strategies: Recapping the shift from awareness to action in the therapeutic space
• Final Q&A and CE Evaluation.

Presented by: Telsie Davis, Ph.D.

Dr. Telsie A. Davis is a licensed psychologist and founder of The Cultural Equity Institute (CEI), an organization whose mission is to eradicate inequity due to all forms of discrimination in mental health care, so every client has an opportunity to heal at their maximum potential. She has 11 peer-reviewed publications, four book chapters, and has provided hundreds of hours of education and training in culturally responsive, empirically supported psychological treatments for trauma and substance use disorders, and in evidence-based strategies for equity and inclusion in health care.

Dr. Davis also serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University School of Medicine. Her work has recently garnered national recognition as the 2024 Awardee for the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC) Excellence in Diversity Training, and institutional recognition as the 2024 Recipient of the Nadine J. Kaslow Excellence in DEI Award from the Emory School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.

Dr. Davis earned a B.S. in Applied Psychology from the Georgia Institute of Technology, a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Georgia State University, and completed pre- and postdoctoral training at Emory University School of Medicine.

3 "Asynchronous" CE Hours Included - Details by License Type Below:

• PSYCHOLOGISTS: The Knowledge Tree, A Summit Professional Education Company is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The Knowledge Tree, A Summit Professional Education Company maintains responsibility for this program and its content. For more detailed information on the current CE ruling in Georgia, or if you are licensed in another state or country, please click here.
• COUNSELORS: The Knowledge Tree, A Summit Professional Education Company has been approved by the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) as an Approved Continuing Education Provider (ACEP), ACEP No. 7153. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. The Knowledge Tree, A Summit Professional Education Company is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs. Please click here for more detailed information.
• SOCIAL WORKERS: TKT has applied for approval for this workshop through the Georgia Society for Clinical Social Work (GSCSW). If you are licensed in another state or country, please click here for more detailed information.
• MARRIAGE & FAMILY THERAPISTS: TKT has applied for approval for this workshop through the Georgia Association for Marriage & Family Therapy (GAMFT). If you are licensed in another state or country, please click here for more detailed information.

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